Is there any evidence that John Fraser bred this rose, as is stated on the Description page? I have doubts that he had anything to do with it, aside from being the rose's namesake, and it seems just as plausible that the rose was named for his brother, James Fraser, or for one of his sons.
He did have a nursery import/export business set up in South Carolina and England, but it was known for introducing North American native plants to European consumers, such as Magnolias, Rhododendrons and Philadelphus. If, for example, the Frasers' neighbor, John Champneys, named a rose for one of the Frasers, they certainly had the set-up in place to propagate and introduce that variety to Europe, but did they?
In his Monographie du genre rosier (1824), Lindley thanked *James* Fraser for sending him specimens of North American rose species, but that's the only contemporary reference I can find linking the Fraser name with roses.
Since John Fraser reportedly lived from 1750 - 1811 (HMF breeder page) and the HMF reported release date of this rose is 1818, it would seem more likely to be James, or later descendant. But I can see the record is rather muddy concerning not only the release date, but also when John died.
I don't have much reason to doubt his death date of 1811. If there is muddying, though, it may be because John, Jr. also was a successful (perhaps more financially successful than his father?) plant hunter and nurseryman. I don't know what became of his other son, who was named James like his uncle. Not at all confusing.
The Wikipedia entry for John Fraser, botanist, is quite good, as is a short biography of Mr. Fraser written by Robert Hogg and published in Cottage Gardener, vol. 8, pp. 250-252, July 22, 1852. I'd link to it, but then this comment would disappear into the ether.
His life as a plant collector is fairly well-documented, but I have not yet been able to discover any mention of him breeding roses, or hybridizing plants. I have little difficulty believing that Champneys or Noisette named a rose for him, but it seems less likely that he had the time or inclination to breed roses when he was always on the move.
HMF has a file for "Frazer's Pink Musk" and 'Fraser's Pink Musk'. References for both mention John Fraser. Are these roses the same, just with alternate spellings? Or is there a "found" rose once thought to be 'Fraser's Pink Musk' but not?
In 1818 another resident of Charleston, John Fraser, created a variety of the same parentage [as Champney's Pink Cluster] and became so enthusiastic about it that he personally took a plant of it to England in 1821. There it became known as Fraser's Pink Musk or the Blush Musk and occasionally as R. Fraseri, although the latter name was never accorded botanical recognition. The medium-sized, semidouble, intensely fragrant blush-colored blossoms borne in large clusters denoted that it was a typical Noisette.
