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THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
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OBITUARY 
CHARLES DINGEE 
At his home in West Grove, Pa., Nov. 29, Charles Dingee, 
dean of the Rose growers of America, died in his 88th year. 
He was one of the most successful business men in the State, 
and one of the best known and generally loved residents of 
this county. 
Charles Dingee was bom in Lancaster County, Pa., Jan. i, 
1825, and spent his early life there studying agricultural life, 
flowers and soils, his early horticultural apprenticeship being 
served with Edward Jessup, one time a very noted nursery¬ 
man at York, Pa. When he was 
twenty-five years of age he entered 
into business and, with his brother- 
in-law, Isaac Jackson, he established 
the Harmony Grove Nurseries at 
West Grove. While in this venture 
he became familiar with the needs 
and qualities of Roses and in 1872 
he incorporated the Dingee & Con- 
ard Co., and began the present sys¬ 
tem of shipping Roses by mail. 
He wrote the first catalog offer¬ 
ing Roses by mail that was ever 
sent out in this country. Horace 
Greeley was a warm personal friend, 
and he used the New York Tribune 
for his first advertisement. He 
has often been heard to say that he 
never got a single reply from it. It 
was a few years after this that the 
company began advertising exten¬ 
sively and the results were such 
that the post office department at 
Washington, D. C., was astonished 
at the vast amount of business done 
at West Grove and sent a special 
inspector there to see if something was not wrong in con¬ 
nection with the management of the office. The inspector 
returned to the national capitol with word that all the 
business was legitimate, and the Dingee & Conard firm en¬ 
joyed a fine reputation at home as well as in many sections 
of the country. Since then the shipping of Roses has in¬ 
creased until the West Grove plants are known in every 
quarter of the civilized world. The firm is recognized as 
among the largest in the country in its specialty. The 
business of the Dingee & Conard firm was sold to its present 
management, P. J. Lynch, M. Henry Lynch and James 
D. Headly, all brothers-in-law, in 1903. Mr. Dingee was 
retired from business since that time. 
Mr. Dingee was a member of the Masonic Order and 
belonged to Chajjter No. 52, Royal Arch Masons, of Lan¬ 
caster, whose members, recognizing him as the eldest of their 
number about two years ago sent a delegation to his home to 
present him with a loving cup. He was the second eldest 
member of the Union League, Philadelphia, and as long as he 
was able to, visited the headquarters in that city and was glad 
to meet his old friends there. 
He was the founder and for years a director of the National 
Bank of West Grove, and a close personal friend of the late 
Alfred P. Reid, a former burgess of West Chester, and for 
years the president of the First National Bank. 
Mr. Dingee was very prominent in public life, particularly 
during the years surrounding the activities of the Civil War. 
He was a warm personal friend of Thaddeus Stevens, the 
great commoner of Pennsylvania, also of Gen. Simon 
Cameron, secretary of war in Lincoln’s cabinet, afterward 
senator from Pennsylvania, and a life-long friend of Wayne 
McVeigh, the attorney-general in Cleveland’s cabinet and 
afterward ambassador to Italy. He was a close friend of 
Peter Henderson, Patrick Carry and 
the elder Downing, and was an act¬ 
ive participant in the meetings of 
horticultural societies of their day. 
When his business was first es¬ 
tablished there was no railroad here. 
The mails were brought in from a 
distance of twenty-five miles, and 
all outgoing shipments were hauled 
the same distance. He was the last 
living witness of the Christiana riot, 
which has come to be known as the 
forerunner of the Civil War. He 
was present on the occasion when 
the riot took place. He was a man 
of great force of character, and was 
a dominant figure even in the coun¬ 
cils of strong men during his active 
life. 
He traveled extensively, visiting 
nearly all the United States and 
several European countries. In 
1903 he retired from active business 
and turned over the management to 
his brothers-in-law, Patrick Joseph 
Lynch and Henry Lynch, who have 
since been looking after the affairs, increasing the general 
scope and establishing branches, one of which is in New 
Castle, Ind. 
Sixty-five years ago Mr. Dingee married Elizabeth Jack- 
son of West Grove, who died in 1881, leaving him two 
children, William J. Dingee, of New York City, who has 
recently been on the Pacific Coast, and Mary D. Price, who is 
living at Highlands, N. Y. His second wife, who survives 
him, was Mary E. Lynch, of West Grove, who is the mother 
of one daughter, Marian, wife of George Barnard, of New 
Castle, Ind. 
Mr. Dingee was reared as a member of the Society of 
Friends.— Florists' Exchange. 
PROF. W. A. BUCKHOUT 
Bellefonte, Pa., Dec. 3.—William A. Buckhout, pro¬ 
fessor of botany at State College, died suddenly, early to-day 
of heart disease. He was a native of Oswego, N. Y., and was 
THE LATE CHARLES DINGEE 
