Marshall, Humphry, 1722-1801

Variant names

Hide Profile

Humphry Marshall was a self-educated Quaker botanist, born and raised in Chester County, Pa. With the encouragement and assistance of his cousin, John Bartram, and other scientific mentors in the U.S. and Britain, Marshall became an accomplished "practical botanist" and by the mid-1760's had established a profitable business collecting and identifying plants and selling them to plant collectors throughout the U.S. and Europe. The botanical garden he established in Chester County was one of the.

Earliest in the U.S., and his major published work, Arbustrum Americanum, is credited with being the first botanical treatise completely produced in America. Marshall was elected an honorary member of the American Philosophical Society and the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture.

Moses Marshall, son of Humphry Marshall's brother, James, was born in West Bradford, Pa., on 30 November 1758. He received an English and classical education, and from 1776-1779, studied medicine in Wilmington, Del., with Nicholas Way. His experience as a surgeon at the Battle of Brandywine led him to abandon medicine in favor of assisting his uncle in his expanding botanical and horticultural business. By the mid-1790's, however, with Humphry Marshall's health failing and Moses' time increasingly.

Consumed with an appointment as Justice of the Peace in Chester County and a new wife, Moses essentially abandoned the family business and botanical garden.

Moses Marshall, Jr., studied medicine in Philadelphia in the 1830's and established a general practice in West Bradford, Pa., shortly thereafter. A staunch Democrat, he was involved in local politics and occasionally lectured locally on political subjects.

From the description of Humphry Marshall Papers, 1721-1863 (bulk: 1760-1800). (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 166587038

Humphry Marshall

Humphry Marshall was born in West Bradford, Pennsylvania, in 1722, the eighth child of Abraham and Mary Hunt Marshall. His parents, Quaker immigrants from Derbyshire, England, provided him with only a rudimentary English education, which ceased altogether at age 12, when he was apprenticed to a stonemason. However, from very early in life, Marshall was drawn to the study of natural history and continued his education on his own, reading widely. With the encouragement of his cousin, the botanist John Bartram, Marshall developed considerable practical skill in botany and natural history, and began to cultivate friendships with other scientists in America and abroad in the 1750s. Eventually, his correspondents included the British botanists John Fothergill, Peter Collinson, Sir Joseph Banks, and John Coakley Lettsom; the American scientists Thomas Parke, Benjamin Franklin, George Logan, Joseph Storrs, Timothy Pickering, John Dickinson, and Caspar Wistar; and French scientists and plant collectors including Michel-Guillaume St. Jean de Crèvecoeur, the Comtesse de Tesse, and Conrad-Alexandre Gérard; a number of German, Dutch, Swedish and Irish plant collectors and scientists.

In 1748, Marshall married Sarah Pennock (ca.1720-1766) and took up the management of his father's farm near the west branch of the Brandywine River. During the next few years, his time was largely consumed by farming; however, he continued to use free moments to pursue his botanical research. By the late 1750s, he began to exchange locally collected specimens with natural historians in other parts of the country and Great Britain, receiving scientific equipment, books, exotic specimens, money, or marketable goods such as linen in exchange. By 1764, when he began a major enlargement of his father's farmhouse, his botanical work had advanced to a stage that, necessitated his adding a conservatory for the culture of rare plants, probably the first such structure in Chester County.

Upon the death of his father in 1767, Marshall was left a substantial inheritance, enabling him to concentrate more time and resources on his botanical work. By this time, his correspondence with the British botanist, John Fothergill, had developed into an especially fruitful relationship, for Fothergill not only encouraged Marshall to collect plants beyond the confines of Chester County, but he paid well for Marshall's efforts. Equally important, Fothergill helped introduce Marshall to other botanists and plant collectors who had the resources to pay for American plants. Within a few years, Marshall found that he could depend almost entirely on horticulture and plant collecting for his income. His business expanded rapidly by means of a network of relationships established through family members, fellow Quakers, and fellow scientists.

In 1772, Marshall established a botanical garden on his estate, stocking it with herbaceous and arboreal representatives of the local flora and as many exotic plants as he could obtain from other parts of the nation and Europe. The following year, he began the construction of a new house adjacent to the garden, handling all phases of the construction by himself, and in that year, he was selected as a trustee of the General Loan Office. Despite pro-Independence sentiments, including long-standing support for the non-importation agreements, Marshall was in a precarious position as a pacifist and Quaker during the early days of the Revolution. He carefully monitored the events of the war as they unfolded, and was himself caught up when, in 1777, the Trustees of the Loan Office resigned as a body. Under the leadership of Samuel Preston Moore, the Trustees felt that to remain true to their affirmations that they would carry out the business of the crown, they should resign rather than follow the new laws.

Marshall's publishing career included contributions on tortoises, sunspots, and agriculture, but he is most remembered for Abrustrum Americanum (1785), the first botanical treatise written by a native American on American plants, produced in America. Despite slow sales in the United States, its use of Linnaean taxonomic nomenclature (though the plants are arranged alphabetically in the text) considerably enhanced Marshall's reputation among his European clientele. His scientific work and service to the scientific community earned Marshall honorary memberships in the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture and the American Philosophical Society.

Following the death of his first wife, Marshall married Margaret Minshall (1744-1823) in 1788. Neither marriage produced children. In the last two years of his life, his vision was greatly impaired by cataracts, for which he underwent an apparently unsuccessful surgery. He died in 1801 and was buried at Bradford Meeting House.

Moses Marshall

Moses Marshall was born in West Bradford, Pennsylvania, on November 30, 1758, to Humphry's younger brother, James Marshall and his wife, Sarah. Moses received an English and classical education, and from 1776 through 1779, he studied medicine in Wilmington, Delaware, under Dr. Nicholas Way. The Revolution, and particularly the nearby Battle of the Brandywine (1777), provided Moses a unique opportunity to sharpen his surgical skills. Moses soon abandoned his medical practice in favor of assisting his uncle in his expanding botanical and horticultural enterprise.

By late 1778, he was participating fully in his uncle's operations, assisting in locating, identifying, propagating, and shipping plant specimens, and he became quite a skilled "practical" botanist in his own right. His most significant contributions were in the preparation of Arbustrum Americanum, and the role he played on numerous exploring expeditions undertaken for the benefit of his uncle and their patrons. Moses appears to have taken great relish in these expeditions, and it was partly for his benefit that his uncle pressed scientific friends, including Franklin, Wistar, Jefferson (albeit indirectly), and members of the American Philosophical Society, to finance and organize a major expedition to the Missouri River region in 1785.

Moses' interest in botany appears to have waned by the mid-1790s. In 1796, Gov. Mifflin appointed him Justice of the Peace in Chester County, and his duties in this capacity occupied a great deal of his time. Moses' focus seems further to have shifted away from botany upon his marriage to Alice Pennock in 1797. The couple had six children. By the time of his uncle's death, Marshall had more or less washed his hands of the botanical and horticultural business, suggesting that he no longer had any time to fill orders for patrons and that his uncle's notes probably held little information of value to other botanists. Moses Marshall died in Philadelphia on October 13th, 1813.

Moses Marshall, Jr.

The life of Moses Marshall, Jr., is considerably less well known than that of his father or his great uncle. Moses, Jr., studied medicine in Philadelphia during the 1830s, and established a general practice in West Bradford shortly thereafter. Apparently he lectured publicly on scientific subjects, at least periodically, during the 1840s or 50s. Politically, Moses, Jr., aligned himself with the Democratic Party during the Civil War period, opposed actions to keep the South in the Union by force, and (unlike his mildly abolitionist great uncle), did not seem to consider slavery a major evil.

From the guide to the Humphry and Moses Marshall papers, Marshall, Humphry and Moses papers, 1721-1863, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Marshall, Humphry, 1722-1801. Report to Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, 1786. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
referencedIn Samuel Kramsh, A List of Plants Found in Pennsylvania and North-Carolina : manuscript notebook MS 431., 1787-1789 Special Collections and University Archives, UMass Amherst Libraries
referencedIn Shippen, Joseph, Jr., 1732-1810. Letterbook, 1763-1773. American Philosophical Society Library
referencedIn Short, Charles Wilkins, 1794-1863. Letter : Hayfield, Ky., to Dr. William Darlington, 1850 Feb. 23. University of Chicago Library
referencedIn Royal Society (Great Britain) miscellaneous correspondence and documents, [ca. 1642-1818], Circa 1642-1818 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Short, Charles Wilkins, 1794-1863. Letter : Hayfield, Ky., to Dr. William Darlington, 1850 Feb. 23. Texas Christian University
referencedIn Royal Society (Great Britain). Miscellaneous correspondence and documents, [ca. 1642-1818]. American Philosophical Society Library
referencedIn Dreer, Ferdinand J. (Ferdinand Julius), 1812-1902. Autograph collection. 1492-1925 Historical Society of Pennsylvania
referencedIn Barbançon, comte de. Comte de Barbançon letters to Humphry Marshall, [17--]-1796. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn Benjamin Franklin Papers Part 13 -- Miscellaneous Franklin Materials, 1640-1791 American Philosophical Society
creatorOf Marshall, Humphry, 1722-1801. Humphry Marshall Papers, 1721-1863 (bulk: 1760-1800). William L. Clements Library
referencedIn Barbançon, comte de. Comte de Barbançon letters to Humphry Marshall, [17--]-1796. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn American Philosophical Society Archives, 1743-1984 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Joseph Shippen letterbook, 1763-1773, 1763-1773 American Philosophical Society
creatorOf Humphry Marshall: American Quaker botanist, 1958, 1958 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Buffington–Marshall papers, 1707-1876 Chester County Historical Society
creatorOf Marshall, Humphry, 1722-1801. Humphry and Moses Marshall papers, 1721-1863. William L. Clements Library
creatorOf Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790. Letter to Humphrey Marshall : London : ALS, 1771 Apr. 22. UC Berkeley Libraries
creatorOf Marshall, Humphry, 1722-1801. Arbustrum Americanum : the American grove, or, An alphabetical catalogue of forest trees and shrubs. New York Botanical Garden, The LuEsther T. Mertz Library
creatorOf Humphry and Moses Marshall papers 1721-1863 Marshall, Humphry and Moses papers William L. Clements Library
referencedIn American Philosophical Society Archives. Record Group IIa, 1743-1806 American Philosophical Society
creatorOf Marshall, Humphry, 1722-1801. Buffington-Marshall papers, 1707-1876. Chester County Historical Society
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith American Philosophical Society. corporateBody
associatedWith Barbançon, comte de. person
associatedWith Barclay, Robert, ca.1750-1830. person
associatedWith Bard, Samuel, 1742-1821. person
associatedWith Belden, Louise Conway person
associatedWith Benezet, Anthony, 1713-1784. person
associatedWith Bond, Thomas, 1712-1784. person
associatedWith Buffington, Richard, d. 1741 person
associatedWith Crèvecoeur, Michel-Guillaume Jean de, 1735-1813 person
associatedWith Darlington, William, 1782-1863. person
associatedWith Dickinson, John, 1732-1808. person
associatedWith Dreer, Ferdinand Julius, 1812-1902, person
associatedWith Fisher, Miers, 1748-1819. person
associatedWith Fisher, Samuel, ca. 1724-1793. person
associatedWith Fisher, Thomas, 1741-1810. person
associatedWith Fothergill, John, 1712-1780. person
associatedWith Fothergill, Samuel, 1715-1772. person
associatedWith Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790. person
associatedWith Gibbons, John. person
associatedWith Girard, Stephen, 1750-1831. person
associatedWith Hamilton, William, d. 1813. person
associatedWith Jackson, John, d. 1822. person
associatedWith Kenny, James. person
associatedWith Kenny, James. person
associatedWith King, Matthias. person
associatedWith Kramsh, Samuel person
associatedWith Kramsh, Samuel. person
associatedWith Lettsom, John Coakley, 1744-1815. person
associatedWith Levick, James J., 1825-1893. person
associatedWith Lightfoot, Susannah Hatton, 1719-1781. person
associatedWith Logan, George, 1753-1821. person
associatedWith Marshall, Moses, 1758-1813. person
associatedWith Marshall, Moses, Dr. person
associatedWith Martin, Jacob. person
associatedWith Martin, Jacob. person
associatedWith Matlack, Timothy, 1734-1829. person
associatedWith Mease, James, 1771-1846. person
associatedWith Mendenhall, Moses. person
associatedWith Mendenhall, Moses. person
associatedWith Moore, Samuel Preston, ca. 1709-1785. person
associatedWith Muhlenberg, Henry, 1753-1815. person
associatedWith Noailles de Tesse, Adrienne Catherine Noailles, Comtesse de. person
associatedWith Orléans, Louis Philippe Joseph, duc d', 1747-1793. person
associatedWith Parke, Thomas, 1749-1835. person
associatedWith Ross, James, 1762-1847. person
associatedWith Royal Society (Great Britain). corporateBody
associatedWith Shippen, Joseph, Jr., 1732-1810. person
associatedWith Short, Charles Wilkins, 1794-1863. person
associatedWith St. John de Crèvecoeur, J. Hector, 1735-1813. person
associatedWith Vaughan, John, 1756-1841. person
associatedWith Watson, James. person
associatedWith Watson, James. person
associatedWith Watson, James M. person
associatedWith Watson, John. person
associatedWith Watson, John. person
associatedWith Wistar, Caspar, 1761-1818. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Chester (Pa.)
United States
North Carolina
United States
Pennsylvania
America
United States--Civil War, 1861-1865
Great Britain
United States
Chester (Pa.)
Pennsylvania
United States
Philadelphia (Pa.)
Antietam, Battle of, Md., 1862
Subject
Alms houses
American loyalists
Botanical gardens
Botanists
Botanists
Botanists
Botany
Botany
Botany
Botany
Conscientious objection
Forest plants
Franklinia
Society of Friends
Society of Friends
Indians of North America
Naturalists
Nurseries (Horticulture)
Plant collectors
Plants
Plants
Quakers
Quakers
Science
Scientific expeditions
Seed industry and trade
Shrubs
Trees
Trees
Turtles
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1722-10-10

Death 1801-11-05

English

Information

Permalink: http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dj5gwd

Ark ID: w6dj5gwd

SNAC ID: 65142082