Plant Pioneer

In 1793 an ambitious young man named Elisha Bishop and his multi-talented wife, Tabitha, bought 400 acres of land along the Boquet River in Essex County and founded the community now known as New Russia. Over the next half-century, Elijah, along with his son, Lucius, and daughter-in-law, Anne Sheldon Bishop, built and operated sawmills, gristmills, orchards, taverns and a forge. For generations, the industrious Bishop family turned out physicians, artists, authors and scientists. Although it was customary for these pursuits to be the domain of men, Lucy Bishop, one of Elijah’s granddaughters (and my great-great-grandmother), was a rare exception.

Born in 1825, Lucy received no