William Bartram facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
William Bartram
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Portrait by Charles Willson Peale
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| Born | April 20, 1739 Kingsessing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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| Died | July 22, 1823 (aged 84) Kingsessing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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| Known for | Bartram's Travels |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | naturalist |
| Influenced | Linnaeus, Johann Friedrich Gmelin, John Latham |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | W.Bartram |
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William Bartram (April 20, 1739 – July 22, 1823) was an American botanist, ornithologist, natural historian and explorer. Bartram was the author of an acclaimed book, now known by the shortened title Bartram's Travels, which chronicled his explorations of the southern British colonies in North America from 1773 to 1777. Bartram has been described as "the first naturalist who penetrated the dense tropical forests of Florida".
Bartram was one of the first ornithologists born in America. In 1756, at the age of 17, he collected the type specimens of 14 species of American birds, which were illustrated and described by the English naturalist George Edwards in Gleanings of Natural History vol. 2 (1760). These accounts formed the basis of the scientific descriptions of Linnaeus (1707–1778), Johann Friedrich Gmelin (1748–1804) and John Latham (1740–1837). Bartram also made significant contributions to botanical literature. Like his father, he was a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768.
Contents
Early life and family
The son of Ann (née Mendenhall) and the naturalist John Bartram, William and his twin sister Elizabeth were born in Kingsessing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a boy, he accompanied his father on many of his travels to the Catskill Mountains, the New Jersey Pine Barrens, New England, and Florida. From his mid-teens, Bartram was noted for the quality of his botanic and ornithological drawings. He also had an increasing role in the maintenance of his father's botanic garden, and added many rare species to it.
On "may ye 30th 1756", his father John wrote the following passage in a letter to the English naturalist Peter Collinson: "Billy is much obliged to thee for his drawing paper...he hath drawn many rare birds in order to send to thee & dryed ye birds to send to his friend edwards to whome he is much obliged for those two curious bookes...he spent his time this spring in shooting & drawing ye rare birds of quick passage..."
Bartram's explorations (1773–77)
Travels in Georgia
William Bartram arrived in Charleston on March 31, 1773. He learned that a Native American congress was to take place in Augusta, Georgia in June and was invited by Superintendent of Indian affairs, John Stuart, to join the party that would survey a new land cession. After attending to some business Bartram traveled on to Savannah, arriving in that city on either April 11 or 12. While he awaited the beginning of the Native American congress he traveled to the coast of Georgia. He first visited some rice plantations in Midway then traveled on to Darien where he was the guest of Lachlan McIntosh.
In Travels, Bartram related an incident at this point that most probably took place in 1776. As he traveled through the sparsely populated country of South Georgia, he encountered an "intrepid Siminole" who had resolved upon killing the next white man he met but was disarmed by Bartram's unexpected friendliness.
During his trip along the coast, Bartram revisited the region of Fort Barrington on the Altamaha River. John and William Bartram had discovered two new trees there in 1765, but they had no flowers for the season was late. William described these trees in Travels, the Franklin tree (Franklinia alatamaha) and fevertree (Pinkneya pubens). The story of the Franklin tree is fascinating for it no longer exists in the wild and all living trees are descended from seeds collected by William Bartram.
Bartram then traveled to Augusta and explored the area while he awaited the conclusion of the Native American congress. The conference ended on June 3, 1773 with the Treaty of Augusta. In return for dissolving their debts to the traders in Augusta, the Creeks and Cherokees gave up 674,000 acres of land in northeast Georgia. Bartram joined the survey party as it marked the boundary. An incident occurred at a place known as the Great Buffalo Lick when the Native Americans questioned the accuracy of the surveyor's course.
Bartram returned to Savannah in mid-July and spent the fall and winter on the coast of Georgia, exploring the Altamaha River, writing his report, and preparing his seeds for shipment to England.
Travels in Florida
In March 1774, Bartram began his much-anticipated trip to East Florida. He landed on the north end of Amelia Island and traveled through Old Fernandina to Lord Egmont's plantation where modern Fernandina now stands. Bartram was entertained by Stephen Egan, Egmont's agent, who rode with him around the entire island observing the plantation and Indian mounds. Bartram and Egan sailed from Amelia Island through the Intracoastal Waterway to the St. Johns River and to the Cow Ford (Jacksonville) where Bartram purchased a little sailboat. In three days Bartram landed at the plantation of Francis Philip Fatio at Switzerland. There he received information concerning the recent disturbances at Spalding's Stores. He paused the next day at Fort Picolata where he had failed as a planter seven years earlier. Bartram then kept to the west bank, or Indian shore, the river being the division between Indian country on the west bank and English land on the east. He observed a Seminole village on the bluff where Palatka now stands and where he was invited to a watermelon feast that summer. Just south of Palatka, at Stokes Landing, James Spalding built his Lower Store where Bartram made his headquarters while in Florida. One day while working at his desk Bartram heard a disturbance in the adjacent Indian camp. Stepping outside he discovered his Seminole neighbors were alarmed by a large rattlesnake that had entered their camp. They entreated "Puc Puggy" to come kill the snake, which Bartram reluctantly agreed to do. Later he saw three young men approaching.
Bartram joined Spalding's traders in mid-April on a trip to Cuscowilla (Micanopy) and Alachua Savannah, now Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. In late May, Bartram traveled up the St. Johns River to Spalding's Upper Store at present-day Astor and to Blue Spring. Some of the most memorable events in Travels occurred during this trip upriver when a wolf stole his fish as Bartram slept, he was jostled and threatened by alligators while fishing from his boat, and he was witness to a territorial battle between two of the monsters.
During the summer Bartram made another excursion to Alachua Savannah and on to the Suwannee River. He traveled one last time up the St. Johns River in September and left Florida forever in November 1774.
Exploration of the Cherokee Nation
On April 22, 1775 Bartram left Charleston, South Carolina on horseback to explore the Cherokee Nation. After passing through Augusta May 10, Dartmouth on May 15 (35°19′41″N 82°52′28″W / 35.328003°N 82.874571°W), a few days later he left Fort Prince George and Keowee (34°51′49″N 82°54′06″W / 34.863616°N 82.901575°W) after not being able to procure a guide .
Return to Philadelphia
Bartram returned to Philadelphia in January 1777 and assisted his brother John in all aspects of running Bartram's Garden.
In the late 1780s, he completed the book for which he became most famous, Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, etc. It was considered at the time one of the foremost books on American natural history. Many of Bartram's accounts of historical sites were the earliest records, including the Georgia mound site of Ocmulgee. In addition to its contributions to scientific knowledge, Travels is noted for its original descriptions of the American countryside. Bartram's writing influenced many of the Romantic writers of the day. William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and François-René de Chateaubriand are known to have read the book, and its influence can be seen in many of their works.
Although Bartram has often been characterized as a recluse, all evidence shows that he remained active in commercial, scientific, and intellectual pursuits well into the nineteenth century. He tutored nieces and nephews, penned a number of essays, contributed to several works anonymously, and helped run the family horticultural business. In 1802, Bartram met the school teacher Alexander Wilson and began to teach him the rudiments of ornithology and natural history illustration. Wilson's American Ornithology includes many references to Bartram and the area around Bartram's Garden. Among Bartram's more significant later contributions were the illustrations for his friend Benjamin Smith Barton's explanation of the Linnaean system, Elements of Botany (1803–04).
After the War of 1812, when many of his colleagues, contacts, and friends had died, Bartram settled into a long period of work, observation, and study at the family's garden in Kingsessing. He maintained a "Diary" that records bird migrations, plant life, and the weather. He refused a request to teach botany at the University of Pennsylvania, and in his sixties, declined an invitation from President Thomas Jefferson to accompany an expedition up the Red River in the Louisiana Territory, in 1806.
Death
Bartram died at his home in 1823, at the age of 84. According to a short biography penned by Robert Carr, "He wrote an article on the natural history of a plant a few minutes before his death."
Namesakes
Numerous places and sites are named in his honor:
- The Bartram Trail, a hiking trail in North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina that commemorates his journeys through the area.
- The Bartram Canoe Trail system of canoe and kayak trails in the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta.
- William Bartram Scenic & Historic Highway, part of Florida State Road 13 that runs along the east side of the St. Johns River from Jacksonville, Florida south into northwestern St. Johns County.
- Bartram Trail High School (St. Johns County School District) in St. Johns, Florida.
- Bartram Trail Elementary School and Bartram Springs Elementary School (Duval County Public Schools) in Jacksonville, Florida.
- The William Bartram Arboretum, located within Fort Toulouse Park, near Wetumpka, Alabama.
- Bartram Hall on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida.
- Bartram Trail Regional Library System in east Georgia
- Bartram's bass, or redeye bass (Micropterus coosae), a fish species found only in the Savannah River drainage in Georgia.
- The Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia Longicauda) takes its genus name from William Bartram.
Bartram died on July 22, 1823, at Bartram's Garden.
Literature
- Bartram Trail Conference, Bartram Heritage: A Study of the Life of William Bartram. Montgomery, Alabama, 1979
- Bell, Whitfield J., Jr., Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 1, 1743–1768. American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1997, "WIlliam Bartram (1739-1823), pp. 414–24.
- Borland, Hal. The Memorable Bartrams. American Heritage Magazine. April, 1975. Volume 26, Issue 3. Accessed March 2, 2007.
- Cashin, Edward J. William Bartram in Georgia. New Georgia Encyclopedia. Accessed March 2, 2007.
- Dallmeyer, Dorinda. 2020. Bartram's Living Legacy: The Travels and the Nature of the South. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press.
- Ewan, Joseph,ed., William Bartram Botanical and Zoological Drawings, 1756-1788. American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1968.
- Fagin, N. Bryllion, William Bartram: Interpreter of the American Landscape. The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1933.
- Fishman, Gail. (2001) Journeys Through Paradise, University Press of Florida. ISBN: 0-8130-1874-9
- Hallock, Thomas. From the Fallen Tree: Frontier Narratives, Environmental Politics, and the Roots of a National Pastoral. University of North Carolina Press, 2003.
- Hallock, Thomas and Nancy E. Hoffmann, eds. William Bartram, The Search for Nature's Design: Selected Art, Letters, and Unpublished Writings. University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA, 2010.
- Harper, Francis, "Travels in Georgia and Florida, 1773-74. A Report to Dr. John Fothergill." Edited by Francis Harper. Trans. of the American Philosophical Society, n. s. vol. 33, part 2 (November 1943), p. 121-242.
- Braund, Kathryn E. Holland and Charlotte M. Porter, eds. Fields of Vision: Essays on the "Travels" of William Bartram (University of Alabama Press; 2010; 273 pages), essays by scholars
- Lowes, John Livingston, The Road to Xanadu: A Study in the Ways of Imagination. Houghton Mifflin, New York, 1927.
- Magee, Judith, The Art and Science of William Bartram. The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA, in association with the Natural History Museum, London, 2007.
- Savage, Henry Jr. Discovering America, 1700-1875. p. 63-70. Harper & Row, 1979.
- "William Bartram" Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 37: American Writers of the Early Republic. Emory Elliot, ed. The Gale Group, 1985, pp. 31–38.
- "William Bartram 1739-1823" Dictionary of American Biography. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928–1936.
- Schafer, Daniel L., William Bartram and the Ghost Plantations of British East Florida, University Press of Florida, 2010.
See also
In Spanish: William Bartram para niños
