John Bartram and Mary Maris

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Husband John Bartram ^{1 2}

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           Born: 23 May 1699 - near Darby, Chester (later Delaware) Co, PA 3
     Christened: 
           Died: 22 Sep 1777 3
         Buried: 

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         Father: William Bartram (      -      ) 3
         Mother: Elizabeth Hunt (      -      ) 3

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       Marriage: 

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   Other Spouse: Ann [2] Mendenhall (1703-1784) 1 2 - 11 Dec 1729 4

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Wife Mary Maris ³

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 1727 3
         Buried: 

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         Father: Richard Maris (      -      ) 3
         Mother: 

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Children

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General Notes: Husband - John Bartram

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His lot being cast in a newly-settled colony, his education was very defective. He, however, applied himself diligently to classical and philosophical studies, and always sought the society of the most learned and virtuous men. He had an early inclination to the study of physic and surgery. He acquired so much knowledge of medical science as to be of great service among his neighbors, and it is very probable that, as most of his medicines were derived from the vegetable kingdom, this circumstance might indicate the necessity of and his taste for the study of botany.
He soon conceived the idea of establishing a "Botanic Garden" for the reception and cultivation of various indigenous vegetables, as well as of exotics; and also of traveling for the discovery and acquisition of rare and interesting species. In 1728 he purchased the ground on which his Botanic Garden was laid out and planted, five acres, situated on the right bank of the Schuylkill River, a couple of miles below the city of Philadelphia, as then limited.* Here he built with his own hands a comfortable house of hewn stone. The date of the building is given in an inscription on a stone in the wall, viz., "JOHN * ANN BARTRAM, 1731." His various excursions rewarded his labors with the possession of a great variety of new, beautiful, and useful trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. His garden at length attracting the visits and notice of distinguished persons, he was encouraged to persevere in his labors. He sought to benefit science, commerce, and the useful arts by communicating his discoveries and collections to the curious at home and abroad.
Bartram became acquainted and entered into correspondence with many of the scientific and literary celebrities of Europe,-such as Linnaeus, Dr. Fothergill, and others,-and was also engaged in an active correspondence with nearly every scientific contemporary in America. He was indefatigable in his explorations of the forests and mountain regions, from the Catskills and great lakes down to the sandy lowlands and swamps of the south. A plant was dedicated to Bartram by Linnaeus, but it was subsequently merged in a genus previously established. Now a humble moss bears the name Bartramia, imposed by Hedwig. At the advanced age of nearly seventy years, John Bartram embarked at Philadelphia for Charleston, South Carolina; from thence he proceeded by land through Carolina and Georgia to St. Augustine, in east Florida. When he arrived at the last-named place,-being then appointed king's botanist and naturalist for exploring the provinces, he received orders to search for the sources of the great river San Juan (or St. John's). He was a man of modest and gentle manners, frank, cheerful, and of great good nature; a lover of justice, truth, and charity. During the whole course of his life there was not a single instance of his engaging in a litigious contest. In his political principles he was a decided patriot, and zealously testified against every description of human slavery. He was born and educated a Friend, but for some differences of opinion he was disowned by the society.
It appears by the records of the American Philosophical Society, of which John Bartram was one of the original members (his name standing next to that of Dr. Franklin, who headed the list), that he died Sept. 22, 1777, aged 78 years and 6 months. [HCC 1881, 477]

He had nine children with his second wife.

1 J. Smith Futhey & Gilbert Cope, History of Chester County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1881), Pg 477, 655.

2 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania (New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1911), Pg 614.

3 J. Smith Futhey & Gilbert Cope, History of Chester County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1881), Pg 477.

4 J. Smith Futhey & Gilbert Cope, History of Chester County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1881), Pg 655.