Nicholas Longworth (horticulturist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nicholas Longworth was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1783. In 1804 he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where he became a banker and a successful and wealthy merchant. Nicholas pursued the study of law under Jacob Burnet, one of Cincinnati's first millionaires.[1] He was the founder of the Longworth family in Ohio.

He became interested in grapes; he established grape culture as a successful venture on the hills adjoining the city of Cincinnati. So successful was he that he has been called the Father of American Grape Culture. The growing tide of German immigrants coming down the Ohio Valley to Cincinnati liked his wine. Longworth had latched on to his market, the new German immigrants wanted an affordable, drinkable table wine to continue with the traditions of their homeland and he was virtually the only game in town.[2] Not only was he a pioneer and leading horticultural expert in his section, but he was recognized as an authority in national horticultural matters. His writings, though individually short and now out of date, exercised a wide influence in his day.

He married Susanna Howell, three years his junior, daughter of Silas and Hannah (Vaughan) Howell, on Christmas Eve, 1807. His beautiful Greek Revival villa, then on the western edge of Cincinnati, now is the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati.

He died in 1863, leaving an estate worth nearly $10,000,000.[3]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Burnet left an estate of about $2,000,000 when he died in 1853, according to The New York Times, "Cincinnati's rich men..." December 10, 1880.
  2. ^ "Nicholas Longworth: Father of the American Wine Industry"
  3. ^ The New York Times, December 10, 1880.