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"Spokane and The Spokane Country - Pictorial and Biographical - Deluxe Supplement." Vol. II. The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1912. (No author listed.) pgs. 228-231.
HENRY BERNARD LUHN, who has done considerable important hospital work
and is equally successful in the private practice of medicine and surgery, was
born in the state of New York, August 14, 1867. His father, Gerhard L. Luhn,
was born in Germany and is now living in Spokane at the venerable age of
eighty-one years. He is a retired major of the United States army, which he
joined in 1852. He fought in the Mormon war of 1858 and all through the Civil
war and in the latter was commissioned in 1863. He afterward was on active
duty in Wyoming and Montana during the trouble with the Sioux Indians, and in
1886 came to Camp Spokane with the Fourth Infantry, being thereafter
identified with military service in the northwest up to the time when he
retired in 1895, while stationed at Fort Coeur d'Alene. Since that time he has
made Spokane his home. He was first promoted to official rank when made
sergeant of the Sixth United States Infantry prior to the outbreak of the
Civil war. In February, 1863, he was commissioned second lieutenant, Fourth
Infantry, and June 24, 1864, he was promoted first lieutenant of the Fourth
Infantry, which rank he held until the close of the war. In 1875 he was
commissioned captain and retired as such in 1895, but by special act of
congress in 1904 was given the title of major. He was with McClellan's command
in the Army of the Potomac in the battle of Bull Run, participated in the
second battle of Bull Run, the hotly contested engagements of Gettysburg and
Antietam and in fact all of the battles in which the Army of the Potomac,
under command of Generals McClellan, Pope and Meade, was engaged. Subsequently
he was with his regiment when it became a part of Grant's command and was
present at the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox.
On the 9th of May, 1864, Major Luhn was united in marriage to
Catherine Ann Von Oltmans, who was born in New York. Her father belonged to a
prominent Holland family and became the founder of the Williamsburg Savings
Bank at Brooklyn, New York. Mrs. Luhn is now living in Spokane. In the family
were two sons. The younger brother, William Luke Luhn, is now captain of the
Tenth United States Cavalry, stationed at Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont. He was
formerly teller and cashier in the Citizens and the Old National Bank and went
to the Klondike in 1897. Returning in 1898, he went to the Philippines as a
soldier of the Spanish-American war and was adjutant in the First Washington
Volunteers. When the troops from this state were mustered out he was
lieutenant colonel of the Thirty-sixth United States Volunteers under General
Franklin Bell. After his service in the Philippines he was commissioned first
lieutenant of the Eleventh United States Cavalry and in 1908 was made captain
of the Tenth United States Cavalry, with which rank he is now serving. There
are also three daughters in the family: Maria, the wife of Ernest De Lashmutt,
of Spokane; Euphemia, the wife of George Harris Smith, an attorney for the
Oregon Short Line at Salt Lake City; and Catherine, the wife of Captain James
E. Fechet, of the Ninth United States Cavalry, sta-tioned at Fort Leavenworth,
Kansas.
Henry Bernard Luhn acquired his preliminary education in the
University of Notre Dame, Indiana, pursuing a thorough commercial course and
afterward finishing his junior year in the scientific courses. Subsequently he
matriculated in the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia in preparation
for the practice of medicine and was graduated from the medical department in
1891, at which time his degree was conferred upon him. Following his
graduation he spent two years in a hospital in Philadelphia as interne and
then came to Spokane, where he located for practice in October, 1892. He has
since followed his profession with increasing success and is now surgeon for
the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, the Spo-kane, Portland & Seattle
Company and surgeon of the Sacred Heart Hospital staff. He is also medical
director of the New World Life Insurance Company and was appointed assistant
surgeon of the Na-tional Guards of Washington by Governor McGraw but resigned
about 1905. He has a large private practice and this as well as his hospital
work has won him a high and well deserved reputation.
On the 23d of June, 1897, Dr. Luhn completed arrangements for a happy
home of his own by his marriage to Miss Anne Goodall Higgins, a daughter of a
former New York citizen, and they have two children: Marion. now thirteen
years of age, and Catherine, aged twelve years, both of whom are students at
Brunot Hall. The family attend the Roman Catholic church. Dr. Luhn votes with
the republican party and is identified with various fraternal and social
organizations, including Spokane Lodge, No. 228, B. P. 0. E., and the Knights
of Columbus. In the former he served as exalted ruler and as deputy grand
exalted ruler, and in the latter was state deputy for the state of Washington.
In more strictly social lines his membership is in the Spokane, the Spokane
Country and the University Clubs. He is also a member of the Spokane Amateur
Athletic Club, the Military Order of Loyal Legion, the Spokane County Medical
Society, the Washington State Medical Society and the American Medical
Association. With him success in life has been reached because he has made
good use of his time, has improved the talents with which nature endowed him
and has faithfully and conscientiously performed every duty that has devolved
upon him. The consensus of public opinion regarding his position in the
medical profession places him in the foremost rank.
Submitted by: Nancy Pratt Melton
* * * * Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individuals featured in the biographies.