20 
extendedly of the early gardens and the numerous useful 
plants native to the country, mentioning what he saw at 
Ipswich, Salem, Marblehead, etc.; Parkinson and Jerard 
enumerate New England plants; John Josselyn, pre- 
viously referred to, gives an account of the native and 
introduced species; and other early writers, including 
John Winthrop, speak of the excellent quality of the 
native fruits and the beauty of the flowers, particularly 
dwelling on the superiority and abundance of the wild 
strawberries. 
None of these can, however, be spoken of or claimed 
as Essex County botanists, and it is not until after the 
close of the American Revolution that we find any serious 
or scientific study of the plants of the county. 
Dr. Manasseh Cutler was born at Killingly, Connecti- 
cut, May 3, 1742, graduated at Yale College in 1765, 
afterward studied Jaw, and was admitted to the bar in 
1767. He soon studied for the ministry and was settled 
at the Hamlet Parish in Ipswich, which was set apart from 
that town and named Hamilton for Alexander Hamilton 
whom Dr. Cutler greatly admired. He served as a chap- 
lain during the war of the revolution and on his return 
studied medicine which he afterwards practised among his 
parishioners. The efforts of Dr. Cutler secured the pas- 
sage, in 1787, of the famous ordinance by which freedom 
was declared in the northwestern territories and he soon 
after organized the first band of pioneers that emigrated 
from the east to Ohio. The next year he followed 
them driving himself the entire distance in a sulky, being 
accompanied by a few friends. Upon his return from 
the west, or in 1800, he was chosen to represent old Essex 
in Congress where he served two terms. While in Phil- 
adelphia in 1787, he visited at the house of Benjamin 
Franklin, and afterward wrote an account of the great 
