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Note: 71-g6Le5 William6 Henry Leggett born February 24, 1816, New York City
died April 11, 1882
unmarried
He graduated from Columbia University in 1837; was a teacher and well known botanist. He founded the Torrey Botanical Bulletin, and was its editor for a number of years.
William6 was admitted in 1870 to The Society of the Cincinnati.
He is called the nephew of William48-g5Le4 Leggett in his bio in The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography.
New York Times, April 13, 1882
LEGGETT - On Tuesday morning, April 11, William6 H. Leggett, in the 66th year of age.
The funeral will be held at his late residence, No. 54 East 81st St., Friday, April 14, at 10 o'clock A.M. His friends and members of the Society of the Cincinnati are respectfully invited to attend.
Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Vol. IX, No. 7, New York, July 1882.
WILLIAM HENRY LEGGETT
"The decease of the late Editor of the Bulletin calls for more than the passing notice which it has received in its columns. Mr. Leggett was born February 24th, 1816, and died on the morning of the 11th of April, 1882. Always a hard student, he graduated from Columbia College in 1837. Previous to that event he had already devoted himself to teaching - a calling which he pursued throughout life. By means of the kindness of his disposition he endeared himself to his pupils and led them on to regard the pursuit of knowledge as a pleasure instead of a task, and to aim at the attainments in classical knowledge which he himself possessed.
The following extract from a letter of one of his former pupils fitly illustrates the thoroughness which he always endeavored to instill into the minds of those committed to his charge: "How many there are of us all over the country who took from him our first lessons in accurate scholarship!"
He early became enamored with the study of botany, and the same feeling of thoroughness in the investigations of plant life exhibited itself in this as in his other studies. He was one of the founders of the Torrey Botanical Club, whose resolutions passed on the event of his deceased express their sense of his scientific attainments and of his efficiency as a leader and co-laborer with them. His labor as the first Editor of the Bulletin which was started by him as a private enterprise in 1870, and conducted as such until the year 1880, (ß margin correction, 1882), can, perhaps, only be fully appreciated by those who have had to perform similar work in the midst of other pressing duties. Day by day, following his occupation as an instructor with conscientious fidelity, he yet found time, too often taken from hours of needed rest, to write, collate and arrange for the press the matter of his journal. His success in the performance of his work was complete, but the harassing nature of his daily duties, and his failing strength finally compelled the relinquishment of its charge to other hands.
His private character was above reproach. Upright, conscientious and fearless, he was prompt to denounce wrong in every shape; yet was always considerate and charitable towards the short-comings of others. In his social relations, his purity of character, his self-sacrificing spirit, his integrity and kindliness of disposition endeared him to all.
The following extracts from letters written by those who had enjoyed his society for many years show the cordial esteem in which they held him. One says: "I can hardly call to mind a single man that I have known with whom all my intercourse was so sweet and delightful as with him; ... he was so sincere and guileless, so cheerful and bright." From another: "My botanical tramps with him always had a classic seasoning - Greek as well as Botany - which made them doubly enjoyable; while his genial charity toward all men was a pattern and delight." And from one other: "We had been friends for more than forty years, ... a more pure-minded and true-hearted man I have never known. ... The world has lost in him a profound classical scholar, a most conscientious teacher, and an enthusiastic botanist."
We shall close this brief biographical notice with one more extract from a letter of this old friend, touching in its sadness:
"Our dear departed friend has left an aching void in the hearts of all who knew him, so kindly disposed and sincere in his affections he was, while gifted with extraordinary power of promoting innocent mirth and true sociality. One cannot expect to meet with many such in a lifetime. Would he had been spared to us many years longer. I little thought I should outlive him."
T.H. (Thomas Hogg)
Index to The Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Vol 1-75 (1870-1948) compiled by Harold William Rickett, July 28, 1955:
INTRODUCTION
"The Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club was founded in 1870 as a private enterprise by William6 Henry Leggett, who edited and published it, besides writing large parts of it, until 1882; in that year it was taken over by the Club. It is the oldest botanical serial in America. ... The early volumes appeared in twelve modest bulletins, at first of only four pages each. In 1872 Leggett wrote that "our expenses for the first two volumes exceed our receipts $53.33. There are about $26 due which will probably be paid" ( we hope they are paid). In the following year ("our receipts do not yet quite cover our expenses") he was soliciting an endowment of $3000 to double the size of the Bulletin and to enable him to add illustrations. The endowment was not forthcoming; but a gradually expanding list of subscribers finally resulted in a larger magazine which paid for itself.
The contents were at first arranged in numbered paragraphs. Many of these were signed only with initials, or were unsigned; the latter were written by Leggett. A part of each issue was given to a "catalogue of the local flora of New York City and vicinity." The rest of the space was devoted to news of rarities collected and of new stations for species, to teratological notes, and to other botanical curiosities, with occasional batches of new species in certain groups. Many of the men who laid the foundations of the Bulletin were amateurs, following botany as a relaxation from their ordinary duties and occupations. Leggett himself was a teacher of the classics. ..."
Index to The Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Volumes 1-75 (1870-1948) under the heading Leggett, William Henry 1816 - 1882, there are 365 entries listed and cover volumes I through IX.
From the Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club, Vol. 17; reprinted in 1918:
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB by John Hendley Barnhart, The New York Botanical Garden:
"The Torrey Botanical Club developed so gradually from a mere group of associated botanical enthusiasts into a full-fledged scientific society that it is quite impossible to fix upon an exact date of origin which might not be honestly disputed. In an early number of the Bulletin, the beginnings of the Club are traced to "the summer of 1866"; a few years later the editor remarked in a footnote "not later than 1865"; ... Dr. Thurber, in his inaugural address as president of the Club, in 1873, when many if not most of the original members of the club must have been among his audience, declared frankly: "We have no record of the date of the beginning of the Club." ...
The earliest positive evidence of existence of an association which can be definitely connected with our present organization seems to be a small printed notice preserved in our archives. It is dated at the office of the American Agriculturist, December 10, 1867, signed by George Thurber and Thomas Hogg, and calls a meeting of "the Botanical Club, to be held at this office on Saturday, the 14th inst., at 2 o'clock P.M. A full attendance is desired, in order that final arrangements may be made for the festival of the 20th."...
The beginning of the year 1870 found the Club still a very informal association. It had no written constitution, no officers, no formal list of its membership. It was even without a name, being known to its members familiarly as "the Club", or more formally as "the Botanical Club", and to outsiders as the "Botanical Club of New York". At this time William6 H. Leggett, one of the earliest and most faithful of the founders, started, as a private venture, a modest four-page monthly sheet to which he gave the name Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club . Of course this journal, which was the first botanical periodical in America, was issued with the approval of the Club, but the entire financial responsibility rested with the editor for many years, and American botany will ever be indebted to the memory of Leggett for the powerful and helpful influence thus exerted by him upon its development at a critical period. It is not by accident that even the latest volume of the Bulletin bears upon its title-page the inscription "Founded by William6 Henry Leggett, 1870".
The name "Torrey Botanical Club" made its first appearance in public upon the first page of the first number of the Bulletin, and it is tradition among us that this name was selected and applied to the Club, by the Editor, in order to have what he regarded as a satisfactory name for his periodical, and was thereupon accepted without question (except for mild protest on the part of the modest president, Dr. Torrey) by the other members...."
TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB REMINISCENCES by Arthur Hollick, Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences.
"If I remember correctly, it was in 1876 or 1877 that Dr. Britton and I joined the Torrey Botanical Club....
I shall never forget the first meeting I attended. I felt that I was under indictment for the crime of being a young man. There were no young botanists in those days. Many of those whose acquaintance I made at these early meetings were as old as I am now and others were older, and that was forty years ago. I recall particularly Alphonso Wood, William6 H. Leggett, P.V. Leroy, O.R. Willis, Bowers, Ruger, and several others....
If I remember correctly the dues were one or two dollars a year. Subscription to the Bulletin was a dollar. It was not published by the Club, but by Mr. Leggett personally...."
TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB REMINISCENCES by Nathaniel Lord Britton, The New York Botanical Garden:
I gladly contribute reminiscences of the years immediately following my election to the Club in 1877, ..., with especial reference to members of the Club known to me during that period....
Mr. William6 H. Leggett, who founded the Bulletin of the Club in 1870, was still its editor; he was an enthusiastic field and herbarium botanist, a highly successful teacher, and a fine linguist who inspired all his associates. His herbarium forms the principal part of the nucleus of the Local Herbarium of the Club, which has in later years been expanded into the Local Herbarium of The New York Botanical Garden.
Day of death from LotLL, 5-11.
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From: Katy Rawdon [mailto:krawdon@barnesfoundation.org]
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 12:50 PM
To: Leggett, David
Subject: RE: A question of family
David,
I was glad to be able to dig into my emails and pull up our last exchange - I thought you might be interested in the link to this finding aid for the papers of William Henry Leggett (1816-1882) at the New York Botanical Garden library: http://library.nybg.org/finding_guide/archv/leggett_ppf.html. If, by any chance, he was a relative of Laura Leggett Barnes, it might well explain her interest in horticulture!
Hope you are well,
Katy
And here is what is at the above link, DJL:
William Henry Leggett Papers (PP)
Archives, The LuEsther T. Mertz Library
The New York Botanical Garden
200th Street and Kazimiroff Boulevard
Bronx, New York 10458-5126
Phone: 718-817-8604
URL: http://library.nybg.org/
The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. © 2005
This finding aid was produced in English.
Finding aid produced using NoteTab Pro
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Collectors: Leggett, William Henry, 1816-1882. Title: William Henry Leggett Papers (PP) Dates: 1862-1883 Quantity: .5 linear feet; 1 box Call Phrase: Leggett (PP) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Biography of William Henry Leggett
William Henry Leggett (1816-1882) was born on February 24, 1816. He graduated from Columbia College in 1837. Leggett was a New York City classics teacher and amateur botanist. He was one of the founders of the Torrey Botanical Club and was the first editor of the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, which was started by him as a private enterprise in 1870. Leggett was described as a profound classical scholar, a most conscientious teacher and an enthusiastic botanist.1 William Leggett died on April 11, 1882.
Ref: Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. Vol. 9, 1882. p. 86
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Scope and Content
Collection consist primarily of correspondence with colleagues during his tenure as Editor of the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. Prominent correspondents include Asa Gray, George Clinton, William Denslow, George Thurber, and John Williamson. Subjects include the exchange and determination of specimens, the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, and the death of John Torrey. Research notes on Lechea, Compositae, and plants growing in New York.
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Arrangement
The collection is organized into two series: Series 1: Correspondence. 186-1883. Arranged alphabetically. Series 2: Research Notes. 1862-1869. Arranged alphabetically by subject.
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Restrictions
Access restrictions
This collection is open for research with permission from Mertz Library staff.
Copyright
Requests for permission to publish material from the collection should be submitted in writing to the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Garden.
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Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects Leggett, William Henry, 1816-1882 -- Archives. New York Botanical Garden Archives. Torrey Botanical Club -- History -- Sources. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Related Material
New York Botanical Garden Archives
PP-- John Torrey Papers
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Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
William Henry Leggett Papers (PP), Archives, The New York Botanical Garden.
Acquisition Information
This collection was transferred to the New York Botanical Garden Archives.
Processing Information
Originally processed by Susan Fraser, NYBG Archivist, March 2000, with grant funding from The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH-PA-23141-98). Converted to EAD in August 2006 by Kathleene Konkle under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH-PA 50678-04).
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Container List
Series 1. Correspondence.
Scope and Content:
Correspondence pertaining to plant descriptions, acknowledgements of receipt of specimens, and requests for copies of the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club.
Folder Title Date
1.1 Austin, Coe Finch 1870-1883
1.2 Baird, Spencer Fullerton 1873
1.3 Bennett, James Lawrence 1873
1.4 Biscoe, Thomas D. 1872-1874
1.5 Bower, William 1866
1.6 Brown, Ann Elizabeth 1870-1871
1.7 Brown, Addison 1880
1.8 Bumstead, Freeman Joseph 1872-1873
1.9 Burgess, Edward S. 1876
1.10 Candolle, Alphonse de 1875
1.11 Cauty, William M. 1874
1.12 Clinton, George William n.d.
1.13 Curtiss, Allen Hiram 1870-1873
1.14 Davenport, George Edward 1873-1879
1.15 Davis, Charles M. 1878
1.16 Decaisne, Joseph 1873
1.17 Denslow, Herbert McKenzie 1871
1.18 Eaton, Daniel Cady 1870-1874
1.19 Edwards, William 1874
1.20 Engelmann, George 1870-1872
1.21 Faxon, Charles E. n.d.
1.22 Fischer, George J. 1870/1874
1.23 Gray, Asa 1862-1884
1.24 Green, A.C. 1870
1.25 Hall, Isaac H. 1877
1.26 Hayden, Ferdinand Vandeveer 1874
1.27 Hegelmaier, Christoph Friedrick 1870-1871
1.28 Hitchings, E.H. 1873-1874
1.29 Hoysradt, Lyman Henry 1878-1879
1.30 James Thomas 1874
1.31 James Thomas 1872-1874
1.32 Keck, Karl 1873
1.33 Keeler, William T. 1877-1878
1.34 Koehler, Augustus 1877
1.35 Lesquereux, [Charles] Leo 1874-1875
1.36 Leue, Adolph 1875
1.37 Lockwood, Samuel 1871
1.38 Mann, Benjamin Pickman 1874/1877
1.39 Mann, Horace, Jr. 1868
1.40 Martin, Daniel Strobel 1871
1.41 Mayer, Isaac Shoemaker 1867-1872
1.42 Meehan, Thomas 1870
1.43 Merriam, James Sheldon 1870-1873
1.44 Miller, Elihu S. 1871-1872
1.45 Millington, Lucy A. 1871-1872
1.46 Olney, Stephan Thayer 1871-1875
1.47 Owen, Maria L. 1878
1.48 Peck, Charles H. 1868-1877
1.49 Ravenel, H. W. 1871
1.50 Redfield, John 1873-1880
1.51 Robinson, John n.d.
1.52 Rusby, Henry Hurd 1878
1.53 Sargent, Charles Sprague 1879
1.54 Smith, John Donnell 1880
1.55 Thuemen, Felix, Karl Albert, von 1878
1.56 Thurber, George 1869-1883
1.57 Torrey, John 1868-1873
1.58 Torrey, Margaret 1873
1.59 Tuckerman, Edward 1871-1874
1.60 Tutweiler, Julia S. 1872-1873
1.61 Underwood, Lucien M. 1878
1.62 Watson, Serano 1873
1.63 Williamson, John 1873-1879
1.64 Wood, A. ca. 1873-1875
1.65 Young, Henri W. 1874
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Series 2. Research Notes.
Scope and Content:
Notes and lists on botanical topics, and a draft proposal to Columbia College on the Torrey Botanical Club`s views regarding the relations of Columbia College to the Science of Botany.
Folder Title Date
1.66 Notes on Compositae 1869
1.67 Notes on Lechea, I n.d.
1.68 Notes on Lechea, II n.d.
1.69 Plants growing near New York 1862
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