Thomas Meehan was a noted British-born nurseryman, botanist and author. He worked as a Kew

Kew

Kew is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London. Kew is best known for being the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens, now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace...

 gardener in 1846–1848, and thereafter he moved to Germantown

Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Germantown is a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, about 7–8 miles northwest from the center of the city...

 in Philadelphia. He was the founder of Meehan’s Monthly (1891–1901) and editor of Gardener’s Monthly (1859–1888).

Meehan grew up on the Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

. His interest in plants was sparked by his father, who was a gardener. He published his first botanical contribution at age fourteen, which led to his membership of the Wernernian Society. His knowledge and skills resulted in his securing a position at Kew Gardens from 1846 to 1848, where he was influenced by William Jackson Hooker

William Jackson Hooker

Sir William Jackson Hooker, FRS was an English systematic botanist and organiser. He held the post of Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow University, and was the first Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He enjoyed the friendship and support of Sir Joseph Banks for his exploring,...

.

Meehan travelled to Philadelphia in 1848 and worked for the owner of Bartram's Garden

Bartram's Garden

Bartram's Garden which covers is the oldest surviving botanic garden in North America, including an historic botanical garden and arboretum , located on the west bank of the Schuylkill River in Fairmount Park, near the intersection of 54th Street and Lindbergh Boulevard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

, who was pioneer locomotive builder Andrew M. Eastwick (1811–1879) and who, with Thomas De Kay and Joseph Harrison, had contracted to build the first railroad in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 . Meehan started a nursery in partnership with William Saunders in Germantown

Germantown

- Places :in the United States* Germantown, California, former name of Artois, California* Germantown, Connecticut* Germantown, Illinois* Germantown, Decatur County, Indiana...

 near Philadelphia, where he lived with his family for the rest of his life. When his business with Saunders ended, he started Meehan’s Nurseries, which became Thomas Meehan & Sons in 1896. His three sons Thomas B. Meehan, Mendelson Meehan and J. Franklin Meehan also had notable careers while they ran the nursery. J. Franklin designed parks and golf courses including Spring Ford Country Club, Ashborne Country Club and North Hills (originally called Edge Hill Golf Club). He left Edge Hill to design Sandy Run Country Club, where he also served as its first president.

Meehan and his sons supplied plants to the United States and Europe for seven decades, expanding to cover 60 hectares in the twentieth century. Their specialty was ornamentals, such as Japanese maples. In 1888, Thomas Meehan rediscovered the Pink Dogwood Cornus florida var. rubra, which was thought to be extinct, along the banks of the Wissahickon Creek

Wissahickon Creek

Wissahickon Creek is a stream in southeastern Pennsylvania. Rising in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, it runs about 23 miles passing through and dividing Northwest Philadelphia before emptying into the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia...

, which is now part of Philadelphia municipal park system. Meehan’s researches in botany led to his being the editor of The Gardener’s Monthly (1859–1888), and then of Meehans' Monthly (1891–1902), two horticultural journals with the largest circulation at that time. Meehan wrote his own agriculture columns for five newspapers.

Meehan was a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historical society founded in 1824 and based in Philadelphia. The Society's building, designed by Addison Hutton and listed on Philadelphia's Register of Historical Places, houses some 600,000 printed items and over 19 million manuscript and graphic items...

, the American Association of Nurserymen, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the American Pomological Society, the Academy of Natural Sciences

Academy of Natural Sciences

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the New World...

, the American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Association for the Advancement of Science

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...

 and the American Philosophical Society

American Philosophical Society

The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...

. He was also an honorary member of the Royal Horticultural Society

Royal Horticultural Society

The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...

 (London). He corresponded with foremost botanists William Darlington

William Darlington

William Darlington was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.William Darlington was born in Birmingham, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He attended Friends School at Birmingham and spent his youth on a farm...

, Josiah Hoopes, William Saunders, George Engelmann

George Engelmann

George Engelmann, also known as Georg Engelmann, was a German-American botanist. He was instrumental in describing the flora of the west of North America, then very poorly-known; he was particularly active in the Rocky Mountains and northern Mexico.-Origins:George Engelmann was born in Frankfurt...

, John Torrey, Asa Gray

Asa Gray

-References:*Asa Gray. Dictionary of American Biography. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928–1936.*Asa Gray. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998.*Asa Gray. Plant Sciences. 4 vols. Macmillan Reference USA, 2001....

, Maxwell T. Masters

Maxwell T. Masters

Maxwell Tylden Masters was an English botanist and taxonomist. He was educated at King's College London and the University of St Andrews...

, Ferdinand von Mueller

Ferdinand von Mueller

Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...

, George Nicholson and Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...

.

Savior of Bartram's Garden

Thomas Meehan was a principal in the saving of Bartram's Garden, Philadelphia, PA.

Bartram's Garden

Bartram's Garden

Bartram's Garden which covers is the oldest surviving botanic garden in North America, including an historic botanical garden and arboretum , located on the west bank of the Schuylkill River in Fairmount Park, near the intersection of 54th Street and Lindbergh Boulevard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

 is the oldest surviving botanic garden in the United States. John Bartram

John Bartram

*Hoffmann, Nancy E. and John C. Van Horne, eds., America’s Curious Botanist: A Tercentennial Reappraisal of John Bartram 1699-1777. Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 243. ....

 (1699–1777), the well-known early American botanist, explorer, and plant collector, founded the garden in September 1728 when he purchased a 102-acre (0.41 km2) farm in Kingsessing Township, Philadelphia County. Following the American Revolution, Bartram’s sons John Bartram, Jr. (1743–1812) and William Bartram

William Bartram

William Bartram was an American naturalist. The son of Ann and John Bartram, William Bartram and his twin sister Elizabeth were born in Kingsessing, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. As a boy, he accompanied his father on many of his travels, to the Catskill Mountains, the New Jersey Pine Barrens,...

 (1739–1823), continued the international trade in plants. They expanded the family’s botanic garden and nursery business. Following his father’s lead, William became an important naturalist, artist, and author in his own right.

After 1812, Ann Bartram Carr (1779–1858), a daughter of John Bartram, Jr., maintained the family garden and business with her husband Colonel Robert Carr (1778–1866) and his son John Bartram Carr (1804–1839). Their commercial activities remained focused on international trade in native North American plants. Domestic demand also grew under their management.

In 1850, financial difficulties led to the historic garden’s sale outside of the 122 year ownership by the family to Andrew M. Eastwick (1811–1879), who preserved it as a private park for his estate. Upon Eastwick’s 1879 death, the Eastwick family wished to sell the Garden which, being proximate to downtown Philadelphia and lying alongside of the Schulkill River, was at risk for development.

A campaign to preserve the garden was organized by Thomas Meehan (1826–1901), in Philadelphia. A national campaign for funds was aided by Charles S. Sargent of the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1891, control of the site was turned over to the City of Philadelphia. It remains protected as a city park. Since that time, the John Bartram Association, formally organized in 1893, has overseen preservation efforts and historical interpretation of the garden, the John Bartram House, and a number of surviving outbuildings.

The garden’s plant collection includes only a few extant examples dating from the Bartram family occupancy; however, documentation for what was once in cultivation is rich. The first century of public ownership left the garden wanting in terms of care and interpretation. Despite the disappearance of a number of subsidiary physical elements in the landscape, the garden’s rectilinear framework designed and laid out by Bartram during the second quarter of the eighteenth century is still recognizable.

Thanks to to efforts of Thomas Meehan and Charles S. Sargent, Bartram’s House and Garden’s physical endurance demonstrates eighteenth- and nineteenth-century botanic studies, the North American plant and seed business, and period domestic life in Philadelphia.

The Meehan Family

Thomas Meehan married his wife Catharine Emma Colflesh in 1852; he was survived by his wife and six children: William E. Meehan, Thomas B. Meehan, J. Franklin Meehan, S. Mendelson Meehan, Sarah D. Meehan Lanning and Frances G. Meehan Burn. William was Commissioner of Fisheries for Pennsylvania; while his other three sons managed the Nursery Firm of Thomas Meehan & Sons, Inc.

Publications

• 'The American Handbook of Ornamental Trees (Philadelphia, 1853)
• The Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States , 4 vols. (1878–1880) Thomas Meehan, Alois Lunzer (1840–?) and lithographed by Louis Prang
  Louis Prang
  Louis Prang was an American printer, lithographer and publisher. He is sometimes known as the "father of the American Christmas card".- Youth :...
  
  (1824–1909) (Boston 1879)
• Wayside Flowers (1881)
• Contributions to the Life History of Plants (16 parts) (Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences, 1887–1902).