The Life and Travels of John Bartram: From Lake Ontario to the River St. John

by Edmund Berkeley Jr, Dorothy Smith Berkeley

"A long needed biography of the pioneering American naturalist whose explorations and collecting were so influential in the founding of American natural history." --Nina J. Root, American Museum of Natural History "Will stand the test of time as the biography of a significant member of the Anglo-American natural history circle."-- Journal of American History "Historians of American culture and science will read this book with profit and gratitude to it authors. . . . and its text and generous illustrations will appeal to anyone who has ever planted and kept a garden or simply loves nature."—Whitfield J. Bell, Jr., American Philosophical Society The Berkeleys re-create the life of the colonial Quaker who became George III’s botanist for North America, from his childhood in sparsely settled Pennsylvania in the early 1700s, his Quaker schooling, his friendship with Benjamin Franklin, and his growing interest in botany, ecology, and better methods of farming. Bartram’s pioneering excursions took him as far north as Lake Ontario, west to Pittsburgh, and south through the Carolinas and Georgia to Florida. He was often accompanied by his son, William, who was to become a famous botanist also. Maps and drawings of people, plants, and places in Bartram’s life enrich the text, and extracts from his extensive correspondence reveal the exchange of plants, seeds, animals, and fossils as well as ideas with other colonials who, with Bartram and Franklin, would found the American Philosophical Society.

376 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1990

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. It was interesting to learn about the life of John Bartram. One is able to experience some of the adventure of subsisting and exploring America in the early 1700’s. The book is detailed in its description of plants, rocks, etc by necessity. Bartram was an incredibly curious and meticulous observer. I especially enjoyed the accounts of his travels through the wilderness of the time. The relationships and business that he developed through collecting seeds and specimens are impressive. Balancing the obligations of family and farm with his other endeavors was a constant challenge.
John Bartram was uneducated but skilled in botany, entomology, geology, ecology, zoology as well as farmer. He managed to make a living from his farm and his passion of observing and documenting the natural world around him. He was a contemporary and friend of Benjamin Franklin, a fellow Philadelphian. Through his travels and discoveries, he provided information and physical specimens for the gardens and academics in Europe. He developed relationships with people wherever he went and long relationships with distant individuals that he never had opportunity to meet. His influence on his world and ours is extensive.
Bartram’s life is one worthy of study.

[Marjorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am SO glad to BE done. I am also glad I read it. Had no idea. He was definitely a smart self made man with loads of curiosity.

Two (ok maybe 10) things stood out. His lack of higher education made others snobbish about their education and doubtful of his skills. But to be able to converse, document, observe with such appetite for each makes 'self made' a powerful presence; greater character to overcome disadvantages and still hob nob with the highest. Why is it that smart well educated people often trip up about this sort of character observation. Are we SO stupid about pecking order that our powers of logic collapse? Best to focus on what's worthwhile now; i.e. great brain, willing to work, need useful tasks.

Second, he wrote what he saw, as a scientist would but when it came to publishing 'his journal' others cut/paste to suit their motives; IE buying Florida and Georgia was a very good idea, good 'futures'. I had to throw the book down when I read how extensively his words were cherry picked to fit Great Britain's real estate sales pitches.

8-10 other standouts were ecological; Soils, agriculture that works/fails. The first one (for me, everyone else will be different) was he made a farm pond, then tossed manure in it, and used the 'tea' as fertilized irrigation throughout the summer. I had never thought about 'polluting' a pond on purpose. He got better acre yields. This was Pennsylvania in the 1740s. Or the soils of southern coastal states. Looked good but clear the trees off, get in two crop cycles, soil (humus) blows away, down to sand. Or that rice wears out the soil. Or that when a swamp is dry, burn it and what will grow back is a coarse savannah grass. Ha, human interactions change things. Imagine that.


I would like to see his homestead gardens someday.

[Eddie Watkins]

God this is a boring book. There is hardly any attempt to actually flesh out the subject, only a slavish reliance on original documents (mostly letters) quoted verbatim. But while the book itself did not transport me back two and a half centuries to Bartram's Garden (which I take my dogs to multiple times a week, and which boasts probably my favorite hidden spot in the city), the dull facts recounted were raw material enough for me to take myself back in time. But c'mon! I don't want to do all the work.

Still, John Bartram was a fascinating man, and through this book I was able to get a glimpse of those early days of intellectual ferment and fluidity in colonial Philadelphia.