Scions of the Penn Treaty Elm

by Michael Bueno, Willa Gutfreund, and Leah Jarvik

Scions of the legendary Penn Treaty Elm serve as a way to extend the lineage of the Ulmus americanus tree under which the alleged treaty of friendship between William Penn and Lenape Chief Tamanend took place in 1682 (“Penn Treaty Elm,” Haverford College). According to Merriam-Webster, a scion is “a detached living portion of a plant (as a bud or shoot) joined to a stock in grafting and usually supplying solely aerial parts to a graft.” One of the first scions was taken from the Elm by General Paul Oliver and replanted at his home. Other scions taken from the original elm have been planted at the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, the Westtown School and the Johnson Library in Camden, NJ.

In 1840, Haverford College was presented with a scion from Oliver’s tree. This “grandchild” was planted on Founders Green. In 1915, seven scions were taken from it and planted on Barclay Beach. Unfortunately, the original Founders Elm and six of the seven descendants succumbed to Dutch Elm Disease. The seventh tree (great-grandchild of the Penn Treaty Elm) still stands on Barclay Beach (“Penn Treaty Elm,” Haverford College). However, it is not alone. In 1977, seedlings from the deceased Founders Green Elm were planted in a nursery. Other scions from the original Founders Green Elm and its descendants have been placed at other sites, such as Ursinus College, Penn Treaty Park and the Lenni Lenape tribal grounds in NJ (“Penn Treaty Elm,” Haverford College & Newman). If not for these scions, the Penn Treaty Elm would only have lived on in artistic rendering.

As descendants of the Penn Treaty Elm, these scions serve many historical and metaphorical purposes. As there is no official documentation of the treaty, the elm itself has taken on the mantel of record. As long as the elm continues to be valued and celebrated, the logic remains that there must have been an event worth celebrating that is connected to the tree. In this way, the physical and living existence of the scions lends a sense of authenticity to the story of Penn’s treaty. The scions further function as living keepsakes or markers of historical events. As historian John Watson put it, the tree ought to be “preserved as a memento of the past […] to link one generation with another,—to stand like living monuments speaking forth their solemn and soothing lessons, as from fathers to sons and the sons of sons” (Newman, 110). This notion that the trees themselves serve as monuments with specific historical lessons of which they are representative is a vital one. Some of these lessons remind us of the potential of peace, while others highlight a problematic history. For example, it is important to acknowledge the uncomfortable reality that a fourth-generation scion was gifted to the Lenni Lenape people even though the original Elm was located on land they once inhabited and considered sacred. In this way the scions serve as markers of historical lessons, as Watson suggests, and also as opportunities to question dominant historical narratives such as those surrounding the Penn Treaty.