78 
CJiarles  A.  Heinitsh. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharna  . 
\    February,  1899. 
CHARLES  AUGUSTUS  HEINITSH,  Ph.M.,  D.Sc. 
By  J.  H.  Rkdsecksr,  Ph.M. 
Dr.  Charles  Augustus  Heinitsh,  one  of  the  oldest,  most  widely- 
known  and  universally  esteemed  pharmacists  in  the  country,  died  in 
Lancaster,  Pa.,  on  Thursday  afternoon,  December  29,  1898,  after  a 
brief  illness  of  pneumonia.  Mr.  Heinitsh  took  a  cold  the  week 
preceding  his  death,  but  continued  to  be  about  his  store  until  Mon- 
day afternoon,  when  he  called  a  physician  who  found  him  suffering 
from  pneumonia.  He  grew  rapidly  worse  until  Thursday  afternoon, 
when  he  passed  away. 
The  family  from  which  Dr.  Heinitsh  sprang  was  of  Polish-Saxon 
origin,  his  great-grandfather,  John  Frederick  Heinitzsch,  as  the 
name  was  originally  spelled,  being  receiver  of  duties  for  the  King  of 
Saxony.  His  son,  Carl  Heinrich  Heinitsh,  grandfather  of  Charles 
A.,  came  to  this  country  in  1772,  landing  in  Philadelphia,  from 
whence  he  removed  to  Lancaster  and  engaged  in  business.  In  1782 
he  founded  the  drug  business,  which  is  still  continued.  In  J803  he 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  August,  who  conducted  the  business  until 
1 816,  when  he  took  into  partnership  his  brother,  John  Frederick 
Heinitsh.  This  continued  until  1818,  when  the  elder  brother 
retired,  and  the  business  was  conducted  by  John  Frederick  until 
1 84 1,  when  Charles  Augustus,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  became  a 
partner.  In  1849  his  father  retired  from  business,  since  which  time, 
a  period  of  almost  fifty  years,  the  business  was  conducted  by 
Charles  A.,  who,  for  a  number  of  years  past,  has  been  assisted  by  his 
nephew,  Sigmund  W.  Heinitsh,  by  whom  the  business  will  be  con- 
tinued. Dr.  Heinitsh's  store  was  widely  and  favorably  known  through- 
out Lancaster  County,  and  anything  bearing  his  label  was  accounted 
to  be  the  best  that  the  market  afforded.  It  also  had  the  great  dis- 
tinction of  being  the  oldest  pharmacy  in  America  that  has  been  con- 
tinuously in  the  same  family  and  name. 
Dr.  Heinitsh  was  born  in  Lancaster,  Pa.,  where  he  resided  all  his 
life,  July  31,  1822,  and  was,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in  the  seventy- 
seventh  year  of  his  age.  He  was  educated  in  the  private  schools  of 
Lancaster,  at  the  Lititz  Academy,  under  that  most  distinguished 
teacher,  John  Beck,  and  at  the  Pennsylvania  College,  Gettysburg, 
where  he  remained  until  his  health  failed  him,  when  he  was  obliged 
to  give  up  his  studies.  Returning  home,  he  entered  his  father's 
drug  store  and  devoted  his  attention  to  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the 
