The Legacy of Thomas Volney Munson

The most delicate and appreciated wines of the world can attribute their being to a most humble and honorable man from Texas. That man, Thomas Volney Munson, was reverenced and beloved, not for what he had, but for what he was. Probably no man ever lived in Texas whose character attracted greated admiration, or whose removal caused more general regret than did his, and the memory of his pure life, of his gracious presence and kindly deeds lingers like a sweet fragrance in the air. In the science of horticulture, his name will live for generations, for his contributions in this field were invaluable. He loved Nature, her trees, fields, fruits and flowers, and knew them well; and he loved his kind and was lavish in his benefactions to those who, helpless, appealed to his sympathy. When he passed away January 21, 1913, at his home in Denison, thousands mourned - not only those who knew him personally, but those whom his life had impressed as a teaching.

Thomas Volney Munson was born on a farm near Astoria, Fulton County, Illinois, September 26, 1843, a son of William Munson (1808-1890) and Maria (Linley) Munson (1810-1890), the former a native of New Hampshire and the latter of Kentucky. He was born of Scotch ancestry, the first representative of the name in America being Captain Richard Manson, a Scotch sea captain belonging to a titled family. He settled in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, about 1661. His son, John Manson, Sr., was the father of John Manson, Jr., and the grandfather of Richard Manson, the great-great-grandfather of Thomas Volney Munson. Richard Manson changed the spelling of the name to its present form. Richard Manson and his wife, Susanna Cain, were the parents of Theodore Munson, the grandfather of Thomas Volney Munson. Theodore Munson married Lydia Phylbrook and their son, Williiam, married Maria Linley, a daughter of Joseph and Sibilla (Benjamin) Linley.

Reared a farmer's son, he obtained his early education in the district schools, Fulton Seminary, later went to the academy at Lewiston, subsequently took a course at hte Bryant and Stratton Business College, and, in order to make his way through the Agricultural and Mechanical College of the Kentucky University, boarded himself with his brother, the two doing their own cooking and practicing numerous small economies. This brother was William Benjamin Munson (1846-1930), who was destined to become one of the leading capitalists of North Texas. William Benjamin Munson finished his college degree and became the first graduate of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of the Kentucky University, while his beloved brother, Thomas Volney Munson, was the second graduate in 1870.

The other children of William and Maria (Linley) Munson were: Louisa Elizabeth Munson (1840-1930), Joseph Theodore Munson (1841-1919), Tryphena Maria Munson (1843-1935), and Mary Ginevra Munson (1945-1946). On June 21, 1879, Thomas Volney Munson maried Miss Ellen Scott Bell (1849-1923), of Lexington, Kentucky. She was the daughter of Charles Stewart Bell and Margaret Bynyan (Smith) Bell and a graduate of Syre Female Institute of Lexington. Ellen Scott Bell's paternal grandfather was a direct descendent of John Bunyan, author of "Pilgrim's Progress." Her grandmother, Helen Scott, was descended from a branch of Sir Walter Scott's family. Thomas Volney Munson and Ellen Scott (Bell) Munson were the parents of eleven children: Huxley Munson (died at birth - 1871), Volney Elmerwin Munson (1872-1873), William Bell Munson (1873-1967), Volney Earle Munson (1886-1887), Viala Laussel Munson (1888-1925), Marguerite Munson (1890-1929), and Rupert Scott Munson (1893-1894).

After graduation from the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky University, Thomas Volney Munson was employed by the college as a professor of science. In 1883, while still in their employment, he earned his Master of Science degree. To honor their second graduate for his monumental contribution to society, the University of Kentucky bestowed a Doctor of Science degree on Munson in 1907.

Thomas Volney Munson developed his love for horticulture while working in his father-in-law's nursery business in Lexington, Kentucky, then the state capitol, during the years 1871-1873. But, his passion for experimentation with grapes, which was to last a lifetime, was aroused by Dr. Robert Peter, his college chemistry professor, in the fall of 1873 when he visited the professor's vineyard and witnessed for himself a collection of "all the leading and nearly all the then introduced varieties of American grapes." Munson concluded afterward, "It seemed to me that there might be numerous combinations, which would naturally occur in such a vineyard, and that one could expect some of the seedlings grown from such crossed seeds to turn out better than any in the vineyard, by combination of excellencies of both parents in the crossed." Having attained a desire to test the matter, Dr. Peter gave his clusters of forty or more different varieties. It was while Munson was a student at Kentucky that he decided "the grape was the most beautiful, most wholesome and nutritious, most certain and most profitable fruit that could be grown." In his investigation of the grape species, he traveled more than 50,000 miles in 40 states gathering grape specimens, studying soils and climates, which eventually made him of the nation's foremost authorities on the grape.

Shortly after his marriage in 1870, Thomas Volney Munson moved to the vicinity of Lincoln, Nebraska, where he planted the numerous seeds collected form the vineyard of Dr. Peter in Kentucky. Unfortunately, the seasons were harsh and all of the seedlings were lost, primarily due to drouth, intense hard winters and insects. "Yet the kindled flame of passion for experimentation continued to burn," related Munson, so he decided to more south to a more suitable climate for his grape research.

Two of Munson's brothers, William Benjamin Munson, a banker, and Joseph T. Munson, a surveyor, were living in the young prairie town of Denison, Texas , on the sprawling Red River, which seemed an ideal location for their brother to work in the nursery business. They invited him and his family to come to Grayson, County, Texas, and evaluate the area for themselves. This was not the first time that T.V. Munson had thought about Texas, since his master's thesis at Kentucky was entitled, "Trees and Forests of Texas," He arrived in Denison in April 1876 and began to improve a "rough piece of dark limestone, timbered land on the bluffs of Red River." Munson later wrote of his arrival in Grayson County, "Here were six or eight good species of wild grapes, several of which had not been seen by me previously. I had found my grape paradise!" Surely now, thought I, "This is the place for experimentation with grapes!" It must surely have been true, for he spent the remaining years of his life in the area developing superior grape varieties from the wild native grapes along the bluffs of the Red River and its tributaries. It was here in Northern Texas that all of his industrial, scientific and literary work was done. He established one of the most famous vineyards in the South, besides building up a reliable and well-known nursery business. He bacame the acknowledged authority on the native wild grapes of North America, and Bulletin No. C., Divison of Pomology, United States Department of Agriculture, "Classification and Generic Synopsis of the Wild Grapes of North America," which he wrote and which was published in 1890, is one of the most painstaking pieces of botanical work ever done in this country. It made the way for his later and greater work, "Foundations of American Grape Culture," which was published in 1909. His horticultural and scientific work in hybridizing and perfecting the American Vitis by developing more than 300 distinct varieties won him a diploma from the French government 1n 1888, and the decoration of the Legion of Honor, with the title of "Chevalier du Merit Agricole," for the aid he had rendered France by developing insect and disease resistant rootstocks which saved the precious French wine varieties from extinction due to an infestation of Phylloxera.

Thomas Volney Munson was a member of the Viticultural Assocation of France, vice-president of the American Pomological Society, member of the American Breeders' Association, the Association for the Advancement of Science, and president of the Texas Horticultural Society. In 1903-1904, he was a member of the Texas World's Fair Association. He was a member of the Jury of Awards at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, an honorary member of the American Wine Grower's Association and also a vice-president of the Society for Horticultural Science. The most complete botanical display of the whole grape genus ever made was prepared by T.V. Munson and exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, in 1893. This collection, now in the United States Department of Agriculture, will ever be a sterling record of Dr. Munson's wonderful patience, painstaking care and skill. His splendid book, "Foundations of American Grape Culture," is regarded as the most practical, complete and satisfactory account of the American grape yet issued, and is a lasting monument to his zeal, energy and scientific investigation.

At the time of Dr. Munson's death, numerous expressions of admiration for the man and his work, and regrets for his departure, were sent by mail and telegraphy from all parts of the world. The press all over the country paid him eulogies, and his funeral was on of the most largely attended in Grayson County history. From the beautiful suburban family residence just south of the City of Denison, the body was borne tenderly to the spacious auditorium of the XXI Club, which had been donated by his brother, J.T. Munson. There the funeral services were held before a congregation that filled the auditorium to overflowing. The services were simple and brief. Mr. R.L. Legate, a warm personal friend of the deceased, read the funeral oration, "Philosophius" Funeral Oration, Made Over His Own Grave," which had been written by Dr. Munson when still in good health, and which he had requested to be read at his funeral. The oration was as follows:

From the auditorium, the funeral train moved to Fairview Cemetery, where Mr. W.B. Munson, brother of the deceased, read the following:

Complied and edited by Dr. Roy E. Renfro, Jr., Administrator
The T.V. Munson Memorial Vineyard
Grayson County College
Denison, Texas
1992 All Rights Reserved