Charles Mason Hovey (October 26, 1810 Cambridge, Mass. - September 2, 1887 Cambridge, Mass.), nurseryman, horticultural author (The Fruits of America)
Phineas Brown Hovey (September 3, 1803 Cambridge, Mass. - June 3, 1885 Cambridge, Mass.), his brother
[From The Gardener's Monthly And Horticulturist, 1885, p 218:] The founder and senior partner of the well-known seed firm of Hovey & Co., of Boston, died at his home in Cambridge on the 3rd of June, in his 81st year. He was born, in the house where he always lived and died, on 3rd of September, 1803. In 1834, he started the seed store at Cornhill, now at 16 South Market. Mr. Hovey left the seed firm in 1883, but continued till his death his interest in the Cambridge greenhouses. He was among the early founders of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society under General Dearborn's Presidency, in 1829, and had been its Vice President, and active in many official capacities.
[From Rose Letter, February 2017, p. 23ff.:] Charles Mason Hovey (1810-1887) with his brother Phineas opened a nursery in Cambridge, Mass., in 1832. Having visited the respectable Landreth nursery in Philadelphia the year before, Charles Hovey was determined to realize his own horticultural dreams. And he succeeded beyond those dreams. On thirty-five acres, he grew and sold roses and other plants. For instance, he hybridized strawberries, camellias, chrysanthemums, geraniums, lilies, and other plants, all of which he offered for sale. In his largest greenhouse, he had a “breath-taking camellia collection set off by the best varieties of climbing roses twining up the inside columns.” Jackson Dawson, who later became the first propagator for Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum, served as Hovey’s apprentice in the mid-1850s. With his brother Phineas, he also founded and edited American Gardeners’ Magazine in 1834, changing the name two years later to The Magazine of Horticulture. It was America’s first successful horticultural periodical and lasted until 1868. Furthermore, Hovey was active in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and served as its president from 1863 to 1866.
