Frederick W. Boissevain (1904-1943)

In 1925, a young landscape gardener named Frederick Boissevain left a growing business on Long Island to the care of his partner for two months and traveled to Austerlitz, New York to assist his aunt, the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, and uncle, Eugen Boissevain, with developing their new property, Steepletop.

Born in Batavia, Dutch East Indies in 1904, Frederick W. Boissevain was the son of Robert E. Boissevain of Hilversum, Holland. After immigrating to the United States, Boissevain married Miss Marion Bishop at Trinity Church in Hartford, Connecticut on June 20, 1933. Referenced as a horticulturist, landscape gardener, landscape architect, and architect by different sources, Boissevain lectured at the Lenox Garden Club in Massachusetts (1937) and spoke at the Hortus Garden Club in Greenwich, Connecticut (1938), where he lived at the time. In 1939, he was also involved with judging local, Greenwich flower shows. A naturalized U.S. citizen in 1942, Boissevain worked for the Office of War Information and was assigned to foreign propaganda work. On June 24, 1943, Boissevain was accidentally killed while on overseas duty for the Office of War Information. He was survived by his wife and two children. No other information is known.

If anyone has additional information about Frederick W. Boissevain or his work, please contact:

Chris Beagan
Landscape Designer
Pressley Associates
1035 Cambridge St.
Cambridge, MA 02141

tel 617.491.5300
cbeagan@pressleyinc.com