Introduction
Dr. Howard Francis Palm was a fifth generation doctor. His great-great-grandfather, Dr. Johannes Palm, came to America in colonial times, eventually settling in Lebanon County PA. Great-grandfather Dr. Peter Palm settled in Sinking Spring, Berks County PA, and grandfather Dr. Francis Palm also practiced there.
Howard Francis Palm was born to Dr. James P. & Lydia Dundore Palm in Orwigsburg, Schuylkill County PA on March 22, 1855. After studying medicine with his father, he enrolled in Jefferson Medical College in 1879, graduating on March 12, 1881. He was also enrolled at the same time at the Philadelphia School of Anatomy, graduating on March 31, 1881. He proceeded to set up a medical practice in Camden NJ. By 1887 he bought a home at 614 North Second Street, and practiced medicine in the Cooper’s Point neighborhood of North Camden until his passing on January 2, 1942. Dr. Palm served as superintendent of the Camden Dispensary in the early 1890s.
Dr. Palm’s first wife, Ida, passed in 1922. He remarried prior to 1930. Dr. Palm was survived by his second wife Lucie, a son and daughter, four grandchildren, and a great-grandchild. Lucie Palm passed away in 1982.
Stockton Town Topics
Philadelphia Inquirer —
STOCKTON, April 11.—Dr. H. H. Sherk celebrated the tenth anniversary of his graduation from Jefferson Medical College on Monday evening by entertaining the members and guests of the Camden Medical and Surgical Society. A paper was read on “Obstetrical Criticisms” by Dr. H. T. Palm. Dr. Alexander McAllister was toastmaster and responses were made by Dr. W. H. Iszard, Professor H. A. Hare, of Philadelphia; Dr. E. L. B. Godfrey and Dr. J. B. Davis.
The trustees of the Grace Presbyterian Church of North Cramer Hill have elected these officers: President, S. M. Welch, vice-president, S. W. Genther; secretary, Benjamin Franklin; treasurer, William Jackson.
The Betts Athletic Association has elected these officers: President, Joseph Moore; vice-president, Edward Roberts; secretary, Charles Smith; treasurer, John Laib, Jr.
T. H. R. Weatherby, a former resident and now of Philadelphia, was visiting friends here on Tuesday evening.
Mrs. Myers and daughter, Lillian, of Philadelphia, were the guests of friends on Mariton avenue Wednesday afternoon.
Funeral Rites Held for Dr. H. F. Palm
Camden Courier-Post —
Burial for Oldest Practicing Physician in Camden Is Private
The funeral of Dr. Howard F. Palm, oldest practicing physician in Camden and probably South Jersey, was held today at the Schroeder Funeral Home, 715 Cooper street. Burial was private.
Dr. Palm, a general practitioner all through his medical career, died Friday at his home, 614 North Second street, where he lived and had his office for almost 50 years. He continued to treat patients until he was taken ill a little more than a week ago.
The venerable physician, who was a familiar figure in the old Cooper’s Point section of North Camden, treated hundreds yearly without receiving fees. He was esteemed as the doctor-friend of the poor.
While he did not specialize in obstetrics, he brought hundreds of babies into the world. Many persons, men and women of today, were “Dr. Palm babies.”
When the horse and buggy began to disappear from city streets, Dr. Palm held on to his horse and carriage for several years before he finally bought an automobile. He was a cautious driver, seldom driving more than 15 or 20 miles an hour.
Soft spoken and kindly, Dr. Palm was an impeccable dresser. Many years ago he carried a cane when he walked to call on patients or to go to church.
Dr. Palm was the last of the family doctors in North Camden. He was content to remain in the same neighborhood where he first hung out his shingle after graduating from Jefferson Medical College in 1881. In those days a physician was not required to serve a hospital internship.
He is survived by his widow, a son and daughter, four grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.
Jefferson Medical College
Jefferson Medical College Hospital of 1877, designed by Frank Furness – Annual Announcement, 1849
614 North Second Street
The house at 614 North Second Street is no longer standing, however, the wrought iron fence that was in front of it and of 616 North 2nd remains, as does the gate and driveway to where Doctor Palm kept his horse and buggy, and later his automobile.
Cyclone of April 2, 1912
Philadelphia Inquirer —
North Camden Hit by a Great Cyclone; Homes Wrecked
Hundreds of Houses Ruined by Violent Wind and Rain and Two Persons May Die. Streets Strewn With Debris
Two lives will probably be sacrificed, property valued at at least a hundred thousand dollars, was virtually destroyed and the northwest section of the city was laid in ruins when a storm of cyclonic intensity swept over Camden last night. It continued hardly fifteen minutes, but in that time more havoc was wrought than by any storm that has ever visited that section, even including the locally historic cyclone of 1885.
Those who will likely offer up their lives as a sacrifice to the tremendous force of wind include Miss Anna Cleary, a nurse in the Cooper Hospital, whose house is at 317 Vine Street, and Miss Anna Gebrend, of 2359 Amber street, Philadelphia. Both were taken to the Cooper Hospital crushed.
Were in Trolley Car
The two women were in a Crosstown trolley car. It was going up Fifth street, when, at Elm, it encountered the full force of the storm. It was the centre of a maelstrom of flying roofs, falling telegraph poles and trees and odds and ends of debris.
Miss Cleary and Miss Gehrend were seated in a section of the car over which a tangled mass of debris fell, the great weight crushing in the top like so much paper. Both were pinned beneath a weight of hundreds of pounds
and notwithstanding the fierce wind and air, filled with every conceivable sort of material, the police worked until the women had been released. At the hospital it was found that they had been cut, bruised and cut all over their bodies and it seemed impossible that they could recover.
Many Houses Wrecked
Scores of houses were wrecked, many beyond all hope of repair, and the miracle was that there were no more fatalities. This is attributed to the fact that the force of the wind spent itself along the tops of the structures, otherwise hundreds would have been killed.
The great force of this wind was evidenced at the plant of the Orford Copper Company at Tenth and Elm streets. This concern has a structure about 50 by 100 feet. Five great boiler stacks graced the main building until the wind came. Then these stacks went over like so many tenpins, being blown hundreds of feet away. In addition the roof was doubled up and sent through the air until it landed in an adjoining vacant lot.
Got the Full Force
The full intensity of the wind was felt on Fourth street from Vine to Elm street. Beginning at the butchershop of former Councilman Edward Francis at the southeast corner Fourth and Vine and going on both sides of Fourth street the cyclonic blast took off every roof, filling the thoroughfare with a mass of debris a dozen feet high.
The homes of Mrs. Mills, 417; Albert Roberts, 423; Mrs. Mary Goldy, 425, and Charles Houser, 427 North Fourth street, were among those unroofed and wrecked. The home of Edward Trappe, 619 North Fourth street, was completely blown out, nothing standing but the party walls, everything being hurled into the street. The family escaped miraculously. Virtually the same was with respect to the home of Joseph Layton, 632 North Fourth street.
Wind Took a Leap
Four two-story dwellings stood on North Fifth street, between Vine and Elm, including those of August Weber, 715; Mrs. George Waldis, 717; John Presher, 719, and Mrs. Susie Aborn, 721. These were sheltered by higher buildings, but the storm seemed to bounce like a rubber ball, and it descended with such fury that the roofs and porches were thrown down with a tremendous crash,
the volumes of rain descending and destroying the furniture.
On Elm street, from Second to Third, stood a row of tall trees. They were broken off like stems and hurled against the homes of Edward Preisendanz, 217 Elm street, and Harry Curtis, 215 Elm street, with such force that the structures were simply caved in as though made of clay. In the same locality the homes of Frank Nice and George Beckert were denuded of their roofs.
Left the Walls Standing
At 406 Vine street lived Mrs. A. M. Magrath in a cozy two-storied dwelling. When the wind had finished its work with that structure there was little aside from a brick wall remaining. Mrs. Magrath lost everything, not even having a bed to lie upon.
Policeman Thomas Reed had his home at 613 Vine street wrecked, and the same fate befell that of George Eckenhoff, southeast corner Sixth and Vine streets.
Others whose homes were unroofed
and, in some instances, damaged almost beyond repair, included the following:
Others in Wind’s Path
Mrs. Lillian Rhoades, 620 North Sixth street. S. M. Blair, 622 North Sixth street. John Getty, 618 North Sixth street. Mrs. Howard Ivins, 630 North Fourth street. George Batchelor, 702 North Sixth street. Raymond Wallen, 704 North Sixth street. Charles Jordan, 708 North Sixth street. Michael Burke, 710 North Sixth street. Allen Naylor, 640 North Eighth street. William Conerdi, Second and Elm streets. Matthew J. Lemon, 635 North Fifth street. Dr. H. F. Palm, 612 North Second street. William Askley, 646 Linwood street. Thomas Wescott, 648 Linwood street. Frank Kears, 950 Vine street. Otto Shapiro, 648 Vine street.
Cyclone of April 2, 1912 — Click on images for PDF file of complete article
Palm Family Plot at Harleigh Cemetery, Camden NJ
Palm Family Plot at Harleigh Cemetery, Camden NJ