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Dr.
Dowling |
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Dr.
Dowling |
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DR. DOWLING BENJAMIN was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1849. He studied under Dr. James Ridge and Dr. D. Hayes Agnew before graduating with his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1877. By 1880 he had come to Camden with his wife, the former Sarah Cooper White, and began practicing medicine. The Benjamins made there home through at least 1890 at 305 Stevens Street. They subsequently moved to 215 Cooper Street where they remained until Mrs. Benjamin's passing in the mid 1920s. 1877. Dr. Benjamin's practice centered on surgery. On August 12, 1887 Cooper Hospital was dedicated, Dr. Benjamin being on of the original staff surgeons. The four original attending physicians were Dr. Pancoast, Dr. H. Genet Taylor, Dr. Alexander M. Mecray, and Dr. William A. Davis. The surgeons were Doctors E.L.B. Godfrey, O.P. Cross, Dowling Benjamin and J.F. Walsh, with Dr. Joseph H. Willis as the original pathologist and Dr. Harry B. Jarrett serving as the first Resident Physician. Dr. Benjamin was later a trustee of Cooper Hospital. Other positions included work as a physician at the Camden City Dispensary, and as an Assistant Physician at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital's Department of Nervous Diseases. Dr. Benjamin was a member of the Camden County Medical Society, and served as the President of that organization in 1884. He also was a member of the Camden City Medial Society, the American Medical Association, the New Jersey State Board of Health, the Cooper Club, and was a member and at one time President of the New Jersey State Sanitary Association. Dr.
Benjamin held teaching appointments at the Medico- Dr. Benjamin's place in the annals of American medicine are beyond dispute. He was instrumental in proving diseases were caused by germs, introduced antiseptics five years before any Philadelphia physician began using them, was the first doctor in Camden to use X-ray equipment and to drive an automobile. He also was instrumental in New Jersey's testing and licensing physicians. Dr. Benjamin led the campaign to get the city to develop an artesian well-based water supply, which is still in use today. The use of this system ended the typhoid fever epidemics which had plagued Camden throughout the 1800s. He also personally convinced Andrew Carnegie to donate $100,000 to build Camden Free Public Library at Broadway and Line Street. After Mrs. Benjamin passed, Dr. Dowling Benjamin went to live with his daughter, Mrs. Sarah Marion Bibinghaus, at 3082 Federal street in East Camden. He died in October of 1930, survived by his daughters, Mrs. Sarah M. Bibinghaus and Mrs. Ada Deacon. Four other children, Stella, Helen, Dowling, and Paul, preceded him in death. |
Philadelphia Inquirer - October 14, 1884 |
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| Daniel
Lynch - Mechanic
Street - Dr.
Dowling Benjamin Camden Iron Works |
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New
York Times |
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Philadelphia
Inquirer George
Aultemus |
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| Penrose
W. Hirst - Charles H. Mills - James S. Pratt Thomas B. Hall - William H. Jennings - Frank H. Burdsall - Clarence B. Groff Dr. Dowling Benjamin - Joseph Nowrey |
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New York Times - July 22, 1912 |
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Camden Morning Post - October 18, 1933 |
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...continued... |
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Cooper
Street - Federal
Street - Trimble
Lodge No. 117, F. & A.M. |
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| The
Camden Free Public Library aka The Carnegie Library Broadway & Line Street The postmark on the card is April 28,1906 |
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| The
Camden Free Public Library aka The
Carnegie Library Broadway & Line Street |
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| The
Camden Free Public Library aka The
Carnegie Library Broadway & Line Street |
