“Transcendentals” at a Glance
A rundown of temporal attributes and historical peers shared by many Prairie Embryos
As part of my ongoing “Jigsaw Gens” series, I profile the various American generations (and “microgenerations”) identified by historians.
In This Installment…
Featured Generation: “Transcendentals” (aka Prairie Embryos, Blue Shirts, Mountaineers, Appleseeds, Dialers)
Who they are: The first generation to be born during the Nineteenth Century, whose leaders drove much of American Transcendentalism throughout the 1820s, 1830s, and 1840s
When they were born: Approximately between 1799–1810
Key Members
Lawmakers & Policy-Shapers: Millard Fillmore, Hannibal Hamlin, Franklin Pierce, Salmon P. Chase, Jefferson Davis, William Seward, Biawacheeitchish, Andrew Johnson, Robert Barnwell Rhett, Noah Haynes Swayne, Yellow Bird, Hamilton Fish, Rufus Choate, Benjamin Robbins Curtis, Albert Pike, Isaac Murphy, Billy Bowlegs, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, Francis Wilkinson Pickens, Simon Cameron, David Rice Atchison, John P. Hale, Thomas Wilson Dorr, Robert M.T. Hunter, Washakie, Joseph Holt, Sterling “Old Pap” Price, Nathan Clifford, William Strong, James H. Hammond, Joseph Meek, Ward Hunt, J. Pinckney Henderson, Caleb Blood Smith, Horatio Seymour, James Shields, Jeremiah S. Black, Edward V. Whiton, Jeremiah S. Black, Thomas Jefferson Withers, John Peter Richardson II, Stand Watie, Matthias Ward, Abram D. Smith, William Beck Ochiltree
Literary Writers: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, John Greenleaf Whittier, Nathaniel Parker Willis, Cornelius Ambrosius Logan, Thomas Holley Chivers, Sarah Helen Whitman, John Augustus Stone, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Rebecca Winters, Jones Very, Martha Finley, William Gilmore Simms, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, Eliza R. Snow, William Davis Gallagher, Anna Maria Mead Chalmers, Epes Sargent, Jacob Abbott, Edward Dickinson Baker, Amos Bronson Alcott, George Perkins Marsh, Eunice Hale Cobb, David Bates, Caroline M. Sawyer, Henry William Herbert, Edward Coote Pinkney, Otway Curry, Fanny Fern, Cynthia Taggart, Elizabeth Louisa Mather, Sarah T. Bolton, Charles Fenno Hoffman, William Ticknor, Hannah T. King, Charles Frederick Briggs, Sumner Lincoln Fairfield, Charles Timothy Brooks, Adrien Rouquette, Robert Charles Sands, Eliza Farnham, Sukey Vickery, Christopher Pearse Cranch, Edward Sherman Gould
Journalists & Historians: Margaret Fuller, George Bancroft, Elijah Lovejoy, Horatio Hastings Weld, George Jones, Moses Yale Beach, George Ripley, Sophia Ripley, James Freeman Clarke, Orestes Brownson, Solomon Northup, Theodore Dwight Weld, Parson Brownlow, Thomas J. Farnham, Philip Alexander Bell, James Watson Webb, Solon Robinson, Thomas Commuck, George Wilkins Kendall, James Kelly, Thomas Smallwood, Charles Francis Adams Sr., John Russell Bartlett, William Seymour Tyler, John Newton Brown, Arunah Shepherdson Abell, David Ruggles, Clarina Irene Howard Nichols, William Joseph Snelling, Oliver Johnson, Edmund Booth, Horatio D. Sheppard, Gustavus Adolphus Neumann, Erastus Hussey, Lucinda Hinsdale Stone, Addison Pratt, Elias Boudinot, Richard Hildreth, Moody Currier, Frederick Marriott, Charles Mason Hovey, Isaac Knapp, Albert Gallatin, Isaac Leeser, Phoebe Palmer
Scientists & Researchers: Gail Borden, David Alter, Norbert Rillieux, Lewis Temple, Catharine Beecher, William Kelly, Louis Agassiz, John Gorrie, Charles Goodyear, Marcus Whitman, Henry Blair, John A. Dahlgren, Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, John William Draper, Asa Gray, John Ericsson, Samuel Gridley Howe, Joseph Saxton, Benjamin Pierce, Elizabeth Peabody, Ormsby M. Mitchel, Albert Taylor Bledsoe, Henry Darwin Rogers, Isaac Babbitt, Alfred Vail, Chapin A. Harris, John Lloyd Stephens, Otis Tufts, Willard Richards, Thomas Davenport, Cullen Whipple, Arnold Henry Guyot, William Holmes McGuffey, Charles Thomas Jackson, Alvan Clark, James Hall Jr., Wilson Cary Swann, Mercator Cooper, Robert Parker Parrott, Calvin C. Chaffee, James Melville Gilliss, Luther Vose Bell, Matthew Fontaine Maury, Squire Whipple, Gurdon Buck
Athletes: Yankee Sullivan, George Wheatcroft, Ebenezer Davies, William T. Porter, Edward Frederick Shonnard, William Caldwell Anderson, Isaac Jackson, William E. Whitman, John K. Mitchell, Samuel Wright Sr., Duncan Curry, H.A. Rockafield, John G. French, Charles McClure, William “Buck” Jarvis, G.T.C. North, Henry Lambert, James Taylor Soutter
Entrepreneurs & Business Leaders: Kit Carson, John Deere, Cyrus McCormick, John Butterfield, Marie Laveau, Henry Wells, James “Bloody Arm” Beckwourth, Alexander Turney Stewart, Ezra Cornell, Oliver Winchester, Benjamin Day, Charles H. Bennett, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, Henry Washington Younger, James Wilson Marshall, Charles Bent, A.A. Townsend, Jedediah Smith, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Orson Squire Fowler, John Augustus Sutter, Oliver Ditson, Henry H. Spalding, Thomas O. Larkin, Jim “Old Gabe” Bridger, Townsend Harris, Donald McKay, Joseph E. Johnston, Oakes Ames, Nathaniel W. Depee, Godfrey Barnsley, Alson Sherman, Walkara, Augustus diZerega, John C. Bowers, Daniel Payne, William Waldo, Aaron Lufkin Dennison, Simeon Draper, Patrick Barry Hayes, Anna McClarmonde Chase, George Livermore, Isaac Newton Walker, Josiah Gregg
Activists & Organizers: John Brown, Dred Scott, Angelina Emily Grimké, Frederic Henry Hedge, Robert E. Lee, Black Kettle, Lydia Maria Child, David Farragut, Charles Bennett Ray, Lysander Spooner, Cornelia Connelly, Pap Singleton, Sarah Bagley, Osceola, Charles Lenox Remond, Eliza Hart Spalding, Robert Purvis, Hezekiah Grice, Elizabeth Buffum Chace, Aaron B. Grosh, Paul Jennings, Narcissa Whitman, Cochise, Prudence Crandall, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, Brigham Young, Lewis Woodson, Robert “Doc” Newell, Joseph Smith Jr., Theodore Parker, Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte, Thomas Green Clemson, Santa Anna of the Comanches, Samuel H. Davis, Edward Beecher, William Leidesdorff, Albert Sidney Johnston, Catherine Willis Gray, John Van Buren, William J. Watkins Sr., Charles O’Conor, William B. Travis, Robert Toombs, George Hackett, Maria W. Stewart
Entertainers: P.T. Barnum, Ira Aldridge, George W. Jamieson, Edwin Forrest, Joc-O-Sot, Elizabeth Hamblin, John Gibbs Gilbert, Danford Marble, George Washington Dixon, James Henry Hackett, Charles W. Taylor, George “Count Joannes” Jones, William Evans Burton, Joseph M. Field, Margaret Cheer, George Handel Hill, Jane Placide, William Rufus Blake, John R. Scott, George Washington Hewitt, James Edward Murdoch, Ben DeBar, Marietta Judah, H. L. Bateman, Eliza Riddle Field, William Warren, Henry Boernstein, Chang & Eng Bunker, Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, Moses Kimball
Musicians: Samuel Francis Smith, Alexander C. Luca Sr., John Hill Hewitt, Mrs. Edward Knight, Benjamin Franklin White, Joel Sweeney, Marion Dix Sullivan, Thomas Dartmouth Rice, Elizabeth Austin, Jesse B. Aikin, Henry “The Hominy Man” Anderson, George James Webb, Eduard Sobolewski, William Walker, P. P. Werlein, George Pope Morris, Domingo Crisanto Delgado Gómez, Anna Thillon, Ureli Corelli Hill, Parley P. Pratt, William Vincent Wallace, Thomas Coates, George Nelson Allen, Edward “Ned” Kendall, William Hauser, Joel H. Johnson, Lorenzo Lyons, Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch, John Greenleaf Adams, Stephen P. Hill
Visual Artists: Thomas Cole, Alonzo ‘Old Block” Delano, Hiram Powers, Clark Mills, Titian Peale, Grace Wisher, Junius Brutus Stearns, Dennis Cusick, Sophia Hawthorne, Nathan Kelley, Caroline Sturgis Tappan, Richard Upjohn, James Bogardus, Horatio Greenough, John A. Roebling, Constantino Brumidi, Alexander Jackson Davis, George Caleb Bingham, John Quidor, William Page, Moses Billings, John William Casilear, Seth Eastman, Robert Walter Weir, Alfred Thomas Agate, James Guy Evans, Peter Rindisbacher, William Sidney Mount, Jane Stuart, Fitz Hugh Lane, George Winter, Henry Inman, Francis Alexander, Charles Frederick Zimpel
Cusp Cohorts
Preceding Microgeneration: “The Defiant Giants” (1794–1798)
Prominent “Defiant Giants”: James Knox Polk, Sojourner Truth, Walter Hunt, Jacob Hyer, Cornelius “The Commodore” Vanderbilt, Samuel Cornish, Amelia Holman Gilfert, Joseph Brackett, George Catlin, Johns Hopkins, Thomas Bulfinch, Horace Mann, William H. Prescott, Charles Wilkes, John Syme, Matthew C. Perry, Frances Ann Denny Drake, Robert Cooper Grier, Calvin Pollard, George Moses Horton, Margaretta Morris, Andrew Pickens Butler, William Sublette, Levi Coffin, Samuel Cooper, Elizabeth Goodridge, Anson Jones, Thurlow Weed, Silas H. Stringham, Charles Mynn Thruston, William Goode, John Winebrenner, Ethan A. Hitchcock, William “Extra Billy” Smith, Jonas Chickering, Bache McEvers, Thomas Holliday Hicks, Otis Colwell, John Joseph Abercrombie, James Murray Mason, Henry Addison of Georgetown, Charles H. Bell, George Nixon Briggs, Reverdy Johnson, Francis Kenrick, Archbishop John Joseph Hughes, William B. Ide, John Torrey, Epaphroditus Ransom, James Boggs, Edwin Vose Sumner, John M. Clayton, Peter Harvey, Joseph Pannell Taylor, Richard Barnes Mason, John Adams Dix, William Apess, McDonald Clarke, James Ferguson, Mary Lyon, James Lick, Robert F. Stockton, Cornelia Frances Jefferson, François Chouteau, James Eights, Gerrit Smith, Jacob Bailey Moore, Samuel Henry Dickson, Ohdahwe Corntassel, Richard Harlan, James Bowie, Henry Engelhard Steinway, George Peabody, Benjamin Bonneville, John Neagle, Maria Martin, Chief Oshkosh, Joseph Henry, Daniel Drew, Asher Brown Durand, John Blennerhassett Martin, David Walker of Boston, James Wallice Eastburn, Gershom Jacques Van Brunt, Richard Delafield, Hiram Paulding, Charles Simmons, Therese Albertine Luise Robinson, Jim Beckwourth, David Thompson
Subsequent Microgeneration: “Prospectors” (1811–1815)
Prominent “Prospectors”: Harriett Beecher Stowe, Wendell Phillips, Henry Wilson, John Archibald Campbell, Horace Wells, Charles Lewis Tiffany, Horace Greeley, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Henry Box Brown, Ellen Sturgis Hooper, Alexander H. Stephens, Emma Stebbins, David Davis, Rufus Wilmot Griswold, Harriet Jacobs, Gardner Quincy Colton, Isaac Singer, Josephine Clifton, Stephen A. Douglas, John Banvard, Charles Sumner, Joshua Glover, William Wells Brown, Anna Ella Carroll, Joseph P. Bradley, Crawford Williamson Long, Edwin Pearce Christy, Samuel Colt, Henry Highland Garnet, Charles Walter Couldock, John Gross Barnard, Thomas Crawford, Andrew Blackbird, John C. Frémont, Randolph B. Marcy, John Lothrop Motley, Erastus Brigham Bigelow, William J. Hardee, James McCune Smith, Galen Clark, Judah Philip Benjamin, Owen Lovejoy, James Shepherd Pike, Martin Delany, Charles Turner Torrey, John Horse, Stevens Thompson Mason, Henry Bergh, Lyman Trumbull, Henry Ward Beecher, St. John Richardson Liddell, Israel Washburn Jr., Zachariah Chandler, Joseph Glidden, Sherman Booth, Nathaniel Currier, Junius Spencer Morgan, Benjamin Alvord, William Lowndes Yancey, George Ticknor Curtis, Henry Morris Naglee, Nathaniel McLean, William Ranney, Sanford E. Church, John Brougham, Cornelia Walter, James Curtis Hepburn, Andrew Gregg Curtin, Mark Hopkins Jr., Sarah Kirby-Stark, Henry “Old Brains” Halleck, John M. Trimble, Samuel J. Tilden, Nathaniel Bannister, Willis Augustus Hodges, John Bingham, William Hepburn Russell, Jane Johnson, Henry Watson, Richard Pelham, Edwin Stanton, Howell Cobb, Eliza Jane Cate, John L. O’Sullivan, Richard March Hoe, James Marion Sims, Afong Moy, Joshua Silsbee, George Meade, Joseph Miller of West Nottingham & Baltimore, Richard Henry Dana Jr., Samuel Kier
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