LOUIS DOHME
PROFESSOR PAUL HAUPT
IN MEMORIAM
PHILIP AUGUST ALBRECHT. Born
in Warnfried an der Werra, Kurhessen,
on November 13th, 1842, he died in
Baltimore on April 10th, 1909.
With his parents, he came to America
in 1847. He was educated at Knapp's
Institute. For many years he was en-
gaged in the tobacco export business.
He had an extensive library, was a
philatelist and collector of coins. In
1897 he published a dissertation en-
titled "Astronomical Doctrines pre-
sented in New Aspects."
*
LOUIS P. DIETERICH. Born in
Lich, Germany, he died in Baltimore on
November 15th, 1922, in his 81st year.
His very appearance marked him as a
man of unusual character. An artist
of reputation, particularly in portrait-
ure, he was also a musician of fine
sensibility and endowed with a won-
derfully rich voice which held unbroken
to the last. For over fifty years he
was an active member of the Harmonie
Singing Society. Proud of his race, he
was true to its traditions even in the
frenzied days that marked our un-
warranted interference in European
affairs.
*
JUDGE JOHN J. DOBLER. On Fri-
day, September 21st, 1923, in the Su-
perior Court Room, memorial services
were held in honor of the memory of
John J. Dobler. The large room was
filled.
John J. Dobler was born in Balti-
more on June 6th, 1852. At the age
of sixteen, he was graduated from the
Baltimore City College with the class of
1868. He was the valedictorian of his
class, his oration having for its subject
"Life Purposes," so typical of the man
as we later knew him.
Upon his graduation he secured em-
ployment in the library of the Peabody
Institute; subsequently he took up the
study of law and was graduated, at the
age of twenty, from the University of
Maryland, in the class of 1872, his
standing being first. He was required
by the law to wait a year before being
admitted to the bar.
He was elected to the bench in 1894.
On June 2nd, 1922, a few days before
he was seventy, he retired. The Legis-
lature of 1922 wished to extend his
time; and in this desire most earnestly
united the Bench, the Bar, and the pub-
lic; but Judge Dobler refused to per-
mit such action as he had always cher-
ished the thought of actual retirement
and ease at that period of his life. His
sincere desire was that no action should
be taken; but he could not prevent the
Legislature from passing a resolution
of commendation and esteem.
Judge Dobler was of German des-
cent. In 1922 he acted as treasurer of
the "Drive" to secure the sum of
$250,000 for the General German Or-
phan Home at Catonsville.
*
LOUIS DOHME. Mr. Louis Dohme
was born in Oberkirchen, Prussia, July
6th, 1837, died December 10th, 1911.
Mr. Dohme can justly be classified
among the founders of this society,
having been one of the twenty-three
that became members on March 16th,
1886,—the first meeting following the
permanent organization of the Society,
February 16th, 1886.
At a very youthful age, and shortly
after his arrival in Baltimore from
Germany, he was apprenticed to the late
A. P. Sharp, then in the retail drug
business. By dint of close application,
indomitable perseverance and study, he
mastered both the drug business and
the English language, so that in 1860,
when but twenty-three years of age, the
firm of Sharp & Dohme was formed.
On the retirement of Mr. Sharp in
1885, Mr. Louis Dohme became the ac-
tive head and general manager of the
firm, the duties of which he discharged
with such singular ability and success
that at the time of his demise, as presi-
[33]
dent of the corporation of Sharp &
Dohme, Manufacturing Chemists, he had
achieved for the company a world-wide
reputation.
*
FREDERICK W. FELDNER. Born
in Baltimore, June 11th, 1865, he, to-
gether with his wife, daughter, son-in-
law and chauffeur, was killed when
crossing a railroad track near Cape
May, New Jersey, on August 9th, 1910.
Though of humble parentage and
poor circumstances, he had great energy
and ability, and through his own efforts
succeeded in obtaining a college educa-
tion and became a successful member of
the Baltimore Bar.
*
EDGAR HILARY GANS. Born in
Harrisburg, Pa., November 4th, 1856,
died September 20th, 1914. In 1870
he came to Baltimore with his parents
and here spent the remainder of his
life. He graduated at the head of his
class in the Baltimore City College and
also led his class in the law school of
the University of Maryland. He was
admitted to the Bar in 1877 and three
years afterward was appointed deputy
state's attorney, which position he held
until 1888.
In 1883 he became a lecturer on
criminal and testamentary law in the
University of Maryland. His erudition
and ability marked him as a leader of
the Maryland Bar.
*
JOHN F. GONTRUM, lawyer and
poet, was born in Baltimore county,
February 16, 1857, and died there
December 27, 1909. Both his father
and mother came to America from Ger-
many with their parents at an early age.
As a boy, he attended the German-
Lutheran Parochial School, taught by
Edward F. Leyh, the well-known
German-American poet. Later, he at-
tended Knapp's German-English School,
Bethel Academy in Virginia, and St.
John's College at Annapolis. Upon
his graduation from the latter institu-
tion in 1878, he took up the study of
law and was admitted to its practice in
1880.
Of the poems which he contributed
to various periodicals from time to time
throughout his life, the best known are
Fort McHenry, Poe, and the Old Bridle
Path. These have been quoted on oc-
casions of a public nature and included
in a number of anthologies of verse.
Fort McHenry, by its exalted tone of
patriotism, was instrumental in molding
the sentiment that finally brought about
the conversion of the old fortress into
a national shrine. The poem, Poe, was
written in 1909, a few months before
the author's death, in indignation at
the judges' action in refusing to admit
Edgar Allan Poe to the so-called Hall
of Fame. Its inspired beauty and power
of imagination make it a really impor-
tant addition to American literature.
The Old Bridle Path is a pastoral of
great charm. The picture which it
portrays of the woods and fields of the
author's youth is pervaded by a tone of
regret and mild melancholy.
Poems, by John F. Gontrum, were
published in 1910.
A. v. WYZECKI.
*
PROFESSOR PAUL HAUPT. Born
at Görlitz in Silesia, November 25th,
1858, the scion of an old and well-
known Protestant family, Paul Haupt
received an excellent education and
early exhibited signs of unusual bril-
liancy. While very young he took up
the study of Hebrew. Graduating from
the Gymnasium Augustum in Görlitz,
he spent two years at Leipzig and in
1878 received his doctorate in Semitic
Languages with high honors.
Haupt's maiden book, Die sumer-
ischen Familiengesetze, was an epoch-
making production. For the first time
Sumerian and Assyrian phonology and
morphology were studied from the
standpoint of the modern scientific
philologist.
[34]
After receiving his doctorate Haupt
spent some time studying in the British
Museum. The fruits of this work re-
sulted later in the publication of his
Akkadische und sumerische Keilschrift-
texte. This was the first volume in the
great series of the Assyriologische Bib-
liothek, edited from the beginning by
Dielitsch and Haupt. In 1880, he
habitated himself as a Privatdocent for
Assyriology in the University of Gött-
ingen. He early became the foremost
authority on the Sumerian language.
Thanks to the discernment of its
first president, Daniel Coit Gilman,
Haupt, before he had reached the age
of twenty-five years, was appointed
Professor of Semitic Languages in
Johns Hopkins University.
Many and various were the works
that freely flowed from his pen. Of
his influence it was said (W. F. Albright
in Paul Haupt Anniversary Volume) :
"Professor Haupt's influence, both as
a scholar and as a teacher, upon Ameri-
can Biblical and Semitic studies, has
been great. When he came to America
in 1883 to found the Oriental Seminary
of Johns Hopkins University, there was
not a single trained Semitic philologist
of the modern school available in Amer-
ican Universities, and there was prac-
tically no original Semitic research in
this country."
There were few subjects, academic,
aesthetic or journalistic, in which he
was not interested, and with his vast
Semitological erudition be combined a
wide information in such fields as Ger-
manic philology, English literature,
music and medicine."
He died on December 15th, 1926.
*
CHARLES CHRISTOPHER HOMER.
Born in Baltimore, November 1st, 1847,
he received his preparatory education
at Scheib's School, afterward matricu-
lating at the University of Georgetown,
graduating therefrom in 1867 with the
degree of A. B., later receiving that of
Master of Arts. He began his com-
mercial career as a salesman, afterward
establishing the firm of Foss and
Homer, which was dissolved in 1880.
He then entered the financial field.
In 1878 he was elected a director of
the Second National Bank, advancing
in time to its presidency. In 1897 he
became president of the Baltimore
Clearing House, which position he held
until 1911, when he declined a re-
election. He was also vice-president of
the Savings Bank of Baltimore and of
the Safe Deposit and Trust Company.
He was chairman of the committee
which drafted the so-called "Baltimore
Plan" for the creation of a safe and
elastic currency, which received the
unanimous endorsement of the Ameri-
can Bankers Association in convention
of 1894. He was President and Chair-
man of the Executive Committee of the
National Currency Association of Mary-
land, from its formation in 1909 until
his resignation in 1914.
Public spirited in a high degree, he
was active in all matters affecting the
common welfare, yet withal never parti-
san in affairs political. For years he
was a director of the General German
Orphans Home.
He died on September 13th, 1914, at
Bremen, Germany.
*
CHARLES C. HOMER, JR. Born in
Baltimore, October 15th, 1870, as the
eldest son of Charles Christopher and
Frances M. (Holthaus) Homer, died on
March 9, 1922.
He attended Zion School, Loyola Col-
lege, and the Law School of the Uni-
versity of Maryland. He practiced law
for a number of years. In 1896 he
was elected a Vice-President of the
Second National Bank of Baltimore,
later succeeding his father as President
thereof. At the time of his death he
was President of the Savings Bank of
Baltimore and was a Past Grand Master
of the Masons of Maryland.
He was also a director of the General
German Orphans Home, succeeding his
father in this office.
[35]
LOUIS PAUL HENNIGHAUSEN. A
founder of the Society for the History
of the Germans in Maryland, and its
President from 1901 to 1906.
Born December 18th, 1840, in Fulda,
Prussia, son of Heinrich Johann and
Marie (Schulz) Hennighausen. The
father was an officer in the Prussian
army.
Their son acquired what was equiva-
lent to an excellent academical educa-
tion in the schools at Hersfeld, Prussia.
He also had the advantage of private
tutors who instructed him in English,
French, drawing, and the commercial
branches. In his fifteenth year he came
to Baltimore, which was destined to be
the scene of his life's labor and suc-
cesses. Obtaining a clerkship, he gave
his spare time to study and attended
a night school.
At the outbreak of the Civil War he
was in Richmond; though persistently
urged to cast his lot with the Confed-
eracy he refused and returned to Wash-
ington, where he took a clerkship in
Willard's Hotel. Here he joined a
militia rifle company, which entered the
service of the United States as Com-
pany A, 8th Battalion, District of Co-
lumbia Volunteers, April 11th, 1861,
for a term of three months in guarding
the Potomac River. In August of the
same year he joined the Forty-sixth
Regiment, New York Volunteers, for
three years, as second lieutenant, and in
1862 was promoted to first lieutenant.
He was engaged in the siege of Fort
Pulaski, Georgia; the operations about
Charleston, South Carolina, and in the
Peninsula Campaign. He commanded
his company in the battle of Secessions-
ville, James Island, South Carolina.
Contracting the swamp fever he was
compelled to resign after a service of
two years and when further promotion
was open to him.
After a brief sojourn in Baltimore
he went to Washington where he ac-
cepted a position as a teacher in a pri-
vate school, giving his spare time to the
study of law. Afterward he entered
the Maryland Law School, from which
he graduated, and was admitted to the
Bar in Baltimore in March, 1868.
He followed his professional career
with marked success until his end.
Though a Republican in political
affiliation, he was at all times indepen-
dent in his course and action, support-
ing those candidates and measures that
were best calculated to promote the wel-
fare of the people and the state.
He was a man kind and benevolently
inclined and actively engaged in many
charitable works. From 1887 to 1913
he was president of the German Society
of Maryland, and for many years presi-
dent of the General German Aged
Home, of which he was a charter
member.
He devoted much of his leisure to
historical research and as President and
member of the Society for the History
of the Germans in Maryland contributed
many interesting and meritorious
articles to its publications. Probably
his most important work was the story
of the German Society in Maryland.
So diversified were his interests and ac-
tivities that at one time he held mem-
bership in no less than twenty-four
societies.
He died at his home in Towson on
February 2nd, 1918.
At the meeting of this Society fol-
lowing his death the following memorial
was ordered to be spread upon its min-
utes:
THIS LEAF IS DEDICATED TO THE
MEMORY OF OUR LATE
PRESIDENT
LOUIS P. HENNIGHAUSEN
A FOUNDER OF THE
SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF THE
GERMANS IN MARYLAND
Who, during the many years of his use-
ful labor in the profession of law, yet
found time to devote to benevolence
and the aid of his fellow-men.
[36]
LOUIS P. HENNIGHAUSEN
LOUIS HOFFMANN
Who, proud of his race, versed in its
tongue and traditions, was moved there-
by to bring forth out of the forgotten
past the story of the work and activity
of those who had come from the Ger-
man Fatherland, and in field and farm,
in mart and workshop, in peace and
war, had given of their labor, their ken,
and their blood to the upbuilding and
glory of America.
Who, himself, as a young man, full
of high resolve and the ideals of lib-
erty, had borne arms for the abolition
of slavery and the preservation of this
Nation's unity; and later, in time of
peace, actively participated in those
civic duties which make for the preser-
vation of freedom and the progress and
enlightenment of the commonalty.
Who, in the fullness of years, never
abated his activity in the manifold in-
terests that encompassed his days. Of
a cheerful disposition, impartial in
thought and considerate in feeling,
Louis P. Hennighausen fairly judged
his fellows and associates, and, depart-
ing, left to them a memory respected
and cherished.
*
LOUIS HOFFMANN, born in Augs-
burg, May 29th, 1859, he died in Balti-
more, February 26th, 1925. He died
of pneumonia brought on by exposure
in the blizzard of January 3rd.
He was of that group of men who
in modest circumstances, by the example
of their lives, impress upon their fel-
lows a feeling of respect and admiration
of and for the qualities and character
of the race from which they sprang.
Though in the main self-taught, he
was a man of gifted tongue and versed
in literature, which, with his genial
grace, classed him as a man of culture.
He came to this country a lad of
twelve years and his early days were
marked by hardship and privation. His
energy was superior to his employ-
ments and he progressed until he ulti-
mately engaged in the importing busi-
ness. This prospered until the adop-
tion of a heavy tariff made it unprofit-
able.
In the meantime he had been elected
a member of the City Council, this in
a ward overwhelmingly Democratic and
he a Republican—a strong tribute to
his personal popularity. After his term
expired he was appointed a Commis-
sioner for Opening Streets, in which
office he served some four years. For
a short period thereafter, he served in
the Immigration Bureau as interpreter,
from which position he was advanced
to inspector and thereafter he became
Assistant Commissioner, which respon-
sible position he held until his death.
In this office his humane spirit found
full expression. Never a poor immi-
grant or stowaway, regardless of his
origin, but found in Mr. Hoffmann one
who understood and sympathizingly
helped him in his plight; through his
example and contact, the Port of Entry
in Baltimore never assumed the hard-
ness and terror that characterized and
made other ports so dreaded.
Of an independent nature at a time
when politics were much perturbed and
measures were often weighed more for
their political effect than for the public
welfare, he was honest and fearless, and
so won the confidence and approbation
of his constituents in full.