Cadwallader Colden

by Seymour I. Schwartz

  In 1755, Garden returned to Charles Town where he developed a large medical practice. That year he accompanied South Carolina's governor, James Glen, on an expedition to the Cherokee territory in the Blue Ridge Mountains. In January he sent the Coldens seeds of Magnolia, Guatemala Indigo, Button snakeroot (a powerful diaphoretic), Catalpa, Dahoon Holly (an Evergreen), Palmetto, and Renialemia. The accompanying letter informed Colden that the Montagu house had been purchased for the repository of Sir Hans Sloane's collection and the Cotton Library and Harleian manuscripts. This was the genesis of The British Museum. The letter also mentioned Doctor James Lind's classic treatise on Scurvy.79 The same year, Garden first wrote Linnaeus; this was the beginning of an extensive and long-term correspondence. In 1755, Garden was elected as the first corresponding member of the London Society of Arts and also the Premium Society, which was founded in London that year for granting premiums in Britain and the colonies for the encouragement of commerce, manufacturing, and agriculture. Colden was made a member on Garden's recommendation.80

  Garden made no landmark discoveries, but was particularly notable for his ability to classify plants. In several disputes with Linnaeus, Garden proved to be correct.81 Sometime in the 1760s, Garden sent Linnaeus a dissertation on the Carolina Siren, an amphibious mud iguana, which Linnaeus said was not only a new genus but a new class or order (Siren lacertian).82 Garden was recognized for his descriptions of the flora and fauna of America by election to the Philosophical Society of Edinbugh, the Royal Society of Uppsala, and the Royal Society of London. In 1768, he was elected a corresponding member of the American Society for Promoting and Propagating Useful Knowledge, the Philadelphia Medical Society, and the American Philosophical Society.83

  In 1765, the opposition to the Stamp Act in Charleston led Garden to proclaim in a letter, “The die is thrown for the sovereignty of America!”84 Throughout the American Revolution, Garden continued to practice medicine in Charles Town but his loyalty to the British crown was manifest. Consequently, in 1782, his property was confiscated and he was formally banished. His son, Alexander, rose to the rank of major and aide-de-camp to General Nathanael Greene in the American Army during the American Revolution. The abandoned Garden plantation was taken over by the son. Alexander senior died in 1791 in London after a long illness.

  A proposal to attach Garden's name to a plant was first made by Jane Colden. James Britten, in his paper “Jane Colden and the Flora of New York” wrote, “The plant (Hypericum virginicum)…had been sent her by Alexander Garden, who found it in New York in 1754; in return, Miss Colden sent him the description of the same plant, which she had discovered the previous summer, and ‘using the privilege of a first discoverer she was pleased to call this new plant Gardenia, in compliment to Dr. Garden.”85 Unfortunately, the plant in question turned out not to be new, and Garden's name was not attached.86 But, in 1760, John Ellis named the genus Gardenia for him. The name pertained to the Cape Jasmine Gardenia that is found in the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. Fothergilla gardenia also pertains to Alexander Garden.

  In the Aberdeen Magazine of 1761, a description of the plant that Garden sent to Jane Colden appears. The article states,

  Doctor Garden writes Doctor Whytt, that, in the summer 1754, he met, about a mile from the town of New York in New England, with a plant, which, at first, he took to be a hypericum, but, on examining it, found it different; upon which he took down its characters, and sent them, some days later, to Miss Jenny Colden (daughter of the Honourable Cadwallader Colden) a very ingenious young lady and curious Botanist. In return to this, Miss Colden sent Dr. Garden the characters of a plant which proves to be the same; it is No. 1533 of her collection, and was first found by her, Summer 1753. Using the privilege of a first discoverer, she was pleased to call the new plant Gardenia, in compliment to Dr. Garden.87

  Alexander Garden's name remains engrained with those of John Mitchell and Cadwallader Colden in the taxonomy of the world's flora.

  JANE COLDEN

  Jane Colden, who, along with her father, exchanged letters, seeds, and descriptions with Garden, merits special recognition in a biography of Cadwallader Colden. Garden noted that Jane's descriptions of plants were often more detailed and accurate than those of her father.88 Not only was she the first recognized female botanist in America and perhaps the entire world, but deserves the appellation “America's First Female Scientist.” And all of her accomplishments took place within a brief period of time during the 1750s distant from any urban center and the halls of academia.

  Jane, called Jenny by members of the family, the second oldest of the Coldens' daughters, was born in New York City on March 27, 1724, and moved to Coldengham with the family four years later. Jane and her siblings were educated at home. Although Colden wrote to Franklin that “I think the power of a nation consists in the knowledge and virtue of its inhabitants,”89 none of his children were sent to elementary school or to an institution of higher education. The correspondence of his children that is included in the volumes of Collections of the New-York Historical Society provides evidence that all of his children were literate and well-versed. It is generally assumed that Colden's wife played a major role in the education of the children because Cadwallader was often absent from the home. Of Mrs. Colden it is written, “She is said to have taught them habits of virtue and economy and gave them in her life and character the brightest of examples, so it can be presumed that her daughters were apt scholars in the accomplishments required of well-bred and trained gentlewomen of the day.”90 Jane, uniquely, stands out as her father's personally trained protégé as a botanist.

  In 1755, Colden wrote to Gronovius,

  I thought that Botany is an Amusement which may be made agreeable for the Ladies who are often at a loss to fill up their time if it could be made agreeable to them Their natural curiosity & the pleasure they take in the beauty & variety of dress seems to fit them for it The chief reason that few or none of them have hitherto applied themselves to this study I believe is because all the books of any value are wrote in Latin & and so filled with technical words that obtaining the necessary previous knowledge is so tiresome & disagreeable that they are discouraged at the first setting out & give it over before they can receive any pleasure in the pursuit

  I have a daughter who has an inclination to reading & a curiosity for natural phylosophy or natural History & a sufficient capacity for attaining a competent knowledge I took the pains to explain Linnaeus's system & to put it in English for her use by freeing it from the Technical terms which was easily don by useing two or three words in place of one She is now grown very fond of the study and has made such progress in it as I believe would please you if you saw her performance Tho' perhaps she could not have been persuaded to learn the terms at first she now understands in some degree Linnaeus's characters notwithstanding that she does not understand Latin She has already a pretty large volume in writing of the Description of plants She has shewn a method of takeing the impression of the leaves on paper with printers ink by a simple kind of rolling press which is of use in distinguishing the species by their leaves No description in words alone can give so clear an Idea as when the description is assisted with a picture She has the impression of 300 plants in the manner you'l see by the sample sent you. That you may have some conception of her performance & manner of describing I propose to inclose some samples in her own writing some of which I think are new Genus's….91

  In addition to teaching Jane the process of making ink impressions of leaves on paper, Colden had books sent from England to augment her education. He wrote Collinson, “[I]…design likewise to send you a Sample of my daughter Jenny's performances in Botany. As it is not usual for woemen to take pleasure in Botany as a Science I shall do what I can to incourage her in this amusement which fills up her idle hours to much better purpose than the usual amusements eagerly pursued by others of her sex. As she [Jane] cannot have the opportunity of seeing plants in a Botanical
Garden I think the next best is to see the best cuts or pictures of them for which purpose I would buy for her Tournefort's Institutiones Herbariae, Morison's Historia Plantarum, or if you know any better books for this purpose as you are a better judge than I am will be obliged to make this choice.”92 Collinson replied: “I have at last been So luckky to geyt you a fine Tournefort's Herbal & the History of Plants and Martin in excellent preservation to which have added 2 Volumes of Edinburgh Essays for the sake of the Curious Botanic Dissertation off your ingenious daughter being the Only Lady that I have yett heard of that is a professor of the Linnean System of which He is not a Little proud.”93

  Jane was also inspired by the visits to Coldengham of the notable colonial botanists, John and William Bartram and Alexander Garden, and also that of Peter Kalm of Sweden. Jane gained the respect of the community of botanists. In a letter from John Bartram to Collinson dated 1753 describing his visit, he wrote, “Got our dinner and set out to gather seeds, and did not get back till two hours within night; that looked over some of the Doctor's daughter's botanical, curious observations.”94 In 1756, Collinson wrote John Bartram that “Our friend Colden's daughter has, in a scientific manner sent over several sheets of plants, very curiously anatomized after his method. I believe she is the first lady that has attempted anything of this nature.”95 A year later, John Bartram responded to a letter from Jane indicating that “I am very careful of it, and it keeps company with the choicest correspondence.”96

  Jane's expertise qualified her to instruct the fourteen-year-old Samuel Bard in the science of botany. In 1756, Bard was sent by his father, a friend of Cadwallader Colden, to Coldengham as an escape from New York City because of the boy's ill health. In A Domestic Narrative of the Life of Samuel Bard it is written, “This residence not only restored him to good health, but filled his memory with pleasing recollections both of the society and studies to which it introduced him. In the family resided Miss Colden…. With this lady, differing in years but united in tastes, Mr. Bard formed an intimate friendship; under her instruction he became skillful in botanizing, a pursuit which remained to him a favorable amusement, and which owed, perhaps, a part of its attraction to the pleasing associations with which it was originally connected, since to the end of his life, he never mentioned the name of his instructress without some admiration or attachment.”97 Samuel Bard received his medical degree from Edinburgh and founded the first medical school in New York, King's College (now Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons) in 1765. Bard dedicated his thesis to Cadwallader Colden: “Samuel Bard wishes to dedicate these first fruits of his training to the Honorable Cadwallader Colden, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor of New York for the thousand benefits shown him publicly and privately….”98

  Jane evidenced confidence in her ability as a descriptive botanist and did not hesitate to differ with the authority of Linnaeus. With regard to Polygala (S'eneca or Snakeroot), she wrote, “Linnaeus describes this as being a Papilionatious Flower, and calls the two largest Leaves of the cup Alae, but as they continue, till the seed is ripe and the two flower Leaves, and its appendage folds [sic] together, I must beg leave to differ with him Added to this, the Seed Vessell, differs from all that I have observed of the Papilionatious Kind.”99 About Clematis virginiana, she indicated, “Neither Linnaeus take notice that there are some Plants of the Clematis that bear only Male flowers, but this I have observed with such care, that there can be no doubt of it.”100

  Jane's contributions to botany gained the respect of others with an established reputation. Collinson wrote Linnaeus, “What is marvelous his [Colden's] daughter is perhaps the first lady that has perfectly studied your system. She deserves to be celebrated.” In a subsequent letter to Linnaeus, Collinson wrote, “Last week my friend, Mr. Ellis, wrote you a latter, recommending a curious botanic dissertation, by Miss Jane Colden. As this accomplished lady is the only one of the fair sex that I have heard of, who is scientifically skillful in the Linnaean system, you will no doubt distinguish her merits, and recommend her example to the ladies of every country.” In the referred to letter, Ellis had stated, “The young lady merits your esteem and does honor to your system.” He suggested that Linnaeus name a new genus for her, but that did not come to pass.101

  All that remains of Jane Colden's botanical legacy is a manuscript that resided in the British Museum for over two hundred years, and is now in the manuscript section of the British Library. After her death it was acquired by Captain Frederick von Wangenheim, a Prussian serving in a Hessian regiment during the American Revolution. It next passed on to Godfrey Baldinger, who was professor of botany and medical theory at the University of Göttingen and Marburg. It finally became the property of Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society. On his death, it went with his collection of books and botanical specimens to the British Museum.102

  A prefatory note by Wangenheim was published in an account of the manuscript in Schrader's Journal für die Botanik for 1800. The translation reads: “This MS., which has never been printed, contains a part of the New York Flora, and has been composed by a lady, the daughter of Governor Cadwallader Colden, well known for his botanical works, and also a physician. This lady married a doctor of medicine, Farquhar, a Scotchman by birth and she died soon afterwards. Some of the names are according to her father and according to Gronovius, and some are according to the Brandenburg doctor Schoepff, who has read this work. The trivial names are according to Linnaeus. This work is a remarkable one because it is that of a lady who possessed such a love for botany that she learned Latin, and judging by its nature is so worthy and correct that contains many even minute things.” It was written in New York in May 1782.103

  The title page identifies the author as the daughter of Cadwallader Colden; the name, Jane, is conspicuously absent.

  FLORA

  NOV.–EBORACENSIS.

  Plantas in Solo Natali

  collegit, descripsit,

  delineavit,

  COLDENIA,

  Cadwallader Coldens

  Filia.

  The manuscript consists of 340 drawings, which are ink outlines washed in with neutral tint rather than the impressions referred to by Colden to Gronovius. The pages that include her written descriptions are numbered 1 to 341 but there are some pages with only the name of the plant on the top of the sheet. As noted by Britten, the descriptions are “excellent-full, careful and evidently taken from the living specimens.” One of these (No. 153 of the manuscript) was published in Essays and Observations, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1770). It was the plant that had been sent to her by Garden, who found it in New York, and she had tried to have it named Gardenia by Linnaeus. Another of her descriptions, translated into Latin was published in the Correspondence of Linnaeus, vol. i., page 94.104

  In her research, she conversed with the “Country People” and Indians, from whom she learned of the uses of some of the plants. A tea made of the leaves of the Mountain-mint (Pycnanthemum incanum) was used for stomach ailments. A preparation of the root of Goldthread (Coptis trifolia) was used for sore throat and canker sore. Prickly Ash (Aralia spinosa) was treatment for coughs and also dropsy (edema). Others were specified for use in cookery.105 Jane is also credited with a 1756 memorandum of the process of making cheese on the farm.106 Walter Rutherfurd, a Scottish officer who served in the French and Indian War and visited Coldengham in 1758, wrote, “She [Jane] makes the best cheese I ever ate in America.”107

  The period of Jane's dedication to botany ended abruptly with her marriage on March 12, 1759, to Dr. William Farquhar, a Scotsman, widower, and highly regarded practitioner of medicine in New York City. The couple met shortly after the Coldens moved to Flushing. Jane died on March 10, 1766 and her only child died the same year. The cause of her death and the death of her child were not reported.

  The year 1759 began with correspondence between Colden and William Smith, Jr., who would remain Colden's forceful antagonist throughout the decade, in spite of the friendship that had exis
ted between Colden and Smith's father. A week after Colden read The History of the Province of New-York, from the First Discovery to the Year MDCCXXXII (1732) by William Smith, Jr., which was published in London in 1757, he took up his pen to vent his ire. Smith had included in the final chapter titled “From 1720 to the administration of Cosby” a consideration of Captain Campbell's attempt to procure land for himself and groups of immigrants whom he sponsored in the province in 1737 (see chapter 3, pp. 61 and 62). Although Colden's name was not mentioned, his involvement, in concert with Lt. Governor George Clarke, was obvious.

  Colden stated in a letter to Smith, “It is in the principal part absolutely false & an egregious calumny of the persons, who at the time had the administration of Government in their hands…. The public defamation being an egregious injury to the public faith & honour of the Government of New York you know the proper method for redress that may be taken.”1

  Smith was adamant in affirming his interpretation of the event, which he admitted took place when he was merely a boy. Two weeks after receiving Colden's letter, he wrote, “Your letter of the 15 January, which came to me unsealed, contains such a heavy Charge of Misrepresentation, Falsehood and Calumny, that I am almost inclined, to think myself relieved of the Obligation, which your Age, Rank, Character and particularly your professed Friendship to my Father, would otherwise undoubtedly, have laid me under, to take Notice of every Thing, wherein you might conceive yourself in the least Degree concerned.”2

  Smith's evidence was purely hearsay. It came to him from Campbell's wife by way of her son, who, in turn, gave it to James Alexander, who had been a member of the Council at the time of the event in 1737. In a letter written as a follow-up to Smith's correspondence, Colden correctly pointed out that the heads of the families who came over with Campbell refused to settle under his auspices, and that Campbell did not have the personal finances to purchase the 30,000 acres. As far as Alexander's personal interpretation was concerned, he completely absolved Colden and pointed out that Colden was not involved with the Council at the time of the event, almost twenty years previously.3