Jonathan Periam was an American horticulturist and agricultural writer.
Background
He born on February 17, 1823 in Newark, New Jersey, United States, was one of the ten children of Joseph and Phoebe O. (Meeker) Periam. His father, an officer during the War of 1812, conducted an academy for boys and girls. In 1838 the family moved to a large farm on the Calumet River, fourteen miles south of Chicago, where the father started a small nursery from seeds, and set out the first orchard of grafted fruit in Cook County.
In the autumn of 1839 the father died and the management of the family's holdings devolved on Jonathan.
Education
His father undertook his son's education and was his teacher.
Career
After the death of his father he begab career of gardening, his gardens occupied 100 acres. He also specialized in blooded road horses, Devon cattle, and Berkshire hogs. In 1849 he went overland to California on a gold-seeking expedition, returning by sea in 1853.
During the Civil War he served on the staff of the provost marshal at Chicago. In 1868 he became head farmer, superintendent of practical agriculture, and first recording secretary of the board of trustees at the newly organized Illinois Industrial University, now the University of Illinois. About two years later he became manager of the sugar beet farm and factory at Chatsworth, Ill. From 1873 to 1878 he was a member of the Illinois State Board of Agriculture, serving as its vice-president during that period. When the Chicago Veterinary College was organized he joined its staff and remained a member of it for two years.
As early as 1842 Periam began to correspond with western agricultural periodicals. During the early seventies he served the Western Rural, the Interior, and Farm, Field and Fireside in various editorial capacities. His chief work in this field, however, was his editorship of the Prairie Farmer from 1876 to 1884 and from 1887 to 1893. He also edited or wrote a number of compendiums, chief of which are The American Encyclopaedia of Agriculture (1881), The Farmers' Stock Book (1885); The Prairie Farmer Horse Book (1891) and others.
His last years were spent in cultivating flowers and died in 1911.
Achievements
Jonathan Periam was noted horticulturalist and long-time editor of the magazine Prairie Farmer, spent 20 years farming on land spanning the Calumet River at Halsted Street. He wrote many essays for various agricultural publications and the Chicago dailies, two novels, and a pastoral poem. Notable among his publications is The Groundswell (1874). He was the first president of the Chicago Agricultural and Horticultural Society.
Membership
His interest in horticulture resulted in his being a life member of the Illinois Horticultural Society, the Horticultural Society of Northern Illinois, the American Pomological Society, and the Wisconsin Horticultural Society.
Personality
As a speaker he was effective and pleasing.
Connections
He married Mary Wadhams, daughter of Carlton Wadhams, and they had four children.
