Washington Atlee Burpee

Washington Atlee Burpee, son of Dr.David Burpee and Ann Catherine "Kate" Atlee, was born Sept. 5, 1858 in Sheffield, New Brunswick, Canada. He married with ANN CATHERINE "Kate" ATLEE. He died Nov. 26, 1915 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania and is buried at the Doylestown Cemetery, Doylestown, Bucks Co., Pennsylvania.

Children were: Atlee William, David (1893) and Stuart Alexander (1901).

In 1909, Burpee established Floradale Farms in Lompoc, California, to test sweet peas, and Sunnybrook Farms near Swedesboro, New Jersey, to test tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and squashes. In his travels, Atlee met Asa Palmer, a Pennsylvania farmer who raised beans, and who thought he had one plant that was resistant to cutworms. Burpee turned this bean plant into what is now known as the Fordhook lima bean, one of the company's most famous items.

Another successful plant was the Golden Bantam sweet corn that the farmer William Chambers of Greenfield, Massachusetts, had grown before his death. A friend of Chambers found some of the sweet corn seeds and sold Burpee seeds of the corn, and in 1902, Golden Bantam was featured in a Burpee catalog. Before 1900 most people thought that yellow corn was fit only for animals, so in order to change their customers' minds, many farmers slipped Golden Bantam corn in with the white corn they were selling. Within a few years, people in the United States were converted to yellow corn.

Iceberg lettuce was introduced by Burpee in 1894. It was named for its crispness.

A key in Burpee's business was the 1863 free delivery system that required post offices to deliver mail to residents' homes and in 1896, free delivery was extended to rural areas. This allowed his catalogs to be delivered directly to people's homes. Thousands of letters were received annually from Burpee's customers thanking him for his seeds. Burpee knew that the key to his business was advertising and the catalog was his advertising medium.

In his first year of business, his catalog was 48 pages, but by 1915 his catalogs were 200 pages and he distributed a million catalogs. Burpee personally wrote most of the copy of his catalogs. Burpee set up an advertising department and offered cash prizes for the best advertisements. This competition is what originated the slogan “Burpee Seeds Grow” in 1890. The 1891 catalog was the first to feature engravings made from photographs, and by 1901 this process was done by machines. Burpee's move to photography changed the whole industry and the hand-drawn illustration in catalogs disappeared. In another break with tradition, Burpee eliminated cultural information and put in testimonial letters and plant descriptions.

At Burpee's death in 1915, the company had 300 employees, and it was the largest seed company in the world. At that time the Burpee company distributed over 1 million catalogs a year and received 10,000 orders a day.

From his obituary: W. Atlee Burpee, Seedsman, Dies; Distinguished Floriculturist. Succumbs to Long Illness at 'Fordhook,' near Doylestown; Was 'Sweet Pea King' W. Atlee Burpee, one of the foremost floriculturists and seeds-men of the country, died last evening (Nov.26,1915) in his beautiful country home 'Fordhook,' near Doylestown,after a lingering illness. Death was due to a baffling complication of diseases. He was fifty-seven years old. Mr. Burpee became ill about six months ago. He went to Wernersville to recuperate, but became worse and came to this city, occupying a suite in the Ritz-Carlton. His condition did not improve and he was taken to his country home. "As he became weaker and more seriously ill, an appeal was made to the Reading Railway to tone down the noise of its trains passing the estate, so the invalid would not be unnecessarily disturbed, and such an order was issued and rigidly obeyed by the enginemen. Despite the care and attention lavished on him, he died last evening at 6.45 o'clock. Washington Atlee Burpee was famous as the grower of sweet peas and as the head of one of the largest, flower -and seed houses in this country. He was born in Sheffield, New Brunswick, Canada, on April 5, 1858, the son of David and Ann Catherine Atlee Burpee. His father was a physician, and while he was a small boy his parents moved to Philadelphia. It had been planned that he should follow his father's profession, but he early became interested in plant growth, and even as a youngster of fifteen, wrote an article, which when published in a farm paper, was widely copied. He was educated in the Friends' School, and the University of Pennsylvania. At the age of eighteen he started in the seed business with two partners, but the partnership proved unprofitable and unsatisfactory. Two years later he enbarked alone under the firm name of W. Atlee Burpee & Company, and from a small business the firm grew to be one of the largest of its kind, for the firm always confined itself to seeds of vegetables and flowers and to seeds alone. It never handled plants, nursery stock or bulbs. The firm has three farms, located at Swedesboro, New Jersey, Doylestown, and one called 'Floradale,in the Lompoc Valley, California where seeds are grown and tested. From the first the business was a mail order concern. Mr. Burpee never employed travelers or salesmen and frequently said that his success was due to judicious advertising. The firm received on an average of 7000 letters each day, most of them being orders for seeds. The firm's warehouses are at 5th.and Buttonwood Streets, and Mr. Burpee's dictum, that no order be kept more than twenty-four hours without being filled, has always been rigidly adhered to. Mr. Burpee was director of the Market Street National Bank, the Northern Trust Company mid the Colgate company.

WASHINGTON ATLEE BURPEE...........

Birth: Apr. 5, 1858 Sheffield New Brunswick, Canada Death: Nov. 26, 1915

Businessman. He was the founder of Burpee Seed Company.

Family links:

Spouse:

 Blanche Simons Burpee (1863 - 1948)*

Children:

 David Burpee (1893 - 1980)*

 Stuart Alexander Burpee (1901 - 1934)*

*Calculated relationship

Cause of death: Cirrhosis of the liver

Search Amazon for Washington Burpee Note: He lived in Philadelphia and Doylestown, PA from 1861-1915. He was naturalized in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia on May 19, 1881. Source: Passport Application of his son, David Burpee, dated 5/27/1920.

Burial: Doylestown Cemetery Doylestown Bucks County Pennsylvania, USA Plot: Section M, Plot 49

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Maintained by: Find A Grave Record added: Feb 11, 2000 Find A Grave Memorial# 8442

• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Burpee&GSiman=1&GScid=44697&GRid=8442&'''(date of death is mis-stated on FAG, no memorial manager is currently available. Date of death is taken from OBIT)

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Businessman. In 1876, the US was still recovering from the upheaval of the Civil War and a severe economic depression. Burpee's boyhood hobby was poultry breeding and the science of genetics fascinated him. In 1888, he bought a farm near Doylestown, Pennsylvania, called it Fordhook and began transforming it into what would soon become a world plant as a development facility. As a result, it became the largest seed company in the world for vegetables and flowers being improved and adapted to American growing conditions. By the early 1900's, he established Floradale Farms at Lompoc, California, which his company was sending out a million catalogs a year to achieve revolutionary results with potatoes, plums, berries and ornamental plants. After his death at age 57 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, his son David became head of the firm and made America rather than Europe the world's leading seed supplier.* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Oct 20 2021, 17:12:31 UTC