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{{Short description|American botanist (1826–1901)}}
{{other uses|Thomas Meehan (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| image = Thomas_Meehan_Photo.png
| image_size = 220px
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1826|03|21}}
| birth_place = [[Potters Bar]], [[England]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1901|11|19|1826|03|21}}
| death_place = [[
| residence =
| citizenship =
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| fields = Nurseryman, Botanist, Author, Legislator, Public Benefactor<ref name="TMp3">[
| workplaces = [[Kew Gardens]], [[Bartram's Garden]], Meehan's Nurseries
| alma_mater =
| doctoral_advisor =
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students =
| notable_students =
| known_for = Meehans’ Mallow Marvels, Pink Dogwood
| author_abbrev_bot =
| author_abbrev_zoo =
| awards = [[Veitch Memorial Medal|Veitch Medal]]<ref name="TMp1">[
|
▲|awards = [[Veitch Memorial Medal|Veitch Medal]]<ref name="TMp1">[http://books.google.com/books?id=fi3mAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA446&dq=%22Thomas+Meehan%22 American Horticulture Honoured] The Garden: An Illustrated Weekly Journal of Gardening in all its Branches, Volume 59 (June 22, 1901), page 446 by William Robinson </ref> (1901)
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▲|signature = <!--(filename only)-->
}}
[[Image:Hibiscus_coccineus_by_Thomas_Meehan.jpg|thumb|<center>''[[Hibiscus coccineus]]''</center><center>by [[Louis Prang]] from ''The Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States, Volume II by [[Thomas Meehan]]''</center>]]▼
[[Image:Alois Lunzer01.jpg|thumb|<center>''[[Calla palustris]]''</center><center>by Alois Lunzer from ''The Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States''</center>]]▼
[[Image:Alois Lunzer02.jpg|thumb|<center>''[[Polypodium incanum]]''</center><center>by Alois Lunzer from ''The Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States''</center>]]▼
'''Thomas Meehan''' (21 March 1826 [[Potters Bar]], which was in [[Middlesex]] at the time and is now in [[Hertfordshire]], [[England]] – 19 November 1901), was a noted British-born nurseryman, botanist and author. He worked as a [[Kew]] gardener in 1846–1848, and thereafter he moved to [[Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Germantown]] in [[Philadelphia]]. He was the founder of ''Meehan’s Monthly'' (1891–1901) and editor of ''Gardener’s Monthly'' (1859–1888).▼
▲'''Thomas Meehan''' (21 March 1826 [[Potters Bar]], which was in [[Middlesex]] at the time and is now in [[Hertfordshire]], [[England]] – 19 November 1901), was a noted British-born nurseryman, botanist and author. He worked as a gardener in [[Kew]]
Meehan grew up on the [[Isle of Wight]]. 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]].▼
▲Meehan grew up on the [[Isle of Wight]]. 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 [[Wernerian Natural History Society|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]].
Meehan travelled to Philadelphia in 1848 and worked for the owner of [[Bartram's Garden]], 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]] . Meehan started a nursery in partnership with William Saunders in [[Germantown]] 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 travelled to Philadelphia in 1848 and worked first for Robert Buist at his Rosedale Nursery, then between 1850 and 1852 for the owner of [[Bartram's Garden]], who was pioneer locomotive builder
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 maple|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]], 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.▼
[[File:Joseph Meehan.jpg|thumb|left|Joseph Meehan (1840-1920), younger brother of Thomas Meehan.]]
▲Meehan and
Meehan wrote his own agriculture columns for five newspapers and also authored 'The Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States', consisting of four volumes describing and illustrating, in colour, over 300 species.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meehan |first1=Thomas |title=The native flowers and ferns of the United States in their botanical, horticultural and popular aspects. |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/21330 |publisher=L. Prang |access-date=3 August 2021 |date=1878}}</ref>
Meehan was a member of the [[Historical Society of Pennsylvania]], the American Association of Nurserymen, the
==Savior of Bartram's Garden==
Meehan was a principal in the saving of Bartram's Garden, Philadelphia, PA.
[[Bartram's Garden]] is the oldest surviving botanic garden in the United States. [[John Bartram]] (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]] (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 Meehan, 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 of what was once in cultivation is rich. The first century of public ownership left the garden lacking 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 efforts of 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.
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▲Meehan was a member of the [[Historical Society of Pennsylvania]], the American Association of Nurserymen, the [http://www.pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org/home/index.html Pennsylvania Horticultural Society], the [http://americanpomological.org/ American Pomological Society], the [[Academy of Natural Sciences]], the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] and the [[American Philosophical Society]]. He was also an honorary member of the [[Royal Horticultural Society]] (London). He corresponded with foremost botanists [[William Darlington]], [http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=46622 Josiah Hoopes], [[William Saunders (botanist)|William Saunders]], [[George Engelmann]], [[John Torrey]], [[Asa Gray]], [[Maxwell T. Masters]], [[Ferdinand von Mueller]], [[George Nicholson (horticulturalist)|George Nicholson]] and [[Charles Darwin]].
==The Meehan Family==
Thomas Meehan married <ref name="TMp2">[https://books.google.com/books?id=ERQoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA595&dq=%22thomas+meehan%22 Thomas Meehan by W. E. Meehan] Cyclopedia of American Horticulture: R-Z (1909), page 595, by Wilhelm Miller</ref> 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.
His great-grandson, Thomas Meehan III (1921-1944), was the First Lieutenant and Commanding Officer of Easy Company, who perished along with his entire plane of 21 men when it was hit by flak and crashed during [[D-Day]], on June 6, 1944. The story of Easy Company has been immortalized in [[Stephen Ambrose]]’s classic war story [[Band of Brothers (book)|Band of Brothers]].<ref name="Pomichter">{{cite web |last1=Pomichter |first1=Mary |title=Remembering the Greatest Generation this Memorial Day |url=https://www.chestnuthilllocal.com/stories/remembering-the-greatest-generation-this-memorial-day,28088 |website=Chestnut Hill Local |publisher=The Chestnut Hill Local |access-date=15 November 2023}}</ref> In the TV miniseries version, Meehan was played by [[Jason O'Mara]].
== Publications ==
*''The American Handbook of Ornamental Trees'' (Philadelphia, 1853)
*''The Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States''
*''Wayside Flowers'' (1881)
*''Contributions to the Life History of Plants'' (16 parts) ([[Proceedings of the
{{botanist|Meehan|Meehan, Thomas}}
== References ==
{{Reflist}}▼
==External links==
* {{commons category-inline}}
* [http://dspace.udel.edu:8080/dspace/handle/19716/2680 ''The Influence of Thomas Meehan on Horticulture in the United States''] [http://dspace.udel.edu:8080/dspace/bitstream/handle/19716/2680/oberle_1997.pdf PDF], a thesis submitted by Stephanie Ginsberg Oberle to the University of Delaware, Spring 1997.
* [https://www.finerareprints.com/thomas-meehan-antique-prints Examples of botanical illustrations in 'The Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States']
* [http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=46880 ''Photograph of Thomas Meehan, Botanist'']
{{Authority control}}
▲{{Reflist}}
▲| NAME = Meehan, Thomas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meehan, Thomas}}
[[Category:English botanists]]▼
[[Category:American botanists]]▼
[[Category:1826 births]]
[[Category:1901 deaths]]
▲[[Category:English botanists]]
[[Category:People from Potters Bar]]
▲[[Category:19th-century American botanists]]
[[Category:Veitch Memorial Medal recipients]]
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