1870 - Testimonials from Happy Gardeners and Farmers on James Gregory Seeds

"Old Pete says you are the best seedsman in this world's paradise..."

This early James J. H. Gregory catalog is humble compared to the colorful catalogs in the next  two decades. (Not that Gregory ever got into the luxurious color lithos like most other dealers.)

I don't know about you but I love to read testimonials, even when I don't care about what the folks are commenting on!  This back page from Gregory's 1870 annual seed catalog was too much for me to ignore, so I'm sharing it.   The 19th century advertisers used testimonials quite often in their catalogs.  

Online testimonials such as Amazon.com posts on each product has brought them back into use more, not that they ever disappeared.  They differ now in that negative comments are there as well.  It doesn't seem to matter to buyers, then and now, that you can't trust testimonials - they are just nice to read!

1759 - Botanical Engraver, John Miller/Johannes Sebastian Mueller

After spending a large portion of my life with craftsman and pursuing a livelihood within a craft,  I am drawn to reading about others, especially when they feature in my historical botanical meanderings.  John Miller was good, and you may be interested to see his work. Here are two articles.  
 Enjoy!

JOHN MILLER,  AND HIS WORK.

WHEN writing the history of the Botanical Magazine, I alluded to this accomplished botanical artist (see Gardeners' Chronicle, third series, i., p. 451), and mentioned his work, Illustration of the Serial System of Linnaeus. 

This abbreviated title is hardly intelligible, standing alone, yet it is almost unnecessary in this place to add that the sexual systems of plants is intended.  At the time I wrote, I had not seen the work, but a magnificent copy, or rather double copy, one coloured and one uncoloured, has lately been presented by the Bentham Trustees to the library of the Royal Gardens, Kew, and I dare say a few particulars of the man and his work may interest many persons who have not direct facilities for obtaining such information. 

Johannes Sebastian Mueller was born at Nürnburg in 1715, and became an artist and engraver, An early inclination for botany led him to make his profession as an engraver subservient to the cultivation of his favourite science.  At what date he came to England I have not ascertained, but, so far as I know, he did not begin publishing until 1759, though, as he himself states, he had laboured many years at the engravings. 

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Pulteney does not mention him, and Pritzel, the great botanical bibliographer, does not seem to have been aware that there was a coloured edition of the work in question; but he gives the price as twenty-one pounds. This work is a large folio, containing 108 plates, with explanatory letterpress opposite; and it was issued uncoloured, except the first four plates, or rather four separately numbered plates placed at the beginning, and representing the forms of leaves; and some copies were coloured, though probably only a few. 

Of the good quality of the work there can be no difference of opinion, both as to the drawing and the accurate and careful colouring. Some of it is almost or quite equal to Ehret's work; some of it, on the other hand, was evidently not done from life, and is faulty in drawing and colouring. Linnaeus, to whom a copy had been sent, declared that the figures were prettier and more accurate than any that had been seen since the foundation of the world. 

Here are his words: 

Hamamelis virginica

“Donum tuum operis immortalis charioris veniet pretio quam, ut id remunerare valeam. Figurae enim sunt et pulchriores et accuratiores quam ullae quas vidit mundus a condito orbe." 

In several other letters the great Swedish botanist speaks most highly of the quality of Miller's work, and stated that he should be under everlasting obligation to the author for so magnificently illustrating his classification of plants. Without going so far as to say that Miller was unsurpassed, even by his contemporaries, it may safely be asserted that much of the work of the present day is far behind him, and he will always rank as a master.

Momordica charantia

The plants selected for the purpose are mostly common ones, in order to render the book useful to persons who had not access to the rarer plants of botanic gardens and large private gardens; and the arrangement is, of course, after the Linnean classes and orders, beginning with Canna indica, to represent the Monandria monogynia, followed by Blitum virgatum, referred to the Monandria digynia, though it is now known that the stamens vary in number from one to five. 

Each class and order is taken in its turn, and some of the plates are most elaborate productions, exhibiting an amount of detail that is truly surprising, both in the drawing of the plant itself, and the number of dissections. Although the object was to choose common plants, such comparatively little known subjects appear as Hamamelis virginica, Turnera ulmifolia, Petiveria alliacea, Galenia africana, Cassytha baccifera, Melianthus major, Pentapetes phoenicea, Hermannia alnifolia, and Momordica charantia. 

Specially effective among commoner plants are the Sunflower, Hollyhock, common Marigold, a single Paeony, Blackberry, Apple, Fig, and the common Passion-flower. The figures of the Sunflower and single Hollyhock are really admirable pictures, representing the flowers of the natural size, the Sunflower being 8 inches across. 

The rest of this article can be found in Gardeners Chronicle & New Horticulturist, 1890.

MILLER, JOHN, otherwise Johann Sebastian Muller (1715?-1790?), draughtsman and engraver, was born at Nuremberg about 1715, and studied there under J. C. Weigel and M. Tyroff.  

In 1744 he came to England with his brother Tobias, an engraver of architecture, and he passed the remainder of his life in this country, chiefly practicing as an engraver. He signed his early works J. S. Muller or J. S. Miller, but after 1760 used the signature of John Miller. 

In 1759 and 1760 he was living in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden; in 1777 in Dorset Court, near Parliament Street; and in 1789 at 10 Vauxhall Walk, Lambeth.

In the preface to his 'Illustration of the Sexual System' Muller speaks of his own early inclination to Botany,' and 'desire of rendering his Profession as an Engraver subservient to the Cultivation of his favourite Science;' but though most of his work is faithful to nature and artistically excellent, Philip Miller [q.v.], Dr. Gowan Knight [q. v.], and Lord Bute are probably largely responsible for its scientific supervision. 

On 31 March 1759 he issued 

"Proposals for publishing one hundred prints, exhibiting a curious Collection of Plants and Insects by John Miller . . . Each Print will contain a Plant coloured from Nature, with the peculiar Insects which feed on [it] . . . The Plants will be classed under their proper Genera, according to the Botanick System of Mr. Miller of Chelsea (who has generously offered his kind assistance). . . . The Insects will be ranged as by Dr. Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae . . . This work will be published in Fifty Numbers, one. . . every Month. Each Number will contain Two. . . plates, with a half-sheet of letter-press,. . .Price Five Shillings. The first number on 10 May. . .If the Proprietor meets with Encouragement ... he proposes to go through the whole Animal Creation according to the System adapted by Dr. Linnaeus." 

for  more info: Cincinnati History Library and Archives

1777

Of this work, equal if not superior to the previously published ' Plantae et Papiliones' of Ehret, only ten folio plates were published, with the letter-press to the first eight, the plates bearing date between May 1759 and April 1760.

Richard Weston, in his 'Catalogue of English Authors on Agriculture' (1773), notes, under 1770, that Miller then published  'No. 1' of his 'System of Linnaeus explained ... To be compleated in 15 Numbers, one Guinea each. Each Number contains 4 plants coloured and 4 plain.' 

John Ellis wrote to Linnaeus of this undertaking on 28 Dec. 1770,

"There is a valuable work now carrying on upon your system by Mr. John Miller, a German painter and engraver, under the direction of Dr. Gowan Knight, of the British Museum. This will make your system of botany familiar to the ladies, being in English as well as Latin. The figures are well drawn, and very systematically dissected and described. I have desired that he may send to your ambassador for you the two first numbers to know your opinion of it, and if you approve you may get him subscriptions" {Correspondence of Linnceus, i. 255). 

The plates are dated from 1771 to 1776, and in 1777 the work was issued complete in three volumes folio, containing 108 coloured plates, 104 uncoloured, and 109 sheets of letter-press in Latin and English, 'published and sold by the author.' 

The English title was 'An Illustration of the Sexual System of the Genera Plantarum of Linnaeus.' A list of eighty-two subscribers, taking about 125 copies, and including the name of David Garrick, is prefixed, and in the preface' are given four letters to the author from Linnaeus, in one of which he writes, 'Donum tuum operis immortalis chariori veniet fretio quam, ut id remunerare valeam. 'igurae enim sunt et pulchriores et accuratiores quam ullae quas vidit mundus a condito orbe.' 

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

In Linnaeus's own copy of the work, now in the Linnean Society's library, in that in the King's library (36 i. 1-3), in the Banksian copy, at the Natural History Museum, and in that at Kew, formerly belonging to James Lee of the Vineyard, Hammersmith, some plates are proofs before letters.

 In 1779 Miller published an octavo edition of the 'Illustration', with 107 uncoloured plates and a preface containing a letter of encouragement from the younger Linnaeus, and promising a second volume to exhibit specific characters.   

This second volume was not issued until 1789, the delay being stated in the preface to be due to 'a particular engagement.' It is entitled 'An Illustration of the Termini Botanici of Linnaeus,' and contains eighty-six uncoloured plates. 

New title pages for the folio edition and the first volume of the octavo edition of the 'Illustration' seem to have been issued subsequently, copies at the Natural History Museum bearing the imprint, 'Printed for Robert Faulder, New Bond Street, 1794.' 

The ' Illustration' was published in German in folio by Konrad Felsing, Darmstadt, 1792, and at Frankfurt-on-Maine, 1804, both coloured; the octavo edition, by Dr. F. G. Weiss, at Frankfurt in 1789, with the plates of the first volume, re-engraved by Charles Goepfert and coloured, in a separate volume, entitled 'Johannis Milleri Tabulae Iconum centum quatuor plantarum ad illustrationem systematis sexualis Linnaeani.'

Meanwhile Miller attempted another ambitious work dealing with new plants. 
Of this seven folio plates, dated 1780, were published, with a half-sheet of letter-press, but no title.  In the botanical department of the Natural History Museum are five volumes, including in all 1072 original coloured drawings, with the manuscript title, 'Drawings of the Leaves, Stalks, and Ramifications of Plants for the purpose of ascertaining their several Species, executed for the Rt. Hon'ble, the Earl of Bute, for the years 1783 and 1784, by John Miller, Author of the Illustration of the Sexual System of Linnaeus.' 
These drawings were not utilized in Lord Bute's great work, 'Botanical Tables' (1785) ; but all the plates in the nine volumes of that work are also signed by Miller.

Miller engraved numerous plates other than botanic from his own designs; they are somewhat feeble in drawing and treatment, but his plates from compositions by good masters have much merit. ...

 ... Furthermore he painted landscapes, which, as well as some of his engravings, he exhibited with the Society of Arts and at the Royal Academy from 1762 to 1788. Though the date of his death is unknown, it was probably soon after 1789, and almost certainly before 1794.

Miller engraved his own portrait with that of Linnaeus on the frontispiece of his 'Illustration of the Sexual System,' 1777.

He was twice married, and had in all twenty-seven children, two of his sons, John Frederick and James Miiller or Miller, becoming known as draughtsmen, and as frequent exhibitors of topographical views at the Society of Artists. 

Miller's son's work

The former accompanied Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander to Ireland in 1772 as a draughtsman, and published in numbers in 1785 ' Various Subjects of Natural History wherein are delineated Birds, Animals, and many curious Plants: with the parts of fructification of each plant, all of which are drawn and coloured from Nature,' London, imp. fol.













[Naglor'sKiinstler-Lexikon; Mason's Memoirs of Gray, 1814, i. 335; Dortd's manuscript Hist, of English Engravers (Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 38403); Universal Catalogue of Books on Art; Catalogues of the Society of Artists: Bryan's Diet, of Painters and Engravers; Miller's own works.] F. M. O'D.—G. S. B.

Goodness! Who knew? Tchotchke for 19th c. Seedsman James Gregory

I have nothing to do with this company, but I thought it was sort of cool if you like that sort of thing, that seedsman James Gregory's storehouse was made into a collectable!

I suppose it doesn't hurt the Eugene O'Neil put on plays there :-)

Go Hestia Creations for more info and a video on how they make them.

Link: for a current street view.

1860 - More Nice News About Seedsman James J. H. Gregory

Hubbard Squash

James Gregory went out of his way to do good.  

Many sources describing a man who helped his neighbors, thought of future generations, and did his duty in various community organizations in spite of being a busy man convinced me Gregory was a good guy.

The worst I can think of him is that he was occasionally rather presumptive in distributing books on how to live your life.  

People writing about how to live your life is a common, self-centered human drive which usually is usually harmless, even if annoying.  

This post just gathers some more information about his life.

The following is from Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Vol. 4, 1908.

James John Howard Gregory, son of James and Ruth (Roundy) Gregory, was born at Marblehead, November 7, 1827. 

James J.H.  Gregory as a college student in the late 1840s.

Courtesy of Shari Worrell

He was educated in the public schools of his native town, pursued a two years' course at the Middlebury Academy, after which he matriculated at Amherst College, graduating therefrom in 1850. 

His advent into the seed business was almost by accident. He once said of his beginning in the seed business:

 "A man wrote to the New England Farmer for a nice winter squash; I heard of it and we happened to have one; my father called it "Marm Hubbard's Squash" because we got the seeds from an old lady by the name of Hubbard. I sent him some of the seeds: he tried them and so well did he like them that he wrote an article, which was published in a number of papers, describing the good points of the squash. Before I fully realized it I was getting orders for this squash seed from all parts of the United States, and also for many other kinds of seeds and soon found I was doing a thriving seed business."  (Elizabeth Hubbard I later read...)

At first he transacted this in his home, but about the year 1883 built a store, which he enlarged from time to time, his business becoming one of the largest of the country. He sent goods to all parts of the United States and to Canada and the provinces. During the famine in India he was especially active and benevolent. He sent from his store houses large quantities of seed corn, aiding materially in the securing of a new crop for the relief of the starving people. 

"I had a college mate, he said, who was a missionary there and I sent him seeds of the best varieties of American vegetables. He planted and also distributed them among the people. It had such a good effect that the governor of that section of India where he was, sent for, thanked, and rewarded him, and offered him three hundred dollars a month to take charge of the agriculture of the government, but being a missionary he would not accept the offer."

His extensive seed farms located in Middleton comprise over four hundred acres, and he makes a specialty of growing particular varieties for market garden purposes. During the time he was in the business he made a specialty of introducing new varieties of vegetables before unknown to the public. He has written, published and sold many thousands of copies of works on agriculture, and has lectured extensively on this subject before the colleges and seminaries throughout the northern states. Many of Mr. Gregory's clerks have been in his employ for a quarter of a century.

"The Old Squash House"  Moved from Gerry's Island, the 1720 Squash House was originally owned by John Felton and used as a fish shanty. It became famous for the storage of J. J.H. Gregory & Sons squash seeds. Interesting sidelights: Tallulah Bankhead played here with Eugene O'Neil.

(Take a tour of Marblehead using Google street view.  It is a wonderful town!)

Mr. Gregory retired in July, 1907, from the great business he constructed during his long and active business life, and since then has devoted himself to his private concerns and charities. He has always lived modestly, notwithstanding the wealth at his command, and has taken much pleasure and satisfaction in giving away funds for southern colleges and churches and in similar good works. 

He has aided a number of young men to pursue a college education. He presents to every male member of the graduating classes of the colored colleges of the south a character forming book, and has awarded a fund to continue this gift for all future time. He has given books of advantage to the public, at times as many as three thousand volumes per annum, for a number of years, sending them to jails, prisons, etc. 

He has recently given a number of fine engravings to the schools of Marblehead and the Young Men's Christian Association, and twenty oil paintings to the different churches and chapels. He has for many years been a collector of Indian relics of which he has over two thousand, and also of shells of which he has a large collection and a thorough knowledge. 

Mr. Gregory has taken an active interest in public and municipal affairs. He has been one of the generous supporters of all movements of moral or material benefit to his native town. He gave the bell and clock for Abbot Hall in Marblehead. He is a Republican, and in 1876-77 was state senator, elected by the joint vote of the Prohibition and Republican parties.

Mr. Gregory married (first) Eliza C. Bubier; (second) Harriet R. Knight; (third) Sarah Lydia Caswell.    Mr. Gregory has adopted four children: 
1. Edgar, mentioned below. 
2. James H., born Boston, 1873, educated in public schools of Marblehead, spent one year at the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst, then went to South America to live with his uncle, James Gregory Carleton, a mining engineer. He enlisted in the Columbian army, being promoted through the various ranks, taking part in a number of battles, and finally being made brigadier-general. He married a Spanish girl and they are the parents of six children. 
3. Annie, married Stephen Burroughs, of Long Hill, Connecticut, and has six children. 
4. Laura, married Simeon Coffin, of Marblehead, and has three children. 

Edgar Gregory, adopted son of James John Howard Gregory, was born at Chelsea,

Massachusetts, December 12, 1869. He received his education in the public schools of Marblehead and the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst, graduating from the latter in the class of 1890.

 He became associated with his foster-father in the seed business, and in 1901 was admitted to partnership under the firm name of J. J. H. Gregory & Son and continued thus until the senior partner and founder retired July 1, 1907. 

Since then Edgar Gregory has been sole proprietor though the name is unchanged. He resided at Middleton, where the seed farms were located, until 1908, when he removed to Marblehead and where the place of business is. Mr. Gregory is interested in botany, in which study he took a first prize in college. He is a Republican, and was a member of the school committee in Middleton in 1905. He is a prominent member of the Congregational church of Middleton, is a member of its standing committee and was for three years superintendent of the Sunday-school. He is a member of Philanthropic Lodge of Free Masons, of the New England Order of Protection, Elbridge Gerry Lodge, No. 303, all of Marblehead.
...

From 2014 at WickedLocal Marblehead a brief mention to announce a talk by a Gregory descendent, Shari Kelley Worrel, who, like James Gregory, is very involved in local organizations.

Gregory went on to build a great fortune from his agricultural talents and was quite charitable. Choosing to live on only $300 a year, he used the rest of the money for philanthropic purposes such as sending seed to regions in famine -- India, Nebraska -- and books to colleges serving African-Americans in the South. He also built schools and churches with the money, and was known for leaving free vegetables on the street for the poor.Shari Kelley Worrell, a descendent of Gregory, covers all of this and much more in her 580-page book, “Remembering James J.H. Gregory: The Seed King, Philanthropist, Man.” 

1883, Transactions,   Massachusetts Horticultural Society

Mr. Gregory said that he had been trying to get some one to join with him to collect facts in regard to large and interesting trees in New England, and secure photographs of them. He alluded to the many fine elms in New England, and said that not one is to be found in California. The finest one he had seen is at Weathersfield, Conn.

On motion of Mr. Wetherell, Mr. Gregory was added to the Committee on Old and Interesting Trees.

From Agriculture of Maine. Annual Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, 1913:

GREGORY ORCHARDS - THEIR SOURCE AND AIM.
By A. K. Gardner, Augusta.

As a result of the New England Fruit Show held in Boston in October, 1909, Mr. James J. H. Gregory of Marblehead, Mass., gave to the State of Maine a $1000 first mortgage bond, with the provision that at intervals of five years $200 of the interest should be paid to the orchardist who could show to a committee of three the most excellent orchard of one acre or more grown on his own land, of trees of his own selection (the Ben Davis excepted) five years from setting; the first planting to be in the spring of 1910 and judged in 1915. This most generous offer of Mr. Gregory's induced others to offer like premiums as follows:—

Premium by a friend $15

Bowker Company 100

B. G. Pratt Company 100

Douglas Pump Company 100

Deming Pump Co., Salem, Ohio 50

Charles J. Jager Co., Boston, Mass 50

Portland Farmers' Club 50


This great movement received the hearty support of many of our leading orchard men throughout the State, with the result that a large number entered for the contest, and names were being booked for the acre or more of standard apple trees. Information regarding this contest was published and distributed as follows:—... (link above if you are interested)

1910 - James Gregory, Marblehead Seedsman - A Good Man's Odd Bequest

Ah,  if only a bit was added to the principal each year...

A Provision For Twins 

Mr. and Mrs. Henry C. Mills, of Marblehead, Massachusetts, are the first claimants under a bequest made in the will of Hon. James J. H. Gregory, which provides that the income of $1000 shall be divided each year among the parents of twins born in Marblehead. The Mills twins were born July 10, 1910, and are boys. 

The will, which was probated about a month after Mr. Gregory's death in February, 1910, reads as follows: 

"Having had my sympathies often aroused by reason of the extra burden and care entailed on loving mothers, poor in the things of earth, who have brought twins into the world, as an expression of that sympathy I leave in trust to my beloved town $1000, with the provision that the interest be divided on January first between all twins born in Marblehead during the previous year. In case no twins are born during a given year the interest shall be added to the principal."

1860 - James J. H. Gregory - Seedsman, Marblehead, Massachusetts

Marblehead, watercolor by Maurice Prendergast,

A New England seedsman, James Gregory introduced some great vegetables, first among them is my favorite, Hubbard Squash!  I didn't realize I hadn't posted much about him until I checked the Seedsman Index last night to add a link to a photo of his Marblehead seed farm workers.  

Another reason I like Gregory is that he took cabbage seriously.  I love engravings of cabbage, and I crave cabbage as a coleslaw. I don't cook it EVER as my husband hates it.

(Ah, well, he is worth the compromise.)

First, here is a brief biography from Liberty Hyde Bailey's The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, Vol. 3 -

Gregory, James J. H., farmer, seedsman, and author, was born at Marblehead, Massachusetts, November 7, 1827, and died February 20, 1910.  

He was educated in the public schools at Marblehead, two years at Middlebury College, and graduated from Amherst College in 1850. He taught in Marblehead, Hingham and Lunenberg.  

The starting of the seed business was almost an accident. He was reading the"New England Farmer" and saw the request for a good winter squash, and as his father had recently raised some splendid squashes from seed that "Old Marm Hubbard" had given him, he sent the inquirer some of this seed. 

The man was so well pleased that he wrote articles for several papers extolling these squashes, and soon the Gregory Seed Business was thriving, sending Hubbard squash seed to all parts of the United States.  

Naturally the business started in the home, the attic being used for the purpose; in a very short time it was necessary to move to larger quarters. He branched out with other seed, both vegetable and flower, and at the time of his death was carrying on one of the largest seed establishments in the country.  

During his career he introduced many new varieties of vegetables, several of which are the standards in the market today. His seed-farms comprised over 400 acres where he grew pedigreed stock; he always felt that by growing his own seeds he was less liable to mistakes and could, himself, select the most perfect types. His reputation for choice varieties was so renowned that the firm became the headquarters for stock seeds for other well-known concerns. 

He wrote and distributed many thousands of copies of treatises on various agricultural subjects, such as: 

"Onion Raising," 1865; "Squashes: How to Grow Them," 1867; "Cabbages and Cauliflower," 1870; "Carrots, Mangold Wurtzels and Sugar Beets," 1877; "Fertilizers," 1885. 

In his early life he lectured extensively on agricultural and horticultural subjects. 

Mr. Gregory was a philanthropist of renown. He gave large sums of money for the establishment of southern schools and colleges, the Gregory Institute of Wilmington, North Carolina, being founded by him. He served his native town in many responsible capacities and filled many public offices. 

- Edgar Gregory.

Late 1800s - J. H. Gregory Seed Farm Workers and a Good Book

I was looking up this interesting place, the Fern-croft Inn about 1890, when what did I find but this fantastic photo of J. H. Gregory and his seed farm workers!  

This book is fun to look through if you like historical images from New England.

On the cover: (a cropped version of the above photo)

 J. H. Gregory Seed Farm Workers.

J. H. Gregory (1827 -1920) was a Marblehead seed farmer and philanthropist.  He owned more than 400 acres of farmland in Middleton, Marblehead, and Danvers.  He developed special squash and cherry tomatoes. After the seeds were removed from the squash,  the squash were left in a box with a sign reading, "Help Yourself". The man with the dark beard in the back row was J. H. Gregory.  Gregory Street was named in his honor and the houses on the street were built for his workers.  His seed catalogs were mailed all over the world. (Courtesy of the Middleton Historical Society.)