Hoen August was a German-born lithographer, mapmaker and map-printer. He patented his lithocaustic method, and was the head of A. Hoen & Co. , the company which became one of the most prominent in the industry at the time.
Background
Hoen August was born on December 28, 1817 in Hohn, Duchy of Nassau, Germany. He was the son of Martin and Eliza (Schmidt) Hoen. His father, who was a farmer and the burgomaster of the village, had fought under Blucher against Napoleon at Waterloo.
In 1835 his family, consisting of his father and mother (who died on the way over) and eight younger brothers and sisters, emigrated to the United States. With them went his mother's family, the Schmidts, and that of his cousin, Edward Weber. As a young man Weber had acquired a good knowledge of the then new art of lithography, and he took with him the equipment necessary for its practice.
Education
August attended the higher school at Dillenburg, the local center.
Career
In Baltimore Weber established a lithographic business on a small scale under the name of E. Weber & Company, and associated young Hoen with himself. In 1839 the firm produced what are said to be the first show cards printed in colors in the United States. In the forties came their first major cartographic undertaking. They lithographed the maps illustrating Frémont's expeditions to the West, among which noteworthy achievements are: the "Map of an Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the Year 1842 and to Oregon and North California in the Years 1843-44, " on the scale of 1:2, 000, 000, accompanying Frémont's report (1845) with a similar title; the "Map of Oregon and Upper California, " 1:3, 000, 000, accompanying his Geographical Memoir upon Upper California; and the detailed, seven-sheet Topographical Map of the Road from Missouri to Oregon Commencing at the Mouth of the Kansas in the Missouri River and Ending at the Mouth of the Wallah Wallah in the Columbia, 1:633, 600, separately published in 1846. These maps and the other plates in the Frémont reports represent a very early, if not the earliest, application of lithography to the reproduction of illustrations in congressional and government-bureau reports, a field which was henceforth to comprise the major activity of the firm and in which they were soon and for many years to share the laurels with the firm established in the fifties in New York by Julius Bien.
In 1848 Weber died, and the firm's name was changed to A. Hoen & Company. Among those associated with August Hoen was his younger brother, Ernest, but it was August who was primarily the expert in technical matters. While not trained as a chemist he had a practical knowledge of the application of chemistry to lithography. His appreciation of the value to his business of scientific groundwork led him to provide his establishment with a small research laboratory and photographic process rooms.
He patented a new method under the name of "Lithokaustic, " whereby the tone effects were produced by etching, more or less deeply, lines mechanically cut through a ground of varnish to the surface of the stone. Using this method he made a map, printed by A. Hoen & Company, which accompanied R. D. Irving's The Copper-Bearing Rocks of Lake Superior. Shortly after the publication of this work the same principle was embodied in the United States Geological Survey's patterns and color conventions for geological maps.
In the more than thirty years since Weber's death the establishment had steadily grown in size. In 1882 a large building was erected on Lexington, Holliday, and North Streets. In 1901 this was destroyed by fire, after which the plant was removed to its present situation at Chester, Chase, and Biddle Streets. Nearness to the tobacco and cotton industries led to the founding in the eighties of a branch in Richmond, Virginia, for the printing of labels. The Baltimore plant numbered about 200, the Richmond branch about 125 employees.
On the death of Hoen in 1886 his son Albert Berthold Hoen took over the cartographic activities of the firm.
Achievements
Personality
The outstanding traits of Hoen's character were idealism, enthusiasm, and appreciation of the good in others.
He appreciated the advantages of city planning and, through the County Commissioners, had surveys made of the metropolitan district of Baltimore to provide for the laying out of boulevards and for the growth of the city.
Interests
Hoen's tastes ran to the fine arts, music (he played the violoncello himself), and horticulture. He took a lively interest in the suburban village of Waverly, of which he was one of the first settlers.
Connections
In February 1849 Hoen married Caroline (Muth) Weber, the widow of his former associate.