He learned farming in Norfolk, and then was found, around 1776, a post in Ireland working for Lord Shelburne by Arthur Young, at Rahan.
[3] The plan encountered resistance from Native Americans, who by the account of John Hanks, who accompanied Vancouver, stole the party's horses.
Vancouver was hoping the intended road from Staunton, Virginia to Lexington, Kentucky would open up the area and went back east to lay in stores.
[4][5][6] A plan he had for exploring the Nootka Sound via an overland route was intended to be put to Sir Joseph Banks through Thomas Martyn.
[1] Vancouver's first book A general Compendium of Chemical, Experimental, and Natural Philosophy, with a complete System of Commerce, was published at Philadelphia in 1785.
In 1786 he was described as "Vancouver of Philadelphia" in Arthur Young's Annals of Agriculture, to which he contributed a glowing account of the farming of Kentucky.