USA > Maryland > Men of mark in Maryland Johnson's makers of America series biographies of leading men of the state, Volume IV > Part 2
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Doctor Welch was born in Norfolk, Connecticut, April S, 1850; son of Doctor William Wickham and Emeline (Collins) Welch. His
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WILLIAM HENRY WELCH
father was a successful and influential country doctor, of the best type, and heredity may have cut some figure in the final selection of a profession by Doctor Welch. It is of record, however, that so versatile were his talents in youth that his friends were in a state of conjecture as to what work in life he would take up, but none of them doubted for a moment that he would make his mark in what- ever direction he might turn. He was graduated from Yale Uni- versity with the degree of bachelor of arts in 1870. After graduation he was principal of a private school in Norwich, New York. Before entering on the study of medicine he spent nearly a year in practical work in chemistry in the Sheffield Scientific School, New Haven. In the autumn of 1872, he turned his attention to medicine; entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City, a depart- ment of Columbia University, and was graduated as doctor of medi- cine in 1875. He spent eighteen months as medical interne in Bellevue Hospital, where he became greatly interested in the subject of pathological anatomy. With the especial purpose of training him- self as a pathologist, Doctor Welch' spent two years in professional study in Germany in 1876, 1877, and 1878, under Professors Waldeyer, von Recklinhausen and Cohnheim in the Universities of Strassburg, Leipzig and Breslau.
Returning to the United States, he became professor of patho- logical anatomy and general pathology in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, serving in that capacity from 1879 to 1884. .
In 1884, Doctor Gilman, the president of the Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1876, was looking around for a man to fill the chair of pathology. Doctor Gilman desired to secure the best pathologist available for the purpose and applied among others to the late, Professor Cohnheim, then professor in Leipzig. To Doctor Gilman's representative he replied: "Why do you come to us Ger- mans? There is a young American perfectly competent to take the professorship. Why don't you ask him to become the professor of pathology?" "Who is he? What is his name?" asked Dr. Gilman's emissary. "His name is William H. Welch, and the world is going to hear of him." Doctor Gilman promptly acted upon this hint from the eminent professor; was successful in the negotiation; and since 1884, Doctor Welch has been professor of pathology in Johns Hopkins University. The world has heard of him, rightly enough. Since 1889 he has been pathologist of Johns Hopkins Hospital.
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WILLIAM HENRY WELCH
From 1893 to 1898, he was dean of the medical faculty of the University. Since 1898, he has been president of the Maryland State board of health. Since 1901, he has been president of the board of directors of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. Since . 1906, he has been a trustee of the Carnegie Institution. He has been the recipient of honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton and other universities. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and other learned bodies. He is at this moment president of the American Medical Association-the highest honor which can be conferred upon an American doctor. Now, at sixty, Doctor Welch ranks as one of the leaders in American medicine.
It becomes of some interest to see what manner of man this medical professor is, who has gained such a reputation. He is not a big man physically, except as to his brain. He has in an eminent degree the saving sense of humor-and no matter however great the stress, the twinkle of his eye shows that his heart is yet strong within him.
Those who know him best agree that from his earliest youth up . to the present moment, Doctor Welch has always carried into his studies the zest of an ambitious schoolboy, and that he has had the remarkable advantage which comes from a phenomenal memory, and thus has been able to learn with less effort than many other close students have to use. He is an easy and delightful public speaker- rarely using a note or a manuscript; and yet it is said that his train of thought moves in an orderly sequence which even the most con- monplace understanding can easily follow.
The personal interest which he manifests in his students is such that his boys have for him a warm affection, and many of his pupils affectionately call him "Popsie." Among those who have been trained in his laboratory may be mentioned Dr. Flexner, the director of the Laboratories of Rockefeller Institute, Dr. Abbott of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, Dr. Barker of the Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Howard, of Cleveland, Dr. MacCallum of Columbia and many others.
It is a fortunate thing for humanity that a man of Doctor Welch's mental bias and humanitarian instincts has been so situated in his working life. that he could devote his great talents to research work without having to be troubled with the petty questions connected with making a living. He has made a world-wide reputation not
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WILLIAM HENRY WELCH
only for himself, but for the great university which he has represented for twenty-seven years, and has thus more than repaid the university for the opportunity which it gave him. On the five-hundredth anniversary of the University of Leipzig, and the four-hundredth anniversary of the University of Geneva, both in the. same year (1909), Doctor Welch was selected as the representative of Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Institution, and the Smithsonian Institution to attend the celebration. By a special invitation he was one of the few distinguished visitors entertained by the King of Saxony on that occasion; and while in Leipzig had the pleasure of dining with Frau Cohnheim, the widow of his old instructor who twenty-five years before had suggested him as the man for the chair of pathology in Johns Hopkins.
Among the investigations conducted by Dr. Welch may be mentioned his researches. on pulmonary oedema, the pathology of fever, thrombosis and embolism, diphtheria, hog cholera, and various problems of infection and immunity. His name is connected with the discovery of a species of bacillus, commonly known as the gas bacillus.
Of course, with his great reputation, Doctor Welch is called upon from every quarter for professional advice and service. He is literally worked to the limit, and yet he finds time for serving on charter revision commissions and for solving difficult problems, as a recreation. He is very partial to chess problems, and indeed any problem of a mathematical character interests him.
Some of the positions held by him have been referred to. In addition to those already mentioned, he holds the honorary degree of M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania (1894); is a doctor of law, of the Western Reserve University (1894); doctor of law, Yale University (1896); doctor of law, Harvard University (1900); doctor of law, University of Toronto (1903); doctor of law, Columbia Uni- versity (1904); doctor of law, Princeton University (1910). In 1892-93 he served as president of the Medical and Chirurgical Fac- ulty of Maryland; in 1897 as president of the Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons; in 1901 he was president of the Associa- tion of American Physicians; in 1902 he was chosen to deliver the Huxley Lecture before the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, London; in 1906 he was elected honorary member of the Vienna Medical Society; in 1906-07 he served as president of the American
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WILLIAM HENRY WELCH
Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences; of the American Philosophical Society; a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; a Fellow of the Philadelphia College of Physicians; honorary mem- ber of the Pathological Society of London; honorary member of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society; member of the advisory board of the hygienic laboratory of the United States Marine Hos- pital Service; and author of The General Pathology of Fever and numerous papers on pathological and bacteriological subjects. Dr. Welch has received from the German Emperor the decoration of the Royal Order of the Crown, second class. He holds membership in the University Club and the Maryland Club of Baltimore and the University Club of New York.
The brief record here imperfectly sketched shows Doctor Welch to be not only one of the leading pathologists of the world, but also that his position as such has won world-wide recognition. All that, however, is merely incidental. The real greatness of the man is found in the fact that he has served his generation faithfully to the utmost limit of the strength and the ability which has been given him. To be able to say this of a man is to give him the highest meed of praise that is possible.
One of the most remarkable testimonials ever given to any American scientist was given to Doctor Welch on the evening of April 2,-1910, when four hundred and fifty-one men, leaders in every walk of life, representing every section of the country, met in a ban- quet at the Hotel Belvedere, in Baltimore, in honor of Doctor Welch, and presented him with a gold medallion of himself, designed and executed by the celebrated sculptor, Victor D. Brenner.
yours Sincerely
JOHN HUBNER
I T IS not an extravagant statement to make when it is said that Maryland has not within its borders a more valuable citizen than John Hubner, whose business operations for more than forty years have been part of the business life of the city of Baltimore, and who makes his home at Catonsville. Mr. Hubner is one of the excellent people given to us by Germany and who have in the last seventy-five years contributed so much to the development of our Republic in every phase of its life.
Mr. Hubner was born in Bavaria, South Germany, on December 26, 1840; son of Michael and Mary Hubner. His father, a lumber dealer, emigrated in 1855 and settled in Baltimore. Prior to that, young Hubner had had some school training in the excellent village schools of his native land, and his education was completed in Balti- more.
During the latter part of the great Civil War, 1863-64-65, Mr. Hubner was proprietor of the Relay House on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and made the acquaintance of many of the most prominent generals of the armies. In those days, "The Relay" was one of the principal gateways to and from the South, because of the fact that the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad did not then control the Metropolitan Branch, and all passengers from their main line going South had to be transferred at that point, and vice versa.
After some preliminary training in business, in 1868, the young man began the manufacture of brick in Baltimore on a small scale. He remained in the brick business. for several years; but in the mean- time, in 1869, also took on a real estate interest. The real estate interest developed into large things, and in the development of that business Mr. Hubner became one of the largest developers of the city of Baltimore. Directly and indirectly, he has in the last forty years built more than three thousand houses in the city and its suburbs. No man in the city is better known in building and real estate circles; and though he has reached his three score and ten years, he is still actively engaged, being president of the Catonsville
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Improvement Company; president of the Maryland Real Estate Company; director in the Maryland Casualty Company, and director in the First National Bank. He was formerly president of the Old Line Real Estate Company; and in 1895, he was one of the principal organizers of the American Bonding Company, and became its first president, serving in such capacity for several years. He takes an especially keen interest in his home town of Catonsville, and as presi- dent of the Improvement Company has done much towards its build- ing up and beautifying.
. All this work has been on the material side of life and would not bear out the opening sentences of this sketch, unless something else could be shown. This brings in his political record. A lifetime Democrat and always actively interested in politics, though never a seeker after place from any personal ambition, he was sent to the General Assembly as a member of the House of Delegates in 1886 and served six years therein. During the latter part of his term he was made speaker of the House, He was sent to the State Senate in 1892, and served four years; was again sent to the Senate in 1900 and served four other years, and in the last two terms was president of the Senate. He has been one of the most valuable members of the legislature, because of the fact that he was not, and is not, a profes- sional politician, and his service in the legislature was but an incident begotten of a patriotic desire to serve the State.
We come now to another phase of his life-the religious. He is one of the best known men in the work of the Lutheran Church in the United States, being a lay member of its national governing body, and a member of the United States Board of Home Missions. He has been for many years very active and diligent in the work of this great Christian body. In fraternal societies, he belongs to the , various Masonic bodies from Blue Lodge to Temple. The only social organization to which he is attached is the Catonsville Country Club.
Perhaps his best work for the State remains to be mentioned. Far and near he is recognized as the father of the Springfield State Hospital at Sykesville, one of the best equipped asylums in America, and of which for sixteen years he has been the practical head, serving as vice-president from 1895 to the present day. The governor of the State is ex-officio president, and this means that the real responsi-
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JOHN HURNER
bility of the institution in a large measure rests upon Mr. Hubner's shoulders.
Mr. Hubner was married in September, 1863, to Miss Mary A. Harken of Anne Arundel County. Of the fourteen children born of this marriage, five are now living. Henry H. and William R. Hubner are attorneys practicing in Baltimore. Grace is now the wife of Reverend L. M. Enter. Helen is now Mrs. W. P. Stringer, and Miss Rachel Hubner is unmarried.
When one considers the record which has been so briefly outlined; the enormous building operations carried on; the political service rendered; the church service so freely given, and the long years devoted to that splendid charity, the State Hospital, one can readily understand Mr. Hubner's reply to the question as to his favorite recreation when he says "hard work."
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HENRY BARTON JACOBS
D OCTOR HENRY BARTON JACOBS, of Baltimore, was born in South Scituate, Massachusetts, on June 2, 1858; son of Barton Richmond and Frances Almira (Ford) Jacobs. He is just past fifty-three years old. He is a very prominent figure in the medical profession, with a reputation which spreads even beyond the borders of his own country. But this is not the most remarkable ·thing about him. The most remarkable thing-and it is a most remarkable thing-is how, in fifty-three years, he has been able to do what the record shows that he has done. His record of things done would almost lead one to believe that he is an alchemist who, in the recesses of his laboratory, has worked out some plan known only to himself, whereby he can make each day count double.
Doctor Jacobs is of the New England Puritan stock, being in the seventh generation from Nicholas Jacob, the first American ancestor, and one of a small band who first settled the town of Hing- ham, Mass., in 1625. The house he built still stands.
It will be noted that the name was originally Jacob, which is found among the old family names in England (being among the armigerous families), and the final s is an American addition. The line of descent is as follows: Nicholas Jacob, the immigrant, father of John .(born at Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1629) who married Mary Russell. John was the father of Deacon David Jacob (born at Hingham, Massachusetts, 1664), who married Sarah Cushing, born at Hingham in 1671. We now come to the addition of the s. Deacon David Jacob was the father of Joshua Jacobs (born at Scitu- ate, Massachusetts, in 1702), who married Mary James. Joshua was the father of James Jacobs (born in Scituate, Massachusetts, 1742), who married Dora Richmond, born at Dartmouth, in 1742. James was the father of Ichabod Richmond Jacobs (born at Scituate, Massachusetts, 1774), who married Clarissa Richmond, born in Little Compton, Rhode Island, 1778. Ichabod R. was the father of Barton Richmond Jacobs (born at Scituate, Massachusetts, June 23, 1823), who married Frances A. Ford, born at Scituate, Massa-
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. chusetts, December 9, 1828; and these last were the parents of Doctor Henry Barton Jacobs.
A peculiar feature of interest appears in Doctor Jacobs' line of descent. Every American who knows anything of his country's history is familiar with the story of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, who came over in the Mayflower, and whose love story our young people never weary of hearing. Doctor Jacobs is in direct line of descent from John Alden and his wife, Priscilla Mullins, in this way: his great-grandfather, James Jacobs, married Deborah Richmond. Deborah Richmond was a daughter of Captain Perez Richmond, whose wife was Deborah Loring. Captain Perez Richmond was son *of Colonel Sylvester Richmond and his wife, Elizabeth Rogers. Elizabeth Rogers was a daughter of John Rogers (born in Duxbury, Massachusetts, 1640), and his wife, Elizabeth Pabodie. Elizabeth Pabodie was the daughter of William Pabodie and his wife, Eliza- beth Alden. Elizabeth Alden was the daughter of John Alden and his wife, Priscilla Mullins. In various other lines of descent, Doctor Jacobs traces back to five other passengers of the Mayflower, among whom is Elder Brewster and Richard Warren. .
Doctor Jacobs went through the Hingham (Massachusetts) High School, and was graduated in 1875. He then entered the famous old Phillips Exeter Academy, at Exeter, New Hampshire, from which he was graduated in 1879. While in the school he was interested in athletics, and in one of the annual contests took the first prize, a silver medal, for putting the shot. When he graduated from Exeter, he was president of the day at the graduating exercises, and afterwards as secretary of his class published the Proceedings of that day. He then entered Harvard and was graduated with the degree Bachelor of Arts in the class of 1883, and was elected by his fellows one of the class day committee to arrange for the class day exercises. While in his academic course at Harvard, he decided upon the medical profession as a vocation, and gave his studies a trend in that direction. In his sophomore year, he rowed with his class crew in the annual class races, pulling creditably number five at a weight of one hundred and fifty-two pounds'. He took highest honors in natural history upon his graduation, and was immediately appointed proctor and assistant in botany in Harvard, positions which he held for the suc- ceeding two years. 1
In the meantime he had become a student in the medical school.
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HENRY BARTON JACOBS
He graduated with his doctor's degree in 1886, and became one of the resident medical staff of the Massachusetts General Hospital, where he spent eighteen months.
Right here, it is worth while to stop and notice a thing of first importance. Doctor Jacobs did not grudge the time given to train- ing. He was twenty-eight years old when he obtained his doctor's degree-he had been practically twenty years at school. In an aca- demic, or rather a classical way, he had not grudged the time necessary to take the full courses in the very best schools, and then did rot grudge the additional time necessary to get the best theoretical and practical knowledge of medicine, spending between the medical schools and the hospital a full five years. When he opened his office at No. 8 Hancock Street, Boston, in January, 1888, for general practice, be only lacked six months of being thirty years old. There is a special reason why this should be emphasized-it tells why the twenty-two years which have since elapsed have been so fruitful: When he entered upon the active practice of medicine, he entered upon it with an equipment not possessed by one doctor in a thousand. He did not have to flounder around and make guesses and experiments, because he had the knowledge, both theoretical and practical, to enable him to come to quick decisions. At the end of his first year as a practic- ing physician in Boston, there came a turning point in his career. He was asked to become physician to Mr. Robert Garrett, of Balti- more, Maryland, then the most prominent figure in the industrial life of Maryland, being president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. He accepted this offer, and for eight years was Mr. Garrett's physician.
Johns Hopkins University, always on the alert to secure capable . men, had during these earlier years in Baltimore come in contact with Doctor Jacobs, and he became connected with the dispensary department of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and soon thereafter was appointed associate in medicine to the university. In the past twenty years, Doctor Jacobs has made eleven trips to Europe, partly on his own affairs, and partly to attend medical conventions.
On April 2, 1902, Doctor Jacobs was married to Mary Swan (Frick) Garrett, daughter of William Frederick Frick of Baltimore, and niece of Frank Frick (whose sketch appears in Volume I of this work).
As the years went by and his reputation grew, Doctor Jacobs found himself constantly called upon more and more for work of a
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public character. He has a large measure of public spirit and, com- bined with that, a desire to be of some use in his day and generation, so, it has come about that of late years most of his time has been devoted to the problem of the suppression of tuberculosis and to the offices held in the various institutions with which he is connected. He is a vestryman in Grace Protestant Episcopal Church; member of the board of trustees of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and of the Peabody Institute. All three of these call for a certain share of his time. He is governor of the Society of Colonial Wars. He is secre- tary of the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis; president of the Maryland Association for the Pre- vention and Relief of Tuberculosis; president of the Hospital for Consumptives of Maryland; president of the Society for the Study of Tuberculosis in Johns Hopkins Hospital; one of the board of managers of the Maryland Tuberculosis Sanitorium; member of the International Association for Prevention of Tuberculosis of Berlin. He is a Fellow of the National Association for the Advancement of Science; member of the American Medical Association; of the Ameri- can Forestry Association; of the American Historical Association; of the Maryland Historical Association; of the Archaeological Associ- ation of America; of the National Civic League; of the Municipal Art Society of Baltimore; of the executive committee of the Fed- erated Charities of Baltimore, and of the executive committee of the Colonial Trust Company of Baltimore. In civic life he has been a mem- ber of the council of the National Civil Service Reform League, and is a member of the Maryland Civil Service Reform Association. In club life he holds membership in the Union, Harvard, City, and Grolier Clubs of New York; in the Casino, Reading Room, and Golf Clubs of Newport, where he spends most of his summers, and in all the social clubs of Baltimore. One patriotic society has already been men- tioned. Another is the Society of Mayflower Descendants, by right of his descent from John Alden and Priscilla Mullins. He has been president of the Harvard Club of Maryland, and. in the year 1910, was président of the association of Southern Alumni of the Phillips Exeter Academy. In 1900, as secretary of the American National Committee, at the time that the International Medical Congress was being held in Paris, Doctor Jacobs arranged the repre- sentation and looked ably after that interest during the exposition, an account of which was published in The Boston Medical and Sur-
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gical Journal, January 10, 1901. He has furnished many papers to the medical journals, especially upon the best methods of proceedure in the suppression of tuberculosis, and upon this question and other medical questions has made numerous addresses before associations, conferences and conventions. The story here so briefly, and so baldly told at least proves the opening statement of this sketch, that Doctor Jacobs has a record of remarkable achievement during the last twenty-two years. But this record is better than remark- able; for underlying these labors has been the desire to serve and benefit his fellowmen. The god of gold has not dictated his activities, but love of human kind. The value of such a man to his genera- tion cannot be computed; but he belongs to that class of whom a noted orator once said, that "he has earned five hundred million . dollars, but has been too busy to collect it-while the fellows who have been collecting it, didn't earn it."
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