Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore(1856-1928)

Have you heard of a story about an American woman who introduced cherry blossoms to the United States more than a hundred years ago?

I have already introduced her story in my yahoo blog. But this time, I 'd like to introduce her here in this google blog.

Her brother - George Hawthorne Scidmore - was a diplomat who served in the far east from 1884 to 1922. This was a big advantage for her. She frequently visited and travelled Japan. Eliza was so impressed by the beauty of cherry blossoms that she wrote a letter to the then first lady Helen Taft and advised to plant to cherry trees in Washington DC. This year is the 100th anniversary of the transplanting  sapplings of cherry trees along the Polomac.

Scidmore family's tomb stone is at Yokohama Foreign General Cemetary. George was a consul general of Yokohama when he passed away as an incumbent. He was single and lived with their mother Eliza Catherine Scidmore. Both were buried here. Eliza Ruhamah was in Switzerland when she passed away, but her ashes and bones were brought here according as her will.  Sapplings were made from a cherry tree along the Potomac and planted around the family grave.  Then, from a cherry tree near this tomb, a sappling was made and planted near the entrance of Motomachi Shopping Street  with her monument.