The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-10
CHARTER OAK SEEDLINGS.

Children and Grandchildren of the His
 torical Tree-Acorns Received By
 Norwich Daughter of the American
 Revolution.
 The famous old Charter Oak, of which Connecticut is so proud, seems destined to be kept in remembrance. not only by the pages of history, but through it's descendants, says the Hartford Courant A few children" and many grandchildren" of the original tree are now growing in this and other states. As is quite fitting, Hartford possesses upon Bushnell Park what is believed to be the largest and most thrifty seeding of the Charter Oak that has been placed upon public ground. This tree stands in the extreme east park near Park river, occupying the center of a triangle formed by the pine trees of the walks leading from the Trumbull street bridge and the Mulberry street bridge and extending toward the Capi- tol.
 
 ply as handsome specimen of the quercus alba, or white oak, framed in all ages for its strength and durability. the tree is worthy of attention. The tree has just completed fifty years of growth and gives promise of continu- ing for several hundred years. It now measures over forty feet in height, thirty inches in largest diameter at the surface of the ground and eighteen inches through the trunk at a point three feet from the ground; while the branches measured from the trunk, ex- tend over a radius of from eighteen to twentyfour feet. True of it's nature as white oak, many of the leaves hang on through the winter, until loosened by the swelling buds of spring.
 The authenticity of the tree as true descendanat of Charter Oak is beyond question and all facts connected with it can be easily verified by any one inter ested. Its history is as follows: In Oc- tober, 1S47, Samuel Whitman, a we'll known citizen of West Hartford, when young man fresh from Yale and hav ing fondness for botany, walked to the south part of the city in search of specimens of fringed gentian. Coming back he turned aside at the Wyllys place and picked up several acorns un- der the Charter Oak
 I These were planted in a flour pot Two coming up in November of the same year were carefully tended dur | ing the winter and later were set out in small nursery near MT. Whitman's home in West Hartford. Although now blind Mir Whitman has clear memory and the date is established in connection with an extended stay in Virginia, which he began in December, 1S47.
 In 1866 one of the trees which had de- veloped very finely was offered by MT | Whitman to the park board and gladly | accepted. Late in that year, not far l from December 31, the tree was care fully prepared and moved to it's present place, under the personal direction of | Jacob Weidenman, a landscape gar l dener, then park superintendent. The other seeding was set upon the green in West Hartford, but soon died. l Judge Sherman w. Adams and others | of the park commission have been much interested in the tree and it has received the best of care Last year 1t l bore peck or more Of acorns, but this year the crop was less. These acorns are sent to all parts of the country and some sizable grandchildren" are now l filling useful positions. It was a seed- ling from this tree that was officially presented to the city of Cleveland, O., recently to be placed upon one of the city parks.
 Officer Strickland, who has patrolled Bushnell Park for several years, and l the caretakers of the park have many | inquiries as to the whereabouts of the | tree and frequent requests for acorns. l The former has this season sent box | of the acorns to a Norwich lady, who 1 is raising seedlings to present to fellow members of the Daughters of the Revo- 1ution. The tree bears no mark nor inscription, but can be easily found by any one who is familiar with oaks.