Thomas Barbour Lathrop (January 28, 1847 – May 17, 1927) was an American philanthropist and world traveler. He was born in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

to Jedediah Hyde Lathrop, a descendant of the Lathrop family of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

and Mariana Bryan of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. His older brother was

Bryan Lathrop Bryan Lathrop (August 6, 1844 – May 13, 1916) was an American businessman and art collector from Alexandria, Virginia, United States. He is known for his works in Chicago, Illinois, where his insurance and real estate dealings made him very we ...

and younger sister was Florence Lathrop. At the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, Lathrop's father, an abolitionist, moved the family to Chicago. Lathrop spent two years at a New York City boarding school before being sent to Germany to attend the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...

. Upon his return, he attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1869. Lathrop was a member of the

Barbour family The Barbour family is a prominent American political family of Scottish origin from Virginia. The progenitor of the Barbour family was James Barbour, who emigrated to Virginia from Scotland in the middle of the 17th-century. Notable members T ...

on his mother's side. Lathrop rebelled against his father's insistence that he practice law and was cut off from any further financial assistance. He moved to San Francisco in the early 1870s and worked as a reporter for The San Francisco Morning Call. Shortly after its founding in 1879, Lathrop became one of the earliest members of the Bohemian Club where he was well known for his conversational brilliance and keen wit. Lathrop considered the Bohemian Club in San Francisco his home for the rest of his life. Lathrop's father died in 1887 and left him an equal share in the family fortune. Almost overnight, he became a very wealthy man. He left his job as a reporter and became a philanthropist and world traveler. Lathrop traveled around the world many times. In 1893, on a steamship to Naples, Italy, Lathrop met a young

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

named

David Fairchild David Grandison Fairchild (April 7, 1869 – August 6, 1954) was an American botanist and plant explorer. Fairchild was responsible for the introduction of more than 200,000 exotic plants and varieties of established crops into the United State ...

who he persuaded to become a plant explorer. He financed Fairchild and accompanied him on his early travels in search of plants for introduction into the United States. Lathrop's travels with Fairchild are described in detail in Fairchild's autobiography and Stoneman Douglas' book, ''Adventures in a Green World.'' For his contributions to American horticulture and botany, he was awarded the Frank N. Meyer Memorial Medal in 1920. He was the first recipient of the Meyer Medal which is given in recognition of outstanding services to U.S. plant introduction. The Barbour Lathrop Trail at

Barro Colorado Island Barro Colorado Island is located in the man-made Gatun Lake in the middle of the Panama Canal. The island was formed when the waters of the Chagres River were dammed to form the lake in 1913. When the waters rose, they covered a significant par ...

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

is named for him in recognition of his early support of the tropical research station. When he became too old to travel, Lathrop spent the winters with the

Fairchild Family The Fairchild family has long roots in New England, United States. They descend from Thomas Fairchild who came from England in 1639 and settled in Stratford, Connecticut, a part of the fledgling New Haven Colony. Genealogy Among the notable memb ...

Coconut Grove, Florida Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as The Grove, is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bound by North Prospect Drive to the south, LeJeune Road to the west, S ...

. Lathrop died on May 17, 1927, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, where he had stopped to stay at the

The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel is a landmark building at 200 S. Broad Street at the corner of Walnut Street in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Constructed in 1904 and expanded to its present size in 1912, it has continued as a well-known ...

on his annual trip to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

References

Further reading