Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins (born May 19, 1795 , in Anne Arundel County , Maryland , † December 24, 1873 in Baltimore , Maryland) was an American businessman and philanthropist . With his estate of 7 million US dollars, the Johns Hopkins Hospital named after him was founded in 1899 and Johns Hopkins University four years later .
Life
Johns Hopkins was the second of eleven children. He grew up in a Quaker family on a two square kilometer tobacco plantation. When his parents released their slaves in 1807 , Johns and his brother were sent to work in the fields. Johns later worked for his uncle's company, a grocery wholesaler, for a while. Here he fell in love with his cousin Elisabeth. However, he could not marry her because his parents would not allow it. At that time there was strong prejudice among the Quakers against marriage among first-degree cousins. The two agreed never to get married.
Hopkins started a company with Jonathan Moore, another Quaker. It was later renamed Hopkins & Brothers after Moore ended the partnership because Hopkins loved money too much. So Hopkins teamed up with his three brothers. Her company sold various goods from covered wagons in Shenandoah Valley in exchange for corn whiskey, which was sold as "Hopkins' Best" in Baltimore. Hopkins later invested a lot of money in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company and became very wealthy. In 1857 and 1873, respectively, he used his money to save the company from bankruptcy .
When Hopkins died without an heir in 1873, he left $ 7 million, mostly in the form of stocks . In his will of 1867, under the influence of the typhus epidemics among Irish immigrants on the Great Isle, he had decreed that the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and the Johns Hopkins University should be founded with the money . This was the largest single philanthropic donation to date.
It is often assumed that his first name was "John". That's wrong - the first name comes from his great-grandmother's family name, Margaret Johns. She married Gerard Hopkins. They named their son Johns Hopkins , and the name was passed down to his grandson.
Web links
- Mike Field: If He Could See Us Now: Mr. Johns Hopkins' Legacy Strong University, hospital benefactor turned 200 on May 19, 1995 . In: Johns Hopkins Gazette, May 22, 1995. Accessed October 10, 2011.
- Johns Hopkins grave site in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bernd Tenhage: Legacy of a Quaker: What is Johns Hopkins University? Badische Zeitung , April 9, 2020.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hopkins, Johns |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American businessman and philanthropist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 19, 1795 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Anne Arundel County , Maryland |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 24, 1873 |
| Place of death | Baltimore , Maryland |