Editing Patrick Matthew (section)

== Biography ==
{{More citations needed|section|date=October 2023}}
Patrick Matthew was born 20 October 1790 at Rome, a farm held by his father John Matthew near [[Scone Palace]], in [[Perthshire]].{{efn| John Thomson's Atlas of Scotland, 1832: Perthshire with Clackmannan<ref>{{cite book|last1=Thomson|first1=John|last2=Johnson|first2=William|title=Atlas of Scotland: Perthshire with Clackmannan|date=1827|publisher=J Thomson & Co|location=Edinburgh|url=http://maps.nls.uk/view/74400163}}</ref> shows Rome as east of the [[River Tay]], roughly opposite the mouth of the [[River Almond, Perth and Kinross|Almond]] - if so the site now lies within the park of Scone Palace}} His mother was Agnes Duncan, a relative of [[Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan]].<ref name="Melville L. 1939">Melville L. (1939) ''The fair land of Gowrie'', William Culross & Son, Coupar Angus. Reprints 1975, 1984</ref> In 1807'','' Matthew inherited Gourdiehill from Adam Duncan.

Matthew was educated at [[Perth Academy]] and the [[University of Edinburgh]], but did not graduate due to the death of his father. Matthew had to take over the responsibilities of managing and running the affairs of a property estate at Gourdiehill. Over the years he successfully nurtured, cultivated, and transformed much of the estate's farmland and pastures into several large orchards of apple and pear trees, numbering over 10,000.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} During this time, Matthew became an avid researcher of both [[silviculture]] and [[horticulture]]. His research and experience at the modest estate framed a strong base of reference to form his own opinions and theories.<ref name="Calman">Calman, WT (1912) "[https://archive.org/stream/britishassociati00brituoft#page/450/mode/2up Patrick Matthew of Gourdiehill, Naturalist]", ''Handbook and Guide to Dundee and District'', AW Paton and AH Millar (Eds), the British Association for the Advancement of Science, pp. 451-7 (see [https://patrickmatthewproject.wordpress.com/about/more-matthew-resources/ The Patrick Matthew Project » More On Matthew]</ref>

Matthew periodically traveled to Europe between 1807 and 1831 either on business or for his scientific studies.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} A trip to [[Paris]] in 1815 had to be cut short when [[Napoleon]] [[Hundred Days|returned from Elba]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} Between 1840 and 1850, Matthew traveled extensively in what is now northern Germany. Recognizing the commercial potential of [[Hamburg]], he bought two farms in [[Schleswig-Holstein]].<ref name="Calman" />

Matthew married his maternal first cousin, Christian Nicol in 1817,<ref name="Calman" /> and they had eight children: John (born 1818), Robert (1820), Alexander (1821), Charles (1824), Euphemia (1826), Agnes (1828), James Edward (1830), and Helen Amelia (1833). Robert farmed Gourdiehill in Patrick's old age, Alexander took over the German interests; the other three sons emigrated, initially to the United States.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}} Matthew became interested in the colonization of [[New Zealand]] and was instrumental in setting up a "Scottish New Zealand Land Company".{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} At his urging, James and Charles Matthew emigrated to New Zealand, where they set up one of the earliest commercial orchards in [[Australasia]] using seed and seedlings from Gourdiehill.<ref>Dempster W.J. 1983. ''Patrick Matthew and natural selection: nineteenth century gentleman-farmer, naturalist and writer''. Harris. Edinburgh. with corrections/additions from review of Dempster By G J Tee in {{cite journal|title=Reviews|journal=New Zealand Journal of History|date=1984|pages=66–67|url=http://www.nzjh.auckland.ac.nz/docs/1984/NZJH_18_1_06.pdf|accessdate=23 January 2015}}</ref> John Matthew remained in America, sending botanical tree specimens back to his father; these included the first seedlings known to have been planted in Europe of both the [[Sequoiadendron giganteum|Giant Redwood]] and the [[Coastal Redwood]]. A group of trees of these species still thriving near Inchture in Perthshire comes from these seedlings.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} Matthew gave many more seedlings to friends, relatives and neighbors, and redwoods can be found throughout the [[Carse of Gowrie]]; these as well as some elsewhere in Scotland (e.g. at [[Gillies Hill]] near [[Stirling Castle]]) are thought to have been grown from the seedlings.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} His reputation as a local celebrity faded in the twentieth century, when he was remembered as a "character"{{By whom|date=October 2023}} who at the end of his life became convinced that "someone very dear to his heart" had become a bird, and "that was the rizzen he wouldna allow the blackies to be shot in his orchard for fear they would shute her, ye ken, although the blackies were sair on the fruit".<ref name="Melville L. 1939" />

Matthew's house, Gourdiehill, fell into disrepair in the 1970s and 1980s, and was demolished in 1990 when the grounds became a small housing estate; some of the salvaged stone was incorporated in a rock garden.<ref>Sommerville C. (2020) Stone from home. ''The Garden (RHS)''  [May 2020], volume 145 part 5, pp.97-100.</ref>