USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. III > Part 14
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MEEHAN, Thomas,
Scientist, Litterateur, Public Official.
To properly estimate the character of Thomas Meehan, botanist, scientist, litera- teur and public official, it is necessary to know something of the personality of the man, although to know him through his public record and writings necessarily im- presses one with his greatness.
Left much to himself in his youth, he formed the habit of deep thinking and this was true of his whole life. When from his mind he had wrested a decision, Gibraltar was not firmer. A firm believer in evolu- tion, he conceded to every man or animal the right to fight for an existence, and he
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was a fighter, believing that the "survival of the fittest" was nature's own law, and ap- plied to everybody and everything. Firm and inflexible, he could both give and take and willing to go under if the others were "fittest." That side of his nature was well defined and well understood, as was also the gentler side. A more kindly hearted man never lived nor one more genuinely in- terested in the welfare of humanity. He is known as the "father of the Small Park System" of Philadelphia, and among the family treasures is the silver plaque, pre- sented by citizens of Philadelphia, which attests this fact. In his latter years when grandchildren and great-grandchildren came to the Germantown mansion, it was not an uncommon sight to see him lay aside for a brief time a weighty article, and entertain the little ones. The two natures were beau- tifully blended, and in Thomas Meelian was produced a man whom it is a deliglit to honor.
Thomas Meehan was born at Potter's Bar, near Bernet Hertford, Middlesex, England, March 26, 1826, died in Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1901. He was the son of Edward Meehan, Irish born, one of the most skilful private gardeners of England, from whom the son inherited his love for plant life. His mother, Sarah Den- ham, was a descendant of one of the oldest English agricultural families of England and under her teaching he obtained his early education. The lad became deaf through an illness, and this lessening his enjoyment of boyish companionship, he spent much of his time in the fields and roads, laying a perfect foundation on which to erect his future career. In his youth he was a powerful swimmer, and this accom- plishment, coupled with a physical courage that equalled the moral stamina he after- ward displayed, enabled him, alone and assisted, to save thirteen lives. On one occasion, when rescuing two men from a drifting canal boat on the flooded Schuyl- kill, he was reported drowned, and in the
papers of the following morning had the unique pleasure of reading his obituary. He developed rapidly, and at the age of thir- teen years his first article was published, and at about the same time he succeeded in hybridizing the fuchsia for the first time, producing a race he called the St. Clair. These early efforts attracted the attention of well known men who befriended him as a boy and remained his truest friends. At the age of fifteen years he made and pub- lished his first scientific discovery, on the lines which afterward made him famous- "Irritable stamens in the flowers of Portu- lacca Grandiflora," then a new introduction from Mexico. His spare time, while watch- ing by night the fires of the greenhouses, was spent in study in this manner, and by means of a night school in which each pupil was a teacher, he so developed his natural talent that at the earliest date his age per- mitted. he entered the Royal Gardens at Kew. There, for refusing to take the con- stable's oath of office to assist in suppressing the Chartists, he fell under suspicion of being in sympathy with that class, thereby incurring the ill-will of Sir William Hooker, director of the Gardens, who subjected him to petty annoyances, hoping to force his resignation. But Mr. Meehan refused to leave the Gardens unless furnished an offi- cial certificate of the completion of the course of study. This he finally received, and on March 1, 1848, he sailed for the United States on a vessel named "The Devonshire." He arrived March 21, fol- lowing, and on his twenty-second birthday arrived in Philadelphia with twenty-five dol- lars in his pocket, having made the trip from New York to Philadelphia by canal boat.
Arriving in his new home in a strange land, he at once sought out Robert Buist, with whom he had secured employment be- fore leaving England. A year later he en- tered the employ of Andrew Eastwick, under whose supervision he laid out and restored Bartram's Gardens, now a part
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of the park system of Philadelphia, famous as a work of America's early botanist, John Bartram, and the second botanic garden established in this country. Later he worked for Caleb Cope, at Holmesburg, married in 1852, and, after the birth of a son, William Edward, in 1853, left Mr. Cope's employ and started in business for himself. He established his principal nursery at what is now Ambler, with a branch at Germantown, having a partner, William Saunders, but the firm soon dissolved. He prospered until the beginning of the Civil War when, through heavy losses in the South, he nearly failed. For a brief period he had a special partner, and on the dissolution of this connection he took an active partner and as Meehan & Wandell prospered for several years. Later this partnership was dissolved by the death of Mr. Wandell, Mr. Meehan becoming sole proprietor of the business, which at the time of his death had grown to such proportions that seventy-five acres were under cultiva- tion at the Germantown gardens. Mr. Mee- han was a great botanist, and had a secure position in the scientific world. He gave preference in his nursery to the cultivation of American plants, but many exotic species were cultivated on a large scale and many remarkable and interesting botanical speci- mens were there to be found. The business is now carried on by three of his sons, and a trip to Meehan's nursery in Germantown is one of the attractions of the city.
Mr. Meehan's additions to the literature of botany were valuable and numerous, his memberships in scientific societies exceed- ingly so. In March, 1860, he was elected a member of the Academy of Natural Sci- ences, and was ever an interested member, becoming vice-president. He was one of the oldest members of the American Asso- ciation for the Advancement of Science, and one of its first Fellows ; belonged to the American Philosophical Society, the His- torical Society of Pennsylvania, the Penn- sylvania Horticultural Society, of which he was corresponding secretary for many
years ; honorary member of the leading hor- ticultural societies of America, the Royal Horticultural Society of London, and the Royal Wernerian Society, of Edinboro, Scotland, his membership in the latter dating from 1844. For several successive years he was elected annually to the board of visitors of Harvard University, was a member of the first board of trustees of the Philadelphia Economic Museum (1894), and the first State Botanist of Pennsylvania, after the creation of the State Board of Agriculture.
The "Gardeners' Monthly," a horticul- tural magazine, was founded by Rodney King, a Philadelphia horticulturist, in 1859, and Mr. Meehan became its editor and held that position for twenty-nine years until the magazine was sold on the death of its publisher, Charles H. Marot. His person- ality was so strongly impressed on the mag- azine that its name and that of Mr. Meehan were interchangeable. He also was for a time editor of the agricultural department of the "Philadelphia Press," under Colonel Forney, and was horticultural and agricul- tural editor of several newspapers and jour- nals, at one time contributing to six, includ- ing the "Maryland Farmer," "New York Independent," "New York Tribune," and the "Public Ledger" of Philadelphia. While at Caleb Cope's he wrote and later published "The American Handbook of Ornamental Trees" (Lippincott, 1853), which was well received. He was the author of the de- scriptions which appeared with the litho- graphed plates of plants issued by Prang of Boston, as "The Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States," by Thomas Meehan (1879). This work, in eight volumes, was discontinued at the death of Mr. Robson, but publication resumed in 1890, when Mr. Meehan and his younger sons established "Meehan's Monthly," devoted to "General Gardening and Wildflowers." As a scien- tific man Mr. Meehan corresponded with most of the scientists of prominence in both Europe and America. Charles Darwin
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maintained a close correspondence with him for years, and relied on Mr. Meehan's observations for many of his published facts, giving due credit in many instances in his wonderful books. A misunderstanding later arose between these two strong minds, and their pleasant intercourse ended. Rev. Henslow, in his book "Origin of Floral Structure," also drew upon Mr. Meehan's mine of information. The published articles in paper, pamphlet and book form, credited to Mr. Meehan, are numbered by the hun- dreds and cannot be enumerated here. His views were not always accepted by bota- nists, and were often antagonized, but all united in acknowledging his worth as a botanist and as a man, his untiring public spirit, his wide philanthropy, his kindly heart. pleasant personality, and distin- guished presence.
Between 1870 and 1890 Mr. Meehan traveled extensively throughout the west, and on one of these journeys discovered and named the Englemann Canon in the Wasatch Mountains. He visited Alaska soon after its acquisition by the United States, where he studied the relation be- tween glaciers and vegetation. He an- nounced as a theory, afterward corroborated by his son William, as a result of similar investigation in Greenland, that while vege- tation receded with the advance of glaciers and advanced with their retreat, it often was buried for indefinite periods and remained dormant until recession took place, when it again started into growth.
Noted in literature and science, there was another side to this great man's nature that gave to Philadelphia much that is now highly valued. His untiring interest in the park system and schools of Philadelphia extended through his entire official life and was productive of far reaching results.
His career as a public man began during the Civil War, when he joined with a num- ber of other prominent men in an endeavor to effect a compromise with the South, and he was also concerned in the preparation of
the Crittenden Resolutions. At this period of his life, a Bell and Everett Democrat, he became a Republican when hostilities actu- ally began, and was ever afterwards a "stal- wart of stalwarts." After the war he was appointed a member of a commission to confer with Southern leaders to devise means to restore commerce with the North. In 1876 he was elected a member of the School Board of Philadelphia, Twenty-sec- ond section, and served continuously until the January preceding his death, a quarter of a century. On the day of his funeral the flags of all the school houses in German- town flew at half mast, by order of the president of the Twenty-second section. In 1880, at the request of leading independent Republicans, he consented to stand for Common Council, on the Regular Republi- can ticket, was elected and reëlected, and was a member at the time of his death. In ten years after his first election the streets of Germantown, then of dirt, became one of the best paved sections of Philadelphia, and an ordinance requiring all public school buildings to be not more than two stories in height wherever possible, had been passed through Mr. Meehan's efforts. As a mem- ber of the school committee of Common Council, he visited every school house in the city, obtaining at first hand all the data of school population, and his report show- ing the school needs and money required to meet them was published in pamphlet form' by order of councils. He also devised a plan for the establishment in Germantown of colored schools in which classes were taught only by colored teachers, a system heartily supported by the colored popula- tion. At the time this project was advanced there was no available colored teacher hold- ing a normal school certificate, and only one colored student in the normal school. The establishment of two schools as above de- scribed in Germantown was the impelling cause of colored girls in Philadelphia rising above the level of servants and seeking a higher education.
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One of his first councilmanic acts, how- ever, was to introduce an ordinance to select unimproved plots a few miles apart all over the city, to hold them until enough of their area has been sold at advanced prices to pay for their improvement as parks. This and other plans being pro- nounced illegal by the city solicitor, the only method left was to put such plots on the park plan, as were not likely to be placed on the market for a number of years, thus allowing the city to acquire them gradually as finances permitted. Bartram Garden, the first inspiring thought in the movement, was the first park taken by the city. Sten- ton Park, the estate of Logan, the Secretary of the Province under Penn, was next placed on the plan. Besides these were Juni- ata, Frankford, Waterview, Treaty Elm (the spot on which Penn made his cele- brated treaty with the Indians), John Dick- inson, Wharton, Mifflin, Harrowgate, Ver- non, Womrath, Ontario, Pleasant Hill, Fot- terall, Weccaco, Starr Gardens, and others.
Next to Bartram Garden, the crowning success of the whole movement so largely due to Mr. Meehan's interest, is Vernon Park, a small tract of twelve acres in Ger- mantown, originally laid out by one of the Wisters and filled with trees secured by Meng, one of the early botanical collectors of this country. But next to Bartram Garden and Penn Treaty Park, the one he felt the greatest gratification in securing, was Weccaco, a small plot in the congested part of the city, to which his attention had · been called by a poor washerwoman. It was to a great extent due to Mr. Meehan's influence in councils that there was secured for the Philadelphia Museums the exhibits at the World's Fair in Chicago, as well as other legislation effecting these institutions, whose consistent friend he ever was. From the time of his first election to councils Mr. Meehan was continuously in office, the Twenty-second Ward reëlecting him with unfailing regularity. He took active part in the deliberations of councils until stricken
with his last illness, attending a meeting of council's committee on schools on October 3, preceding his death on November 19, Although seventy-five years of age, he had never missed a meeting of councils until two years prior to his death, when he was taken ill. Numerous honors came to Mr. Meehan from many sources, and all were highly ap- preciated, none more so than the Veitch Silver Medal, awarded him in his latter years by the trustees of the Veitch Memo- rial Fund of England, for "distinguished services in botany and horticulture," Mr. Meehan being the third American so hon- ored.
Mr. Meehan married, in 1852, Catharine Colflesh, who survives him, residing in the old home on Chew and Phil Ellena streets, near Stanton Station, Germantown, one of her widowed daughters, Mrs. John P. Burn, also residing with her. Children: William E., formerly Fish Commissioner, appointed by Governor Pennypacker and reappointed by Governor Stuart, now superintendent of Fairmount Park Aquarium, Philadelphia. Thomas B., J. Franklin, and S. Mendelson, all engaged in conducting the business estab- lished by their father, which now occupies all but twenty-three acres of the original Germantown tract, as a retail department, and three hundred acres near Dreshertown, Pennsylvania, as a nursery farm ; Sarah D., married Howard Lanning ; and Frances G., married John P. Burn; both daughters widowed.
MEEHAN, William Edward, Scientist, Anthor, Lecturer.
It is rarely in two succeeding generations of a family line that such marked similarity in talents, thought, desire and achievement is observed as in the case of Thomas Meehan and his son, William Edward. Both are known to science, and among scientists held and hold honorable position; both have served and have placed their honors at the feet of their adopted and native city, Phila-
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delphia; and where their courses in life have deserted the parallel the cause has been the need and trend of the times.
William Edward, son of Thomas and Catharine (Colflesh) Meehan, was born in Holmesburg, Pennsylvania, August 31, 1853, the property then belonging to Caleb Cope, now known as "Forest Home." He attended private schools in Germantown and prepared for entrance in the University of Pennsylvania, but changed his plans and became associated in business with his father, becoming an expert nurseryman and florist. In gaining a knowledge of these lines he passed some time at Rochester, New York, Wilmington, Delaware, and other places, in 1876 being appointed super- intendent of the exhibit in the Pomological Hall at the Centennial Exposition in Phila- delphia. The following year he established the first wholesale cut flower business in Philadelphia, which prospered for some time, but which, because of failing health and a general business depression, he dis- continued.
He possessed an inherent and deep-seated love of scientific pursuits, and at the age of fifteen years was an authority upon local ornithology, particularly the breeding habits of the birds of a locality. About this time he, Alexander Harrison, now an artist of note, whose brother, B. Harrison, and four others resident in Germantown, formed a boys' club under the name of the German- town Scientific Society, an organization that flourished for several years, dissolving when the mature years of the members called them to duty in different parts of the coun- try and substituted for youthful pleasure the responsibility of life work. Several of the members thereof afterward attained promi- nent place in the varied professions, some, inspired by the investigations and discus- sions held in the club, taking up scientific work. William E. Meehan first wrote for publication, when he was fourteen years of age, an article bearing his signature appear- ing in a Philadelphia weekly, and when he
was seventeen years old he wrote a char- acter sketch that was accepted by the "Sat- urday Evening Post." He was also a fre- quent contributor of historical and descrip- tive letters to the "Philadelphia Press," continuing writings of this kind until he was about twenty-two years of age. In 1885 Mr. Meehan abandoned all of his business projects and severed all of his business relations to devote his entire time to literary work, becoming a reporter, and at the same time writing short stories for weekly maga- zines. In 1887 he accepted a position on the reportorial staff of the "Public Ledger" of Philadelphia, and in the service of this periodical gained rapid advancement, in 1890 becoming a member of the editorial staff, where as leader writer he chiefly at- tended to matters relating to natural science, public education, and some branches of municipal affairs. Through the editorial columns of "The Ledger" he was one of the earliest exponents of the children's play- ground movement, which since then has gained such vigor, and has made its propa- ganda so important a feature in the admin- istration of the affairs of every large city ; and of equal pay of women with men as supervising principals of public schools. In 1892 he was chosen a member of the Peary Relief Expedition to North Greenland, active as botanical collector and staff cor- respondent of the "Public Ledger," and, upon the successful return of the expedition three months later, it was his dispatch to his paper that was flashed over the country through the medium of the Associated Press. On this trip he made an unusually valuable collection, arranged by the latitudes of the country, to the Academy of Natural Sciences, and was the author of a paper, published by the Academy, on "Flora of Greenland," showing the effect of glaciers upon vegetation and the relation of the two. The investigations related in this paper confirm a theory advanced by his father, Thomas Meehan, after a visit to the Muir and other glaciers of Alaska. On his
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return he also wrote a full account of the doings and experiences of the Relief Expe- dition, which was published in book form as part second of a work entitled "In Arctic Seas." It was soon after this that Mr. Meehan published in the columns of "The Ledger" a "History of Germantown," dating from the earliest settlement of Germantown to the Civil War, a work ranking among the foremost dealing with that place and period.
Another of his activities begun soon after his return from the frozen north was the founding of the City History Club, a pro- ject he fathered at the suggestion and re- quest of the district superintendent of the board of education. As the first president of the club his term of office, enduring for several years, saw the organization well upon its way for successful continuance, and now (1914) he is honorary president. When the ownership of the "Public Ledger" changed hands, the greater part of the edi- torial staff employed by the Drexel Estate was replaced, and at that time Mr. Mee- han's connection with "The Ledger" ceased. For nearly two years his only interests were magazine writing and lecturing, and for sev- eral years he held a place on the New York Municipal Corps. As a lecturer he met with popular favor, his simple familiar style, even when dealing with abstruse sub- jects, imparting knowledge to those ignorant of the primary facts or principles of his theme, and holding the interest of his entire audience. One of his most important en- gagements during his connection with news- paper work in Philadelphia was the deliv- ering of lessons on geographical and other topics in the public schools, illustrated by lantern slides. This was done at the invita- tion of the Board of Education, acting on the suggestion of Dr. Brooks, Superinten- dent of Education. At this time birth was given to the system of illustrated lessons conducted by teachers, which is the fore- runner of classes taught by moving pic- tures, a system already adopted in some
schools and rapidly growing in favor be- cause of the highly perfected devices pat- ented by Edison.
There follows the relation of his work in the line with which he is now connected, and upon which he is a reliable authority, uni- versally accepted, fish culture. From early boyhood he was an enthusiastic angler, and soon after becoming a reporter on "The Ledger" was assigned to interview Henry C. Ford, president of the State Fish Com- mission. Out of this business meeting there grew a warm friendship, and there was en- gendered in Mr. Meehan a desire for fur- ther knowledge in matters piscatorial, Mr. Ford gladly giving him instruction. Through the influence of the latter gentleman he was permitted to visit and to closely ex- amine the three State Hatcheries, and, be- coming acquainted with the superintendents, was a frequent visitor, the heads of the hatcheries gladly assisting nim in his early studies. In 1891, having in the meantime acquired a wide and comprehensive knowl- edge of the subject and having come into the possession of accurate data relating thereto, at the request of Mr. Ford he wrote an historical article entitled "Fish, Fishing, and Fisheries of Pennsylvania," which was printed in pamphlet form and distributed by the State at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago. So exhaustively and com- pletely was the subject covered that the pamphlet attracted interest throughout the breadth of the country, and was given lengthy and commendatory reviews by the leading newspapers and journals. Soon after its publication, Henry C. Ford, who first introduced Mr. Meehan to the work in which he has performed service of such signal excellence, died, in the year that the State Fish Commission appointed Mr. Mee- han assistant secretary and statistician, giving him the superintendency of all the hatcheries of the State. In this position he demonstrated such thorough familiarity with all departments of the work and all of the affairs of the commission, that he
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was appointed to membership on the com- mission by Governor William A. Stone, being reappointed by Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker. In January, 1903, the State Legislature abolished the State Fish Com- mission and created in its stead the Depart- ment of Fisheries, Governor Pennypacker appointed Mr. Meehan head of the depart- ment. He was reappointed by Governor Stuart, and served for three months under the administration of Governor Tener, when he resigned. While Mr. Meehan was head of the Department of Fisheries, Penn- sylvania ranked, with Massachusetts, New York, and Michigan, next to the National Government in the volume of work con- ducted by the State in fish culture, and the annual number of fish sent from the hatch- eries was far in advance of that of any other State, being one-third of that to the credit of the National Fisheries. Among the important works conducted by Pennsyl- vania were the introduction of frogs as a food product, and the successful propaga- tion of the black bass and the fresh water terrapin. Through his connection with this department and his well known part in all of its work, Mr. Meehan became a cele- brated authority of international fame. Since November 24, 1911, Mr. Meehan has been director of the Philadelphia Aquarium, by appointment of Mayor John A. Reyburn. This institution, provided for by ordinance of the city council, was first placed in temp- orary quarters, and in April, 1912, was in- stalled in Fairmount Park, and Mr. Meehan is there its present head, his title (1914) being that of superintendent. He is one of the leading members of the American Fish- eries Society, holding a life membership, was president of the same in 1911, presiding over its meeting at St. Louis, Missouri, vice-president in 1910 at New York, and for four consecutive years was chairman of the executive committee, during this time contributing numerous papers on fish cul- ture to the society. He is also a life mem- ber of the Academy of Natural Sciences,
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