User:Michael Ronayne/Thomas Meehan


 * For the Tony Award-winning writer, see Thomas Meehan (writer).

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 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. 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 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 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, 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, the American Association of Nurserymen, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the 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, Josiah Hoopes, William Saunders, George Engelmann, John Torrey, Asa Gray, Maxwell T. Masters, Ferdinand von Mueller, George Nicholson and Charles Darwin.

Plant Breeding
Mr. Meehan's first published paper was at the age of twelve on the production of double-flowered stocks from single. His first scientific discovery published was on "The Sensitive Nature of the Stamens of the Portulaca," at fifteen years of age. At the same age, he produced St. Clare, the first hybrid fuchsia known to the horticultural world when he crossed F. fulgens and F. longiflora. Numerous scientific papers followed, resulting in his being elected member of the Royal Wernerian Society of Edinboro, without making application or the Society being aware that he was a boy.

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 (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).