Sargent (Charles Sprague) is born in Boston.

The son of Ignatius Sargent, Charles Sprague Sargent grows up at 2 Joy Street, graduates from Harvard College, serves in the Union Army, then travels in Europe. Returning to Boston, he becomes interested in horticulture, designing and managing the grounds of the family estate, Holm Lea, on the Boston/Brookline line across from Jamaica Pond. Sargent becomes a nationally-recognized leader in horticulture, conservation, and promoting National Parks, teaches at the Bussey Institute and Harvard, and serves as the first director of the Arnold Arboretum (1872-1927). He dies in Brookline on March 22, 1927.