Joseph George Rosengarten

Joseph George Rosengarten was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the child of German immigrants George D. and Elizabeth (Bennett) Rosengarten. His father, one of Philadelphia's wealthiest men by the 1890s, was an accountant and manufacturer, who created a large chemical establishment and had an interest in numerous other profitable business ventures, including the Pennsylvania Railroad. Rosengarten received his early education in private schools in Philadelphia, and for a time came under the influence of a scholarly man in York, Pennsylvania, the Rev. Charles West Thomson, who aroused in him a liking for literature that became "an abiding habit." He completed his secondary education at an academy then affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, studying under Dr. Samuel Crawford. In 1849, at just fourteen years of age, Rosengarten was admitted to the University of Pennsylvania, graduating three years later with the degree of A.B. in the Class of 1852. In 1855, Rosengarten received the degree of M.A. from the same university. After graduation he studied law in the offices of Henry M. Phillips, a prominent member of the Philadelphia Bar, and in 1856, Rosengarten was admitted to practice. Rosengarten's father then arranged for him to travel abroad to further his studies: The elder Rosengarten, realizing the extraordinary value of foreign study and travel, sent four of his sons abroad to prepare themselves for their future careers. In pursuance of this plan Joseph Rosengarten went...to study history and Roman Law at the University of Heidelberg and to engage in travel. While abroad he was "thrown into contact with men of distinction," including Ludwig Häusser and :de:Adolph von Vangerow, who served respectively as professors of history and law at the University of Heidelberg. During this period, Rosengarten also met the eminent British jurist James Fitzjames Stephen, and his brother, author and critic Leslie Stephen. In 1857, Rosengarten returned to the United States and began practicing law in Philadelphia. His law partners were Henry Schell Hagert and George Junkin. ==Witnesses John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry==

In 1859, Rosengarten witnessed abolitionist John Brown's famous raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Rosengarten had been traveling at the time as a guest with the Directors of the Pennsylvania Railroad, his father being one of the directors. His train stopped short of Harpers Ferry, he walked into town, and witnessed the attack made by Lee's men on the engine house where John Brown had sought refuge. He later saw John Brown lying wounded. Rosengarten wrote a vivid account of what he had witnessed, that was published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1865.{{cite journal ==Civil war service==

On September 2, 1862, a year after the outbreak of the Civil War, Rosengarten was commissioned a first lieutenant in Company D of the 121st Pennsylvania Infantry. The regiment was soon ordered to Washington, D.C., and upon its arrival, went into camp at Arlington Heights. (In one eyewitness's later account of Reynolds' July 1863 death, Rosengarten is referred to as "Major Adolph Rosengarten," his brother, an officer in the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry, Army of the Cumberland, who had been killed in December 1862 at the Battle of Stones River.) Rosengarten was assigned the honor of escorting Reynolds' body to his final resting place in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Due to his intimate association with Reynolds, Rosengarten was also chosen to deliver the address at the dedication of Reynolds' monument at Gettysburg in 1889. ==Later life==

On September 6, 1863, Rosengarten received an honorable discharge from the military. In March 1865, he received the rank of Brevet Captain. Rosengarten served on the Board of Managers (1878), and later as vice president (1893-1910), and finally, as president (1911-1914) of the House of Refuge. In 1907, he was awarded an honorary LL.D. degree by the University of Pennsylvania. Rosengarten was also remembered for his large circle of influential friends and acquaintances: Few men had [such] a large circle of acquaintance; and having a rare gift for friendship, he continued to maintain association with many of those with whom he was thrown into contact either in [Philadelphia] or through his frequent trips abroad. He knew the Darwins, father and son; he came into close touch with eminent writers and scholars like F. Max Müller, Thomas Hughes, Goldwin Smith, Herbert Spencer and Lord Bryce; he formed a friendship extending over many years with the de Rochambeau family and secured the passage of an act of Congress for the purchase of the letters of Washington to [the Comte de] Rochambeau. He knew the great trio of American literature, Longfellow, Emerson and Lowell; he had met all the Presidents from Buchanan to Wilson, and knew practically all the generals in the Civil War. He died in Philadelphia on January 14, 1921.{{cite journal ==Family==

His brother Harry B. Rosengarten took over leadership of the family chemical business from their father. Harry's son Adolph G. Rosengarten II succeeded his father and built Chanticleer Garden in the Philadelphia suburbs. Another son, George D. Rosengarten II, also joined the family business, later serving terms as president of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the American Chemical Society. After the family business was merged with Merck & Co. in 1927, a third son, Frederic Rosengarten, served as chairman of the board of the resulting corporation until 1950. Adolph's son Adolph Jr. joined the board in 1934 and was elected vice chairman in 1971. ==References==