III. William Robert Prince, 1842-1869

Documents comprise the bulk of the collection, the largest concentration found between 1838 and 1856 (documents 215 to 295). After a brief career as a merchant in New York, he returned to Flushing Landing, Long Island, and was faced with a controversy between his father and uncle over ownership of the family property during which his father died and he became legal owner. Apparently, he was a poor business man, losing much of the nursery in the crash of the market in mulberry trees. In 1849, he traveled to Mexico to observe the plant life. Among his accomplishments, he was considered an authority on grape culture, was responsible for introducing the Chinese potato into the United States and, in his later years, investigated the curative powers of plants. The material herein concerns plant imports, business transactions, and observations on the horticulture of eastern and western America.