USA > Pennsylvania > Prominent and progressive Pennsylvanians of the nineteenth century. Volume III > Part 3
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The literature of medicine has received many valuable contribu- tions from the pen of Doctor Baum. Besides his many contributions to various medical journals, he assisted D. Hayes Agnew, M.D., LL.D., in the collection of materials and the publication of the second and third volumes of Professor Agnew's great work on surgery, universally recognized as a standard treatise and a surgical classic. Doctor Baum also served as one of Professor Agnew's private assist- ants for twelve years, and was considered one of that eminent physi- cian's most capable practitioners.
Never missing an opportunity to increase his knowledge of the profession of his choice, Doctor Baum has twice visited Europe, the
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CHARLES BAUM.
second time for a stay which covered two years, from May, 1889, where, in the master colleges of the Old World, he evinced the same aptitude which had characterized him while a student and a practi- tioner in the land of his birth. That his attainments have been appre- ciated in America is amply evidenced by the large and growing practice which he has acquired. Besides his many private patients, he has frequently been retained as a medical and surgical expert by the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company, Atlantic City Rail- way Company, the Delaware Ferry Company and by the Union Traction Company.
Always active in whatever would tend to advance him in his profession, Doctor Baum has naturally associated himself with such organizations as operate to enlarge his knowledge of his profession, while his high standing as a practitioner and student of science has won for him ready admission into many of the best known medical associations of the country. He is a Fellow of the College of Physi- cians of Philadelphia, and a member of the Philadelphia County Medi- cal Society, of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association, and in their affairs takes a conspicuous part.
JOSEPH BERENS.
ERMANY has contributed to the United States as many men of scientific tastes and rare talents as any country of the Old World. Indeed, there seems to be something inbred in the Teutonic mind that impels the highly educated German to enter upon the most searching investigations into natural phenomena in every field which promises good results for abstruse thought. Medicine has naturally received its share of the deep devotion of these inquirers, and the results of their study have become embodied among the tenets of the profession. Philadelphia has had the benefit of the tal- ents of many such investigators, and, among those who have become known as eminent disciples of the healing art, few have made more friends or gained larger practice than Dr. Joseph Berens. For over half a century he has been one of the most conspicuous figures in the private practice of his profession in Philadelphia, for he has never consented to accept a post in any college, hospital or other public or semi-public institution, preferring rather, with singular unity of purpose, to devote himself, heart and soul, to the interests of his patients, and permitting nothing to interfere with the general plan of his life's work.
JOSEPH BERENS, of Philadelphia, was born at Eslohe, Westphalia, on the 2d day of December, 1813. Conrad Berens, holding a promi- nent office in the Fiscal Department of the Prussian Government, was his father. His mother was Anna Maria Severin, of West- phalia, and the niece of one of the highest dignitaries of the Catholic Church. When Joseph was four years of age his parents removed to Grevenstein, where he studied in the primary schools. For two years he attended the Mescheda Gymnasium, and then took a
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JOSEPH BERENS.
course of several years in the Gymnasium of Arnsberg, afterwards entering the famous school at Soest. A severe illness left him in such a weak physical condition that he was unable to pursue his education in public institutions, and for three years indulged his inclination for private study. When still a youth Doctor Berens' attention was first turned toward the profession to which he after- wards devoted his life, for his mother was an invalid, and, while sitting by her bedside, he had received those impressions which largely determined his career. He early evinced an aptitude for medicine and manifested great interest in the diagnosis of cases. To such a remarkable extent were these traits developed that the attention of his parents was called to the fact, and he was pro- nounced by prominent physicians a "born physician."
In 1839 he came to America and enrolled himself as a student in the Medical Department of the College of Pennsylvania. Here the interest which he has manifested from his youth deepened into a passion, and his capacious and retentive memory soon gave him an intellect rich in acquired as well as in natural treasures. After a commendable career as a student he was graduated from this famous institution on the 2d day of March, 1841, and immediately began the practice of the profession to which he was so profoundly attached. Two years later he removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he practiced for ten months, at the end of which time he decided to return to his Philadelphia practice. Notwithstanding the fact that Doctor Berens was educated under strong allopathic influences, having had for his instructors in medicine such eminent specialists as Professors George McClellan, Samuel McClellan, Samuel Calhoun, William Rush, Walter R. Johnson and Samuel George Morton, and although while a student he had attained a very high rank in the theories of that school, he determined to abandon this for the system of homoeopathy, the practice of which he first began in Cincinnati in 1843. In the many years that have followed, few physicians of the Quaker City have attained greater or more uniform success than that which Doctor Berens' talents and attainments have brought him. His record in the annals of homeopathy is a proud one, and for over fifty years he has continued in the practice of general medicine without any abate- ment of his remarkable success.
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JOSEPH BERENS.
The personality of Doctor Berens is very interesting. Although nearly eighty-four years of age, his carriage is still erect and firm, his physical strength unimpaired, and his mental faculties as acute and active as during his middle manhood. Around the family hearthstone his engaging rehearsals of other days make him the center of attrac- tion, and his genial manner marks him as a welcome visitor in the homes of his wide circle of friends. Doctor Berens' literary attain- ments are unusually varied, and the letters of the world contain few masterpieces with which he is not intimately acquainted. As a noteworthy example of his linguistic attainments, it may be remarked that his graduating thesis was written and read in Latin.
The Doctor was married on the 15th day of June, 1843, to the widow of James Lynd, Jr., formerly Olivia F. Waters, the daughter of Col. Jason Waters, of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. They have no children. In his long and useful professional career Doctor Berens has seen great changes wrought, in not only the superstructure, but the very foundation of medical practice ; yet, by the exercise of that vigor- ous mentality which he inherited from his strong and sturdy ancestors, he has never failed to gain a firm grasp of the fundamental truths of the science, and thus keep thoroughly abreast of the times.
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JOHN F. BETZ.
A MAN of genuine capacity, extraordinary business ver- satility and resourcefulness, John F. Betz, the subject of this sketch, is a famous brewer and an exceptionally progressive capitalist. He has erected huge business blocks, immense office buildings, expensive brewery plants and magnificent hotels and theatres, besides being the owner of vast areas of real estate in New York and Pennsylvania. He has been called upon to fill many positions of trust, and, although more largely interested in Philadelphia affairs, he by no means confines his investments to any certain community.
JOHN FREDERICK BETZ was born in Möhringer, near Stuttgart, Germany, on the 8th day of April, 1831. He is the son of John George Betz and Rosine Elizabeth Ulmer. When only a year old he arrived in this country with his parents. He was educated in the public schools, and until his twenty-first year he was in the employ of his brother-in-law, D. G. Yuengling, one of the pioneers of the beer industry in the United States. After attaining his majority he went to Europe, where he spent some years perfecting himself in his chosen vocation. He practiced brewing with Paul Kolb in Stuttgart, Ger- many; with Count Archor, near Sultzburg, Austria, and with Anton Dreher, at Vienna, Austria. Returning to America in 1853, he began business in New York City, establishing the Eagle Brewery, on Forty-fourth Street, under the firm name of Clausen & Betz. In 1868, Mr. Betz came to Philadelphia, and leased the Gaul's Brewery, at New- market and Callowhill streets. In 1880, he removed to the brewery he had just completed at Crown, Willow and Fifth streets, and associated with him his son, John F. Betz, Jr., as partner, and they added the brewing of beer to their already extensive porter and ale
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business. The success of this brewery has been marked, and the sales have reached colossal proportions. In 1889 the firm became incorporated as John F. Betz & Son, Limited, with John F. Betz, Chairman, and John F. Betz, J -. , Treasurer. Extensions and improve- ments amounting to nearly a million dollars were then made to their already immense establishment, and the firm now ranks among the largest representative brewers in the United States.
Mr. Betz is a large owner of real estate outside of his breweries and malt-houses. Besides owning property in nearly every ward of the city of Philadelphia, he counts among his possessions the Betz Block in New York City, on Ninth Avenue, extending from Forty- fourth to Forty-fifth streets, and other very valuable properties in the metropolis. He is also the owner of the Betz Building, at the corner of Broad Street and South Penn Square, Philadelphia, erected at a cost of over $1,500,000. He is the owner of " Betzwood," a famous property on the Schuylkill River, above Norristown, and containing eight hundred acres, with handsome mansions, conservatories, deer parks, fishing ponds, etc. He constructed the Grand Opera House, at Broad Street and Montgomery Avenue, and rebuilt the Lyceum Theatre, at Eighth and Vine streets. The foundation of the Grand Opera House was laid in April, 1887, and that magnificent place of amusement was formally opened a year later by the National Opera Company, with Wagner's "Tannhäuser," under the leadership of Gustav Hinrichs. Mr. Betz is also the owner of the Germania Brewery, at Broad and Columbia Avenue, and the Riverside Mansion and grounds on the Wissahickon Creek. He is the proprietor of the Stockton Hotel, at Cape May, New Jersey, one of the four largest summer hotels in the country. Besides his real estate investments, Mr. Betz is the owner of the Betz Gold Mine, in Lumpkin County, Georgia, and also has extensive mining and farming interests in the West. He is the owner of the Spital-Hof, in Möhringer, the place of his nativity, near Stuttgart, Germany. In memory of his wife, who died some years ago, he has erected a very handsome and elaborate mausoleum in West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia. Mr. Betz is a Director of the First National Bank, the Real Estate Trust Company, Teutonic Fire Insurance Company and similar institutions
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JOHN F. BETZ.
in Philadelphia. He has several times visited Europe, being on the Continent in the years 1852, 1867, 1878, 1884, 1889 and 1896. On the 21st day of May, 1868, he was blessed by His Holiness, Pope Pius IX, in Rome, and on December 5, 1889, he was granted the high honor of a private audience at the Vatican with His Holiness, Pope Leo XIII. On his last visit to Europe, Mr. Betz was granted a second audience with His Holiness, Pope Leo XIII. This occurred on October 2, 1896, the scene being laid at the Villa in the Vatican Gardens-a most unusual and signal mark of favor upon the part of the Pope, who has since conferred on Mr. Betz the additional honor of Knighthood of the Order of St. Gregory the Great. On Sunday, November 8, 1896, Mr. Betz also had a private audience with His Majesty, King William II, at Wurtemburg, who expressed himself as much pleased to meet Mr. Betz, and accepted from him a present of two magnificent Arabian horses raised at Betzwood, and specially sent to Wurtemburg. In friendly reciprocity, His Majesty sent to Mr. Betz, from the royal stables, two splendid horses (a stallion and a mare), now quartered at the Betzwood stock farms. Mr. Betz has several times visited Africa, Nubia, the source of the Nile, and many historic places mentioned in the Bible. While traveling in Asia, in 1889, he spent the Christmas of that year in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
THOMAS BOHANNAN.
HOMAS BOHANNAN was born in Port Carbon, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, September 18, 1836. His parents, Francis and Mary Bohannan, were born in Ireland and came to this country in 1820 and settled in Pennsylvania. The son, the subject of this sketch, went to public schools until the age of fourteen, when he entered the country store owned by Conner & Rhoads, at New Philadelphia, Schuylkill County, where he was employed until 1861. In 1860 he married Emma R. Rickert, also a resident of Schuylkill County.
When it became evident that the loyal States must put forth all their energies to preserve the Union, Mr. Bohannan put aside all other considerations and enlisted as a private in Company E, of the Forty- eighth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, for the war. On arriving at Fortress Monroe, he was appointed Second Lieutenant. The regi- ment, recruited from the sturdy miners of the Schuylkill Valley, accus- tomed to face death in their daily occupation, won a record for steady and effective service second to none among the many gallant veteran regiments of Pennsylvania. As will be seen, it, and with it Lieutenant Bohannan, was in all the battles of the historic Ninth Corps. Its first assignment to active duty was with Burnside's Expedition to North Carolina. With it Mr. Bohannan participated in the battles of Hatteras Inlet, Roanoke Island and Newbern. After scoring this, the first sub- stantial success for the Union cause in the East, the forces under Gen- eral Burnside were at first designed to reinforce General McClellan on the Peninsula, but on arriving at Newport News were organized into the Ninth Army Corps and ordered to report to General Pope, then making his campaign in Virginia. As an officer of the Forty-eighth, Lieutenant Bohannan was under fire during all the month of July,
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1862, and took part in the severe pitched battles of Cedar Mountain, Second Bull Run and Chantilly. During most of the rest of the cam- paign the regiment was in the thick of the fighting as part of the rear guard of the retreating army. Mr. Bohannan was slightly wounded at Second Bull Run, but was not incapacitated for duty and missed none of the subsequent fighting. In Mcclellan's Maryland campaign the regiment was at South Mountain and at Antietam, in which latter battle it did royal service in supporting the charge on the now historic bridge, and in subsequently holding the heights of Sharpsburg against General Hill's advance. For his services at Antietam Mr. Bohannan was promoted to First Lieutenant. On the return to Virginia it was sharply engaged at Waterloo, and, after Mcclellan was relieved by Burnside as Commander of the Army of the Potomac, fought under its old chief in the great battle of Fredericksburg, December, 1862. A few days after the battle General Burnside and the Ninth Corps were transferred to the West. Under the old chief its first services on its new field were the following up and the capture of the raiding Rebel, General Morgan, and acting as part of the forces covering General Grant's attack upon Vicksburg. Upon the fall of that stronghold, in July, 1863, General Burnside and the Ninth Army Corps were ordered by President Lincoln to the relief of the Union citizens of East Tennessee. Forcing Cumberland Gap without a set battle, but continually skirmishing with the enemy, he fought his way to the Salt Works on the borders of Virginia, which he destroyed and then returned to Knoxville. From there he attempted to effect a junc- tion with the Union forces at Chattanooga, but the advance of the Confederate General Longstreet with largely superior forces brought on the battles of Louden and Campbell's Station-the latter one of the finest tactical battles of the war, and the final retreat to Knoxville. In all of these operations the Forty-eighth and Lieutenant Bohannan had their full share, and the latter particularly distinguished himself at the siege of Knoxville in leading several successful foraging sallies.
Returning from the West in the beginning of 1864, the Ninth Army Corps was re-organized at Annapolis and, joining Grant, was in the Wilderness, at Spottsylvania, South Anna and Cold Harbor, con- tinuously under fire for over thirty days, until it settled down to the
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siege of Petersburg. Lieutenant Bohannan was now for some time detached from his regiment and assigned to duty on the staff of Colonel Pleasants. In this capacity he assisted that officer in the work of con- structing the celebrated mine which might have led to the earlier fall of Petersburg, but for the misunderstanding and mismanagement of high officials. For some time Lieutenant Bohannan also served on the staff of Gen John I. Curtin as Aide-de-Camp and Quartermaster. He participated in the final assault on Petersburg, April 2, 1865, when the Ninth Corps, by a desperate charge, broke the lines and succeeded in taking and holding part of the intrenchments. This, with the lodg- ment effected by the Second Corps, forced the evacuation of Petersburg and led to the fall of Richmond, the retreat and capture of Lee and virtually closed the war. In all of these operations and battles Mr. Bohannan, as officer of the line or staff, took part, and has the honora- ble distinction of a continuous military service in the field of three years and ten months, from September, 1861, to his muster out in July, 1865.
On returning to civil life, he entered into mercantile pursuits in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, remaining until 1867, when he went to Ash- land, Pennsylvania, where he conducted a large mercantile business. At this time he decided to embark in the coal business, in which he is still engaged. In 1892 he organized a pulp and paper company in Virginia, known as the Columbia Paper Company, which has been very success- ful under his management as President. He is also connected with a banking institution, the Trades League, Manufacturers' Club, Loyal Legion and Grand Army Post. Mr. Bohannan, in addition to his other business and social interests, is part owner of a number of vessels, and is proprietor of a schooner which is named after his only daughter.
Morris Boney
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MORRIS BONEY.
N the pursuit of commerce many men have won large rewards, and it has not been necessary that they should be the makers of goods or even the buyers and sellers thereof to attain this end. On the other hand, Morris Boney, the subject of this biography, who is among the most progressive business men in Philadelphia, has acquired wonderful success solely as one who handles the large freights of various commercial steamers. For a number of years he has been active as one of the leading master stevedores of the city, and to-day stands at the head and front of this branch of Philadelphia's shipping interests. His office, at 208 Walnut Street, is the scene of large transactions daily, which find their valuable outlet in his immense establishment at Piers 13 and 14, Port Richmond, where, by steam power and all the improved contrivances known to the craft, he handles hundreds of tons from vessels daily. Mr. Boney is a "self- made " man, and as such has fully demonstrated the sterling qualities which have animated him and directed his progress.
MORRIS BONEY first saw the light on January 26, 1837, in that isle whereon have been born some of the best citizens of the land of the free. His birthplace was Cork, Ireland. It was at a time when the United States was hailed as the haven of rest and refuge, and, in common with hundreds of the brawny, ambitious young men of his country, Morris Boney looked with longing eyes across the great Atlantic to that home of many of his people who had found in the younger land the promised blessings. His parents were Andrew and Margaret Boney, both honest and sturdy, and, although their circum- stances were not altogether of the best, they gave their son, who was one of a rather large family, as good an education as lay within their
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power. He was sent to the private schools, there being no public schools for educating the young, and in April, 1856, some time after his parents had left Ireland for America, he followed them, arriving in the United States just when the questions which later culminated in the War of the Rebellion were agitating the North and South.
In 1857 Morris Boney decided to seek his fortune in traveling the various parts of the country, and spent four years in the West and South. He returned to Philadelphia, where he decided to embark in business on his own account. Through his travels about the country he had learned much of the methods of transportation, and had noted that there was great room for improvement in the facilities for increas- ing commerce and expediting the handling of freight. When he first came to Philadelphia he engaged in stevedore work, and when he entered the business life of the city again it was as a master stevedore, with an office and warehouse on Noble Street. He is one of the first men, still living, who embarked in this business, and he has undoubt- edly been the most successful. The increase in the shipping trade of Philadelphia can be indicated in no better manner than by pointing out the advancement in Mr. Boney's business. In 1861, or thereabouts, when he first began operations as a master stevedore, the discharge of one hundred tons per day from sailing vessels was considered excellent work. It is now only a daily average of the business to remove two thousand tons of freight in twenty-four hours from the incoming vessels, and all of this is done at the Iron Ore Piers in Port Richmond. To such an extent has his trade increased that he found it necessary, within a few years, to build his new plant in Port Richmond, and for this purpose secured what are now Piers 13 and 14, introducing steam-power.
All the improved appliances and unloading apparatus which are used in transferring freight from steamers to cars are utilized at these piers, where he does an immense amount of work for the Reading Railway Company, freight being taken from the steamers and trans- ferred directly to the cars by means of the most perfect mechanical appliances. This is the only business project with which he has been connected on a strictly individual basis, but he has been interested from time to time in many important enterprises. The extent of his
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business and the immense number of men which Mr. Boney employs is indicated in the fact that for each vessel he requires about one hun- dred stevedores and workmen. It is nothing unusual for his piers to have five or six steamers at one time waiting to be relieved of their valuable cargoes and sent away again in quest of commerce. Mr. Boney, while he is one of the chief factors of this important branch of Philadelphia's commercial and mercantile life, is a man of retiring disposition. He has been requested a number of times to enter into politics, and although he declines to hold office himself, he has been of great assistance to some of his friends who have been candidates at various times for councilmanic or legislative honors. He wields a large influence and is universally respected and liked. Some years ago, when a new railroad to Sea Isle City was broached, Mr. Boney took an interest and, as President, became one of the projectors of the line, which was known as the Seashore Railroad. Later it was known as the South Jersey Railroad, and he became one of the directors.
In 1861, when he was twenty-four years of age, Mr. Boney was married to Mary Buckley, of Philadelphia, also a native of Ireland. They have had eight children, four of whom are now living : Jennie, Elizabeth, Morris, Jr., and Harry. The latter assists his father in his office and helps him in the management of his large business, while Morris, Jr., has entered business life for the purpose of acquiring the necessary ideas of discipline and detail.
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