A Divided Inheritance
Joshua Peirce and his wife, Susan, did not have any children until they adopted a nephew, Joshua Peirce Klingle. Born in Philadelphia in 1835, Klingle was orphaned at a young age and came to Linnaean Hill to live with his uncle and namesake. Eventually he started working at the nursery alongside William Beckett.
When Joshua Peirce died in 1869, he left his Linnaean Hill estate and the nursery business to his nephew. The photo at left shows Joshua Peirce Klingle and his wife, Laura, sitting in front of Linnaean Hill in the 1870s.
After Peirce’s death, Beckett asked Klingle for two years of back pay. Klingle complained about the $100 monthly salary and called Beckett’s claim “preposterous.” The executors of Joshua Peirce’s estate asked a neighbor and relative, Pierce Shoemaker, if he thought the monthly salary was exorbitant. Shoemaker replied that $100 seemed reasonable since Beckett was “indispensable.”
Continue William Beckett’s story →
Joshua Peirce Klingle and his wife, Laura, sitting in front of Linnaean Hill in the 1870s. The building is now known as Klingle Mansion. (Kiplinger Library, DC History Center)