David Fairchild was born in 1869 in Michigan. As a young boy, he moved to Manhattan, Kansas, where his father was president of the Kansas Agricultural College. His parents often entertained professors visiting the college.

“Hearing . . . tales about the South Pacific was a pivotal moment in David Fairchild’s life. He suddenly realized that botany didn’t have to be about familiar brown farm crops. Studying plants could lead to romantic adventures and exciting glimpses of life in exotic lands. Fairchild immediately developed a deep yearning to escape the farmlands of Kansas. ‘It was this meeting with the great naturalist which started my longing to see, when I grew up, those islands of the Great East,’ he recalled.”                                                                                                  (Harris, Fruits of Eden, 7)

Fairchild joined the U.S. Department. of Agriculture (USDA) in 1889, resigning in 1893 to study in Europe.

“All my life it has seemed strange to me that the vast majority of human beings are content with only hearsay accounts of the wonders found ‘through the microscope.’ It is a breath-taking world, filled with myriads of strange and fascinating objects which the naked eye could never see. Anyone who has never looked thus into the heart of a flower has not fully lived.”

~ David Fairchild (Fairchild, The World as Garden, 13)

"Professor Raphael Pumpelly, the great geologist of Harvard, was also on board. During one of our chats, I told him of my longing to go to Java. The Professor said there was a Mr. Barbour Lathrop on board who had been in the fascinating, faraway places, and added that he would introduce me if I would accompany him to the smoking room. Thus came about my meeting with the man who was to 'direct my destiny.'" ~David Fairchild (Fairchild, The World Was My Garden, 31)

On a steamship across the Atlantic in 1893, Fairchild was introduced Barbour Lathrop, a philanthropist and traveler. Later, Mr. Lathrop sought out Fairchild in Naples, Italy to offer him $1,000 to fulfill his dream of going to the island of Java. Mr. Lathrop later rejoined Fairchild in Java. This was the start of a yearslong odyssey spanning countries, oceans, and continents.

David Fairchild returned to Washington, D.C. in 1903, after years of travel with Barbour Lathrop. The editor of the nascent National Geographic Society magazine, Gilbert Grosvenor, asked Fairchild to address the Society about his recent travels.

“I met Gilbert Grosvenor, the young editor of the magazine published by the National Geographic Society. He had heard of my trip up the Persian Gulf and asked me to address the Society on my expedition to Baghdad . . . .  I do not remember much about the actual speech except my pleasure in hearing that Alexander Graham Bell was present in this audience. Mr. Bell was President of the Society . . . . The chain of events which led from Baghdad to Washington and my meeting with Bert Grosvenor has continued throughout the rest of my life.” ​​​​​​​

(Fairchild, The World Was My Garden, 289)

From left: Alexander Graham Bell (The Canadian Encyclopedia), Gilbert Grosvenor (Britannica), David and Marian Bell Fairchild (Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden)

In November of 1903, David Fairchild attended a party hosted by the Grosvenors.             

“It was a small party, and I found myself seated beside Miss Marian Bell . . . . Our conversation was largely on art, about which I knew nothing but could talk a good deal, having traveled with Mr. Lathrop, who was a real connoisseur. It was the first chance I had to talk to Miss Bell, and I was fascinated by her. Just before the party broke up, I realized from something which Mrs. Grosvenor said that her sister was not engaged, as I had assumed inevitable. I left the house, my mind in a whirl, a whirl which has really never stopped since. It was the beginning of a part of my life which has been completely different and vastly more beautiful than anything I had dreamed possible.”

(Fairchild, The World as Garden, 103) 

​​​​​​​Seventeen months later Fairchild married Marian Bell. Fairchild’s connection to the high-profile Bell family would later advance his career.