Biography

Andrew Jackson Downing was born in Newburgh, N.Y.. When he was sixteen he managed a nursery with his brother. He began cultivating and landscaping gardens for the Baron de Liderer, the Austrian consul-general, and other elite men. In 1838 he married Caroline DeWint. In the 1840's he began writing and publishing books on landscape gardening. His publications include: "Treatsie and Practise of Landscape Gardening" (1841), "Cottage Residences" (1842), "Fruit and Fruit-trees of America" (1845), "Additional Notes and Hints to persons about Building in the Country"(1849), "Hints to Young Architects"(1849), "Landscape Gardening for Ladies"(1850). In 1846 he became the editor of the Albany "Horticulturist." In 1851 he planned the public grounds of the Capitol, White House, and Smithsonian buildings, but he died before he could complete these endeavours. On July 28, 1852, when the steamer "Henry Clay" caught on fire on its voyage to New York City, Downing drowned.