THE BOTANISTS OF PHILADELPHIA. 391 



JOHN WILLIAM HARSHBERQER. 



John William Harshberger* was born in Philadel[)hia, 

 January 1, 1869, of indigenous American stock, his ancestors 

 on his father's (Abram Harshberger, M.D.,) side having 

 immigrated to Central Pennsylvania from near Coblenz on 

 the Rhine, in 1735, and on his mother's (Jane Harris Walk) 

 side just prior to the outbreak of the French and Indian 

 Wars in 1755. He claims German ancestry on his father's 

 side (Hirschberger, Rhone), and on his mother's, by inter- 

 marriage, Scotch-Irish (Brown, Oliver), English (Harris) 

 and Sclavic (Walk). He went while a child to the kinder- 

 garten taught by an aunt. Until nine years of age, 

 he was taught at home ; and during this time, in 1877, 

 was created his love for botany and plants, having 

 accompanied his aunt on the botanical excursions conducted 

 by Professor Jacob Ennis to the country in the immediate 

 vicinage of Philadelphia. At nine, he entered the public 

 school at Haddington, West Philadelphia, and, by succes- 

 sive steps, passed through the entire public school system of 

 Philadelphia, until his graduation from the Central High 

 School, in June, 1888, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. 

 In 1888, he entered the Biological School of the University 

 of Pennsylvania on one of the public school scholar- 

 ships. His studies at the University engrossed all of his 

 time for the next four years, when, in 1892, he received the 

 degree of Bachelor of Science. In 1890, having spent some 

 time in study at the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University, 

 he was appointed Assistant Instructor in Botany, serving 

 under Professor Joseph T. Rothrock and Professor William 

 P. Wilson, from whom he received a practical pedagogical 



* A half-tone portrait appeared in Traffic, IV : 18, Philadelphia, March, 1895. 



