From the family packrat files

[flea]

Today was shitty, in unfortunately literal ways. Therefore, I bring you 1) the invitation to my great-great-great-grandfather to dinner with George Washington and 2) an order placed for plants for my great-great-great-grandfather (different side)'s house (in the country, at that time). Such an admixture, all jumbled up, is entirely typical of the 7 boxes my father is sorting through. I transcribe the roses from the latter for my rosarian friend (maybe you can help with the names?)







9 roses (at $4.00/dozen)
2 Abel Grand 2 Horace Vernet
2 M. de H. Amande 1 Boieldieu
1 Marquis of Salisbury 1 Pierre Grillon

5 roses (at $.060 each)
2 Mons Norman 1 Elise Boelle
1 Eugenie Verdier 1 Marie Baumann

2 roses (at $0.75 each)
1 Rev. J. B. M Carrim 1 Mme. Noman

Comments

[arliss]

Ohhh, the handwriting alone is to swoon for!

[mme_hardy]

Let me know which of those roses you can't find by Googling and I"ll dig up my old-rose books and find the rest. (I just circled the house right now and couldn't find my best references.)

Those are mostly French roses, so I'm guessing.

I found a goldmine:
Found by Googling:
The rose: a treatise on the cultivation, history, family characteristics ... By Henry Brooks Ellwanger
long Google books link

Everything in the list below I either confirmed or found in the above.

9 roses
Abel Grand
Horace Vernet
Marguerite de St. Amande
Boieldieu
Marquis of Salisbury -- duh
Pierre Guillot

5 roses
Moss Nouveau (good luck tracking down which new Moss was meant)
Eugenie Verdier (may be extinct?) http://www.panteek.com/jamain/index2.htm
Marie Baumann http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.122495
Elise Boelle

2 roses

Rev. JBM Camm (also prob extinct)
There's a Monsieur Norman but no Mme, so I'm stumped.

[mme_hardy]

On second read, I'm wrong on Moss Nouveau. It has to be Monsieur Norman, with Madame Norman in the next group a mystery.

[flea]

Ah, and Ellwanger of your book was the nurseryman! In Rochester, which came to be known as The Flower City (this pointed out to me by sophiabrooks at LJ): http://rocwiki.org/Mount_Hope_Nurseries

(As an aside, my great-grandmother's sister married D.W. Ferry Jr., of Ferry-Morse seeds.)

[mme_hardy]

Now *that* is an awesome coincidence.