Bio talk:Philippe Noisette

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In some ways this is a compelling story, but there are some aspects that need clarification. It is of interest that descendants of two brothers of Louis Claude Noisette - namely Philippe and Antoine (L.C. had no children) - have had more than one reunion over the last few years.--A12n (talk) 04:32, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

Coastal Carolina Univ. project

A CCU student project in spring 2020 under the guidance of Prof. F. Eliza Glaze explored the history of the Noisette family. Citation and link (but no document when accessed 27 Nov 2020) is:
Glaze, F. Eliza, "From Africa and France to Haiti and Carolina: The Noisette Family's Journey" (2020). International Gullah Geechee and African Diaspora Conference. 1. https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/iggad/2020/projects/1 --A12n (talk) 04:29, 28 November 2020 (UTC)

Botanical garden(s) in Charleston

Some sources state that Noisette managed the Botanical Gardens of the South Carolina Medical Society. Another source indicates that Noisette became the caretaker of the "French Botanical Garden" originally created by André Michaux, when the garden was sold to the Agricultural Society of South Carolina. One imagines that this would be the same garden, but that either the name & ownership changed, or that there is some complication (so as not to say confusion) in reporting? --A12n (talk) 18:35, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

The website of the Friends of André Michaux has a timeline of Michaux's life and the Charleston botanic garden. It indicates that in 1802-03, the garden was sold to John James Himely, and that Philippe was retained as manager. It also indicates that in 1813, "Garden falls into ruins." Noting the latter info for what it may imply about Philippe's timeline.--A12n (talk) 14:38, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

Noisette in Saint-Domingue

No sources have been found on what Philippe S. Noisette was doing in Saint-Domingue, or exactly where in the colony he resided. His name does not appear in any sources on Saint-Domingue, which is not too surprising since he was a young man who only was there a relatively short time. Of his reason for going there, I've seen only one suggestion that his family sent him in advance of the French Revolution so as to spare him from its effects (recollection from source I don't have at hand). So basically this period is an important gap, during which he notably is supposed to have met his future wife, Célestine.

Given the fact that Philippe grew up in a notable family of horticulturalists, and that later in Charleston, he was connected with a botanical garden originally created by André Michaux, one might reasonably suppose that he (Philippe) was somehow connected to a botanical garden when in Saint-Domingue. And further that it may have been an opportunity to work or apprentice in such a garden that was a reason for his going to that colony. It is important to note that the French monarchy had established and underwritten a network of botanical gardens in its colonies, so it seems reasonable to assume that Philippe's father, who was a gardener for royalty, might have had some access to people connected with that project. (for information on these gardens: James E. McClellan III, "André Michaux and French Botanical Networks at the End of the Old Regime," Castanea, Occasional Papers in Eastern Botany: No. 2. The Proceedings of the André Michaux International Symposium (DECEMBER 2004), pp. 69-97).

The next question would be which garden, as there were apparently several in two parts of Saint-Domingue - near Port-au-Prince in the south, and Cap Français (now Cap Haïtien) in the north. At this point it is helpful to list those gardens (quoting from McClellan's article linked above, page 83):

"With the appearance of royal gardens in the Saint-Domingue colony in the later 1770s, the infrastructure of French applied botany overseas saw its completion. By the end of the colonial period, a number of true botanical gardens could be found in Saint-Domingue. Louis XVI lent his name to the Jardin Royal, established in Port-au-Prince in 1777. A succeeding Jardin du Roi arose in the later 1780s, and a third garden existed in Port-au-Prince at the headquarters of the colonial administrators. In the north, on the outskirts of Cap Français, the Brothers of Charity maintained a substantial botanical garden on the grounds of the Hôpital de la Charité. Likewise in the Cap Français area, the Cercle des Philadelphes, the colony's scientific society, established the first of its two botanical gardens with government support in 1785. A.-J. Brulley, a colonist, maintained a sizable private garden and nursery on his property in Marmelade district in the northern mountains, as did another colonist, Paul Belin de Villaneuve in Limbé on the north coast."

I'm not aware of any information that might link Philippe Noisette to any of the abovementioned gardens. However, having some specifics like this to work with might assist any further research on his time in Saint-Domingue.--A12n (talk) 16:31, 18 May 2022 (UTC)