45 
eration as Robert J. Halliday, of Baltimore, and Peter Hen- 
derson, of New York. 
Many now well-known florists were once in L. C. 
Baumann's employ, and a few of his employees who after 
became conspicuous in other lines, were Hon. William E. 
Meehan, writer; Alexander Harrison, and Birge Harrison, 
artists and writers; William G. Shields, register of wills of 
Philadelphia; John J. Harrison, State Senator of Pennsyl- 
vania; Judge William G. Holt, of Kansas City, Kans., and 
Charles E. Meehan, Superintendent of the "Philadelphia 
Flower Market." 
George A. Baumann first located as a florist upon 
Main Street, opposite Manheim Street, and after upon the 
northeast corner of Main Street and Chelten Avenue, where 
the post office now is, from which place he removed to the 
west side of Wayne Street, between Handsberry and Man- 
heim Streets, where he conducted a nursery. He after be- 
came a farmer and a general truck grower at Center Square, 
Montgomery County, Pa., and finally settled upon Fair- 
thorne Avenue in Roxborough, where he died in the year 
1895, the business there founded by him being conducted by 
his son, Walter G. Baumann. 
Returning now to Fern Hill, it, after the death of Louis 
Clapier, was purchased by Henry Pratt McKean, who re- 
moved the original house, and erected the present mansion, 
he, however, continuing the Clapier Barn unchanged. The 
garden work begun by Louis Clapier, was maintained and 
extended by Mr. McKean, and to this day, "Fern Hill" is 
the most beautiful estate in, or near Germantown. 
In its care, Martin Baumann was succeeded by 
Alexander Burnet, Alexander Newitt, John Noonan, and by 
John F. Sibson, a graduate of Meehan's nurseries, who is its 
present efficient incumbent. Separated from Fern Hill by 
"Lamb Tavern" or Township Road is Tucker's Place, and 
possessing a view almost equal to that of its neighbor. Those 
unacquainted with the district, who now view the settlement 
