Introduction
Dr. Joseph E. Roberts Jr.
DR. JOSEPH ENGLAND ROBERTS JR. was born to Joseph E. Roberts and his wife in Camden NJ on December 22, 1878. His father was a partner with Edward N. Cohn in Roberts & Cohn, a well-known real estate company at 105 Market Street in Camden in the 1880s and 1890s. The family lived at 401 Broadway from the 1880s into the mid-1910s.
Joseph E. Roberts Jr. was educated in the Camden public school system, and was a member of the first graduating class of Camden Manual Training and High School. After attending the Friends School in Philadelphia for a year, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated from its medical school in 1903. He interned at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Philadelphia. Dr. Roberts was wed to his wife, Ethel around 1909, and had two sons, Joseph III and Richard. The 1910 Census shows Dr. Roberts residing at 528 Benson Street. He resided at 411 Cooper Street in 1920.
Upon completing his internship, Dr. Roberts established a medical practice at Broadway and Benson Street in Camden. He had specialized in radiology while interning, and also was the chief of radiology at St. Joseph’s for five years after his internship. He then became the chief radiologist at Cooper Hospital in Camden, a post he held for 30 years. Dr. Roberts moved to 201 Westmont Avenue in Haddonfield NJ around 1925.
Dr. Roberts was a member of many professional groups in South Jersey and elsewhere, and was past president of the Camden County Medical Society. He was for many years a trustee of Broadway Methodist Church in Camden, and later the First Presbyterian Church of Haddonfield.
Dr. Joseph E. Roberts passed away at Cooper Hospital in Camden on June 4, 1950. Survived by his wife and son Dr. Richard H. Roberts, he was buried at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden.
Joseph Roberts Dead
Philadelphia Inquirer —
One of Camden’s best known builders, Joseph Roberts, aged 75 years, is dead at his home at 401 Broadway. His death was due to an attack of pneumonia. He had been in ill-health for several months. Mr. Roberts was a leading member of the Broadway M.E. Church. He is survived by a son and three daughters, the son being Dr. Joseph Roberts.
Draft Queries Sent Through Mails
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Draft Queries Sent Through Mails
The various draft boards in Camden yesterday sent out in the mails the new questionaire to five per cent. of the registrants who have not yet been called. Each day a like percentage will receive them until all have been supplied. Each contingent will have seven days in which to send their replies. The Legal Advisory Board has organized and designated the time and place where the registrants may obtain the necessary information with respect to filling out the blanks. In the city the boards will sit every night excepting Sunday.
The following Camden physicians have been named as the Medical Advisory Board by Governor Edge: Drs. Thomas B. Lee, John H. Markley, George D. Woodward, A. Haines Lippincott, J. Anson Smith, Levi B. Hirst, Alfred C. Cramer, Joseph E. Duffield, Joseph E. Nicholson, Joseph E. Roberts and F. B. Lynch.
Choral Group of Organ Club Has New Name
Camden Courier-Post —
Singers Form ‘Musical Art Society’ According to Plans Made at Founding
The Choral Association of the Camden Chapter, National Association of Organists, has become a separate organization. From now on it will be known as the Musical Art Society.
The group, at its start here, was sponsored by the Camden Chapter with an aim to establish it as a separate group as soon as a successful working basis was reached.
Patronage has been forthcoming which has assured the society of a place in the musical activities of the community. The plan is to develop a sound choral group, capable of producing serious choral works in artistic manner.
The society’s membership list is still open. Voices, both male and female, are needed. Singers with ability at reading are especially urged to make themselves known. Applications, under the new society’s plan, should be sent to Edna M. Llewellyn, Fourth Avenue and Kings Highway, Haddon Heights.
Rehearsal will continue at the First Baptist Church here on the first, second and third Mondays of every month.
Present patrons are Wilfred W. Fry, Mrs. Fry, Charles K. Haddon, Mrs. Walter J. Staats, Hon. E.G.C. Bleakly, Mrs. Elwood A. Harrar, Mrs. F. Morse Archer, A. Wilbur Nash, Dr. Edward M. Sullivan, J. Walter Levering, Dr. Joseph E. Roberts, William G. Moore, Mrs. Mary L. Neer, Mrs. J. Harry Knerr, Mrs. Ada M. Eckenhoff, Mrs. Charles A. Reynolds, and Joseph D. Brisby.
The former choral association will retain its officers under the new title of the Musical Art Society, with the exception of the post of secretary. Miss Llewellyn will replace Walter M. Smith temporarily.
The officers are: Henry S. Fry, director; Miss Llewellyn, treasurer; Ada M. Eckenhoff, librarian; Robert M. Haley, president; Marion V. Taylor, Evelyn Lawrence, Stanley Nelson, Harry W. Schwartz, Marjorie Riggins Seybold, F. Marie Wesbroom-Dager and Howard S. Tussey, executive board.
The society will present at least two public concerts in the spring, one in April at the North Baptist Church and the spring concert, which has been tentatively scheduled for May and will probably take place in the First Baptist Church.
47 More Men Join League to Aid Baird
Camden Courier-Post —
Professional and Business Leaders Back Camden Man for Governor
Forty-seven more prominent professional and business men yesterday joined the Baird-for-Governor Business Men’s League and pledged themselves to work actively in interest of David Baird Jr., for governor, and add special impetus to his campaign.
The league was organized this week at an enthusiastic meeting of 18 outstanding Baird supporters in professional and business life at the Camden Club, 315 Cooper Street. The league membership is open only to business, professional and industrial leaders who are not holding public office and who are not politicians.
The latest enrollments among community leaders pledging themselves to devote themselves to the Baird cause are the following:
F. Morse Archer, president of the First Camden National Bank; Clinton L. Bardo, president of the New York Shipbuilding Company and of the New Jersey Taxpayers’ Association; George C. Baker, of the Baker-Flick Company; Watson Shallcross, president of the Camden County Chamber of Commerce; Howard J. Dudley, Broadway merchant; Thomas E. French, prominent attorney; J. David Stern, publisher of the Courier-Post newspapers and of the Philadelphia Record; Wellington K. Barto, of the West Jersey Trust Company; Dr. Joseph Roberts, Cooper Hospital; William Clement, of the Clement Coverall Paint Company; Robert Wright, of the Haddonfield National Bank; Arthur J. Podmore, of the Camden Pottery Company; Nathan Leopold, Haddonfield druggist; Dr. J. Edgar Howard, of Haddonfield.
Dr. Alfred N. Elwell, of this city; Edward Preisendanz, Clarence Peters, N. Franks, of Franks & Sweeney; U. G. Peters, Ralph D. Baker, prominent real estate man; Archibald Dingo, George Bachman, Sr., and George Bachman, Jr., Dr. O. W. Saunders, Henry Cooperson, Leon Cooperson, Herman Z. Cutler. Charles Bauman, Harry Rose, George Austermuhl, Walter Gulick, Albert Voeglin, Howard Fearn, John A. Schlorer, Ernest L. Bartelt.
William S. Casselman, George M. Carr, J. Price Myers, Carl R. Evered, former president of the Camden County Real Estate Board; Francis B. Wallen, former president of the Camden County Chamber of Commerce; William H. Alff, Edmund J. Alff, Harry Pelouze, Walter Campbell, Dr. Thomas R. Bunting, Joseph F. Kobus and Henry E. Kobus.
Enrollments, it was announced, may be made through the following committee of the league:
Ludwig A. Kind, Thomas Gordon Coulter, Charles H. Laird, Walter J. Staats, Frank C. Middleton, Jr., Frank J. Hineline, William T. Read, Charles S. Boyer, W. W. Robinson, George R. Pelouze, Paul A. Kind, Dr. Paul A. Mecray, Jerome Hurley, Harry A. Moran, James V. Moran, William J. Strandwitz, former Judge Lewis Starr and Frank C. Norcross.
U. of P. Graduates Meet Here To Form Newest Alumni Body
Camden Courier-Post —
By GORDON MACKAY
“Hail Pennsylvania, noble and strong;
To thee with loyal hearts we raise our song.”
To the lilting strains of the song by Edgar M. Dilley, newspaperman and bard and alumnus of the Class of 1897, the newest infant among the alumni societies of the University of Pennsylvania, sprang into life last night.
More than 150 sons of the institution across the river gathered in Hotel Walt Whitman for the joint purpose of celebrating the birthday of Benjamin Franklin, founder at the university and cementing their ranks with a new alumni club.
Judge Clifford A. Baldwin, designated by Thomas S. Gates, president of the university, to head Camden activities in connection with the bicentennial in 1940, presided at the meeting. It took the informality of a smoker, then developed into the serious purpose of bringing the 800 Penn alumni in Camden county into a group that eventually should form one of the largest alumni clubs anywhere in America.
Varbalow Named Head
Judge Joseph Varbalow was named as the head of a committee to effect the temporary organization and to present a constitution and by-laws under which the South Jersey alumni association could be formed.
Associated with Judge Varbalow on this committee are John H. Reiners, Jr., representing the college; W. Tingle Dickerson, Wharton School; J. William Markelm, evening school; Thomas Daly, engineering school; Dr. Byron Tuttle, dental school; Frank M. Travaline, Jr., law school; Ellery K. Taylor, architectural school and school of fine arts; Pierce Connor, school of education; Dr. William S. Miller, veterinary school, and Dr. Joseph E. Roberts, medical school.
Prominent among those who helped in the formation was Agnew MacBride, 77, of the class of 1882, the oldest alumnus of the university present. MacBride, blind attorney, recited the activities which he had known as a student and alumnus until the loss of sight incapacitated him from officiating further at athletic meets.
MacBride, his voice choked with emotion, told how pleased he was to be “with the boys” and declared the University of Pennsylvania “reached the ideal which Benjamin Franklin had in mind when he founded the academy that afterward became our alma mater.”
Wistar Wood opened the program by exhibiting motion pictures “Pennsylvania Looks Ahead,” scenes depicting the campus, showing photographs of some of the great scholars who are on the faculty today.
Class Work Shown
Action pictures of class work in the various departments also were shown. These views were followed by the principal address of the occasion, given by Dr. William P. Harbeson, Professor of English at the University, but plain “Bill” Harbeson at last night’s jollity.
Dr. Harbeson began with describing Socrates as the first real scholar known to mankind’s history. Then he named in turn the men he called the greatest teachers in American university and college life, starting with the famous Dr. Mark Hopkins, first president of Williams College in Massachusetts.
“Then there was Sumner of Yale,” said the speaker, “who first spoke of the ‘forgotten man,’ a phrase now so often quoted and so frequently garbled. In Harvard was Charles Townsend Copeland, the inimitable ‘Copey,’ about whose work and personality men remained up through the night to talk about and never tire or weary of so doing.
“At Pennsylvania we had Edgar Fahs Smith, Cornelius Weygand, whom I feel was the ‘Mark Hopkins of our university’; William Romayne Newbold and George William McClellan.”
Sins Redeemed Franklin
Dr. Harbeson described Franklin as “a citizen of the world” whose “inherent humanity” was his greatest attribute. Franklin, too, he averred “had several sins to redeem him.”
“Franklin had nobody to make him,” continued the professor. “He made himself and a good job he did of it, too. His greatest characteristic, the greatest thing to admire about the citizen of the world was his public spirit. In Philadelphia his name is connected with all the firsts, library, hospital, academy.
“We are living in a yeasty ferment today in this country which has now become ‘Upsidedownia.’ And we, the so-called intellectuals, are the persons who are getting it where the turkey got the ax. We are too content to let others do the things that we should do ourselves, and we listen too readily to those who can go on the radio with a laxity of tongue and picture to us a paradise on a blueprint.”
Dr. Harbeson urged that, whether our thought be liberal or conservative, “we follow things through, calmly and arrive at our own conclusions.”
Backing of Munger Asked
Wood, secretary of the General Alumni Association, also told of the activities of that organization, here and in other countries. He urged the Camden alumni form into an organization, which, he declared, would be one of the strongest among all the university alumni groups.
Charles J. Miel, secretary of the Bicentennial Committee, recited the progress which had been made to celebrate 200 years of university life two years hence.
He declared that without any organized effort already Camden had contributed to the fund, one of the contributions being $30,000, from Eldridge Johnson, whose past benefactions he recounted as amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Judge Baldwin then urged the Camden alumni to stand squarely behind George Munger, new football coach, and asserted that Camden was large enough and its alumni body ample enough to insure a performance each year of the Mask and Wig Club.
125 in County Form U. of P. Alumni Club
Camden Courier-Post —
125 IN COUNTY FORM U. OF P. ALUMNI CLUB
Charter Left Open for 300 Additional Members; 18 Trustees Elected
More than 125 Camden county graduates and former students of the University of Pennsylvania last night completed organization of the alumni club and became charter members of the organization, with the rolls held open for an expected 300 additional charter members.
Those elected were R. Pierce Joseph, Thomas J. Daley, Judge Clifford A. Baldwin, Ellery Taylor, Dr. William G. Moore, J. David Stern, J. William Markelm, C. W. Tingle Moench, W. Tingle Dickerson, Dr. Joseph E. Roberts, Frank M. Travaline Jr., Dr. Byron G. Tuttle, Edmund D. Scaramuzzi, Dr. Edwin Helm and Jesse G. Haydock, Jr.
Varbalow Presides
Judge Varbalow conducted the business session and Judge Baldwin introduced the guest speakers, Dr. Murray Saylor, dean of the department of physical education, and Dr. John H. Harbeson, professor of English literature.
Student Days Recalled
Dr. Harbeson, who had written as an author, recalled the professors and classroom atmosphere of his student days at the University in 1887, became a newspaperman, gave up journalism, returned to Pennsylvania to teach, retiring for a second time.
South Jersey alumni of the university represent the third largest group in the country. There are approximately 875 graduates in the Camden county area. The newly formed association will sponsor social and cultural activities, and will cooperate with university trustees for the welfare of the institution.
Dr. Jos. E. Roberts, Radiologist, Dies After Brief Illness
Camden Courier-Post —
X-Ray Specialist, 71, Was Chief at Cooper Hospital 30 Years
Dr. Joseph E. Roberts, 71, chief radiologist at the Cooper hospital for 30 years, died today in the Cooper hospital after a short illness. Dr. Roberts, who also was consultant in radiology at Zurbrugg hospital, Riverside, and Salem County Memorial hospital, Salem, lived at 403 Cooper street. He had lived in Haddonfield at West End and Redman avenues for 25 years. Born in Camden Dec. 22, 1878, Dr. Roberts was educated in Camden public schools and was a member of the first graduating class of the Camden High school. He attended Friends school in Philadelphia for one year before going to the University of Pennsylvania. He was graduated from the university and from the medical school of the university in 1903. After interning in St. Joseph’s hospital, Philadelphia, Dr. Roberts headed the X-ray department there for five years while practicing in Camden at Broadway and Benson street.
Member of Societies
He was a past president of both the Camden County Medical society and the Philadelphia Roentgen Ray society, a diplomate of the American Board of Radiology and a fellow of the American College of Radiology. His membership included the Medical Society of New Jersey, the American Medical Association, Radiological Society of North America, International College of Radiology and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.
Active in Church
Long active in church affairs, Dr. Roberts was for many years a member of the board of trustees of Broadway Methodist Church and more recently a member of First Presbyterian Church of Haddonfield.
Surviving are his widow, Ethel A.; a son, Dr. Richard H. Roberts, of Haddonfield, who is associated with the medical staff of RCA Victor; two sisters, Mrs. E. R. T. Betts, of Coral Gables, Fla., and Miss Elizabeth Roberts, and three grandchildren. Services will be held Wednesday at 2 p. m. in the Murray funeral home, 408 Cooper street. The Rev. Bryant M. Kirkland, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Haddonfield, and Dr. Edwin F. Hann, of Bridgeton, former Camden county superintendent of the Methodist Church and a former pastor of the Broadway Methodist Church, will officiate. Burial will be in Harleigh cemetery. There will not be a viewing and the family requested no flowers be sent.