Carrie Sweetser

Carolyn Knowles Phinney, daughter of Nelson and Eunice (Clark) Phinney, was born in Centerville, Massachusetts, on September 11, 1863.[1] She married Albert Raddin Sweetser (1861-1940) in Centerville on February 29, 1888.[2] The couple had no children, but they raised Carrie's nephew, George Phinney.[3]

They moved to Forest Grove, Oregon, in 1897 when her husband was hired by Pacific University.[4] They moved to Eugene when her husband joined the Botany faculty of the University of Oregon in 1902, and became head of the department in 1909.[2][5]

Sweetser spent much time over the years on botanical exploring trips with her husband and others,[6] during which she painted watercolors of wildflowers and fungi, though she had no formal training in art.[4] More than 300 of her paintings are in the special collections in the University of Oregon Libraries.[5]

The Eugene Guard noted, "For many who have not had the opportunity to roam over the hills and meadows of the Oregon country, these delicate watercolors are a source of great interest and knowledge. And for those who have more intimate knowledge of the wildflowers of the area, the pictures are a delightful reminder."[4] Biographer Rhoda Love wrote, "Her surviving paintings, photographs, and diaries provide a vivid picture of a Northwest botanist's life in the early twentieth century."[5]

Sweetser died in Eugene on September 9, 1952, two days short of eighty-nine years.[5]