H. H. Hunnewell

Horatio Hollis Hunnewell (July 27, 1810 – May 20, 1902) was an American railroad financier, philanthropist, amateur botanist, and one of the most prominent horticulturists in America in the nineteenth century.

Hunnewell was a partner in the private banking firm of Welles & Co. Paris, France controlled by his in-laws, which specialized in trade finance between the two countries.

Practicing horticulture for nearly six decades on his estate in Wellesley, Massachusetts, he was perhaps the first person to cultivate and popularize rhododendrons in the United States.

[1] H. H. Hunnewell made a donation in 1873 that helped Asa Gray revise and complete his Flora of North America.

According to a resident at the time, "When leaving here for his winter home (in Boston), Hunnewell would go to our old Town Clerk, Solomon Flagg, and say to him, 'Be sure and not allow anyone to suffer during cold weather.

[8][9] She was the half sister of Samuel Welles de Lavalette fr Together, they had nine children, including:[10] He died at home in Wellesley, Massachusetts, on May 20, 1902, at age 91.

[18] They built a court on the corner of Buckingham and Dartmouth Streets in the Back Bay section of Boston and put Hunt in charge of it.