Jean Skipwith

Jean Skipwith, Lady Skipwith (February 21, 1747 or 1748 – May 19, 1826) was a Virginia plantation owner, horticulturist, and book collector. She is best known for designing and documenting an extensive botanical garden at Prestwould Plantation, as well as compiling one of the largest libraries assembled by an American woman in the early 19th century. Her manuscript notes and garden plans provide insight into the scientific and domestic interests of elite Southern women during this era.

Early life Born Jane Miller, February 21, 1747 or 1748, in Prince George County, Virginia, youngest of four children of Hugh and Jane (Bolling) Miller, tobacco grower, merchant, and vestryman of Old Blandford Church of Bristol Parish, Petersburg, VA.; Mr. Miller returned to Scotland with his family before December 8, 1760.

Family and marriage Jean's older sister, Anne, had married Sir Peyton Skipwith, 7th Baronet, in 1765. Anne died in childbirth in 1779. The family moved to Prestwould in 1797, a Georgian-style house sitting above the Roanoke River. Prestwould Plantation, its outbuildings, and its grounds are now a National Historic Landmark and are open to the public, including what may be the earliest known slave house in Virginia. This was a working tobacco plantation with farm and livestock, a mill, blacksmith shop, store, ferry, and where thoroughbred horses were raised. By the time of Sir Peyton Skipwith's death in 1805, the Skipwiths owned over 200 slaves.

Garden It was at Prestwould Plantation that Lady Skipwith had her garden built by enslaved laborers, overseen by Samuel Dedman.

The archives include records of Lady Skipwith's orders for vegetables, roots and bulbs, which she grew in raised beds. She ordered from Prince Nurseries on Long Island, as did George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Lady Skipwith often corresponded with neighbors, requesting cuttings of plants she could then add to her own collections, or offering gardening advice of her own. "Plumb Stones," for instance, were acquired from "General Parsons." Her extensive botanical notes also describe where each kind of plant was grown at Prestwould, what the ideal conditions for its growth were, and how it should be cared for. She listed the many wildflowers she collected, including trillium and viola, identifying them from Philip Miller's Gardener's Dictionary—and noting when they were not in that source. For instance, she recorded that "The Sealy Pink coloured root from the Point of the Island" was of the "9th Sort -- Miller." She kept records of her fruit crops, notes on how to raise trees from cuttings, and lists of what she planted. "Wintering plants," including "Oranges, Lemons, and Limes" were grown in a glass-walled orangery abutting the garden. Lady Skipwith's botanical notes often connected a plant with its use. Of a particular kind of apple, the "Maryland Red Steeck," Lady Skipwith noted that it "Makes a fine strong Cyder and keeps through the winter better than almost any other apples."

By her death, Lady Skipwith had acquired a library of more than 850 volumes. Her library was among the largest private collections assembled by a woman in early America. Her collection, the product of an independent and curious mind, also reflected her interests in botany, gardening, travel, geography, and history. Her will included a provision that allowed her daughters and daughter-in-law to choose 200 books each from her library, and left her son-in-law her Encyclopædia Britannica.