“P” is for Poellnitz, Baron Frederick Carl Hans Bruno (1734-1801)

“P” is for Poellnitz, Baron Frederick Carl Hans Bruno (1734-1801). Nobleman, horticulturist, inventor. Born in Prussia, Poellnitz emigrated to the United States in 1782. He eventually settled in New York City where he purchased a small estate, called Minto, where he pursued his interest in horticulture and conducted agricultural experiments. He also developed new types of farm implements including a threshing machine. In 1790 President George Washington visited Minto and purchased a plow for Mount Vernon. In the 1790s, Poellnitz corresponded with George Washington on various horticultural matters. In 1790, he exchanged his New York property for a 2,991 acre plantation, Wraggtown, on the Great Pee Dee River in Marlboro County. Although a slaveholder Baron Frederick Hans Bruno Poellnitz nevertheless expressed strong views about the need to abolish the practice and to give full citizenship to African Americans.