THE BOTANISTS OF PHILADELPHIA. 149 



JOHN EATTON LE CONTE. 



John Eatton Le Conte * was born near Shrewsbury, 

 New Jersey, February 22, 1784, and died in Philadelphia, 

 November 21, 1860. His residence was partly in New York, 

 where he was educated at Columbia College, partly in 

 Georgia, where his father possessed a large tract of property 

 in Liberty County. His family was of Huguenot descent, 

 his ancestor, William, having left Normandy on the revo- 

 cation of the Edict of Nantes to join the army of William, 

 afterwards King of England. Thence coming to America 

 he settled in New York, about the year 1092. His son, 

 Peter Le Conte, was a highly esteemed physician in the 

 lower part of New Jersey, and married Valeria, a daughter 

 of John Eatton, of Shrewsbury, among whose numerous 

 descendants may be counted some of our most eminent 



/ 



citizens. From an early age his two sons, John Le Conte 

 and his brother Louis, showed a great love for natural 

 history and the observation of animals and plants. As 

 young men they spent several years in Georgia, where they 

 cultivated their father's plantation and occupied their 

 leisure in the pursuit of science. Here it was that they 

 established a botanical garden, mentioned frequently by 

 the earlier travelers in the United States. This love of 

 nature and the observation of its phenomena has pervaded 

 almost all the members of the Le Conte family. About the 

 year 1817 John Le Conte entered the army of the United 

 States as Captain of Topographical Engineers, and after 

 serving ten years received the customary brevet as Major ; 

 but finding his health shattered by exposure during an 

 exploration of the St. John's River in Florida, undertaken 



* 1SS3. A. GRAY. Botanical Gazette, VIII, 197. A painting of Le Conte is in 

 the library of the American Philosophical Society. 



