Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. Transcribed by Barbara Kawamoto. The Bartram Connection in NC "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore John Bartram of Philadelphia was considered by Linneaus, the world-famous botanist, as the greatest botanist. He had a brother, William, who settled in Bladen County, North Carolina, on the west side of the Cape Fear River at a plantation called "Ashwood" some time prior to 1760. John Bartram had seven sons. One son, William Bartram, Jr., was also a botanist, an artist and an ornithologist. In 1761 he settled near his uncle, William Bartram, in Bladen County and remained there for four years. John Bartram (1699-1777) was sometimes called "the father of American botany." He settled on the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania and established the first permanent botanical garden in America. He traveled extensively in the American colonies and collected plants and seeds for his European correspondents. The journal of his trip to Lake Ontario was published in London in 1751. In 1765 he was appointed "Botanist of America" by King George III, which carried an annual stipend of 50 pounds sterling. In 1765 he and his son, William, made an exploration trip to the St. John’s River in East Florida. The journal of this trip was published in 1767. He kept up a lively correspondence with European botanists and horticulturists including Mark Catesby, George Edwards in England, Gronovius in Holland, Dalibard in France, and Linneaus in Sweden. He died on September 22, 1777 at Kingseessing, Pa. William Bartram had real talent as an artist and between 1753 and 1772 he supplied patrons in England with drawings of American plants and animals. Many were drawn here in the Cape Fear area and include illustrations of the carnivorous plants. Some of Bartram’s drawings are now in the British Museum in London. He set out for Georgia in 1773 and spent the next four years exploring and collecting data on plants, birds and visiting the Cherokee, the Creek and Choctaw Indian Nations. William Bartram returned to Philadelphia where he lived until his death in 1823. In 1791 he published a voluminous book on his travels and findings in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. In 1792, it was reprinted in England. President Jefferson recognized the expertise of the great scientist and invited him to go on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Many of the drawings of Bartram’s book, which includes copies of 24 of his drawings. I have recently had the pleasure of reading this book, which is now in the Mount Olive College Library. I do not have much data on William Barton of Bladen County, an uncle of William Barton, the botanist, but I do find in Grimes Abstracts of North Carolina, the will of Elizabeth Bartram, his wife, probated in Bladen County in 1772. She names three daughters: Sarah, the wife of General Thomas Brown; Mary, the wife of Colonel Thomas Robeson. One of the witnesses to the will was Mary Lyon later the wife of James Sampson who lived on a plantation near Clinton, called, "Maryborough." There are many descendants of this family now living in North Carolina. ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Barbara Kawamoto ==============================================================