A Journey with the Bartrams’, Hookers and other Famous Families in the Western Botanical Science, Art and Exploration Lecture

John Bartram and his son, William Bartram, were among the first active, professional American field botanists throughout the Revolutionary era. Father John (1699-1777) was an indefatigable collector of plants and seeds during his travels across eastern North America, eventually establishing arguably the first botanic garden in the New World. His son William (1739-1823) was similarly well traveled, an avid collector, and an extraordinary artist of both plants and birds. At roughly the same time as the younger Bartram, William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865) burnishing his credentials as an intrepid English explorer, keen botanist and accomplished illustrator as well as the third director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. His son, Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) too followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming one of the greatest British botanists of the 19th century, the 4th director of Kew, and Charles Darwin’s closest friend and confidante.