George Gill Green | |
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Green circa 1878
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Born |
Clarksboro, New Jersey |
January 16, 1842
Died | February 26, 1925 Woodbury, New Jersey |
(aged 83)
Residence |
Pasadena, California Lake Hopatcong, NJ Ohio |
Other names | G.G. Green |
Education |
University of Pennsylvania (did not graduate) |
Occupation | Entrepreneur |
Known for | Sale of the elixir called "L.M. Green," a formula bought from his father |
Spouse(s) | Angie Brown |
Parent(s) | Mary Ann (1820-1844) Lewis M. Green (1818-1894) |
Military career | |
Allegiance | USA |
Service/branch | United States Army |
Years of service | 1864-1865 |
Rank | Colonel |
Unit | 142nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment |
George Gill Green (January 16, 1842 – February 26, 1925) was a patent medicine entrepreneur, and Union surgeon in the American Civil War.
George Gill Green was born in Clarksboro, East Greenwich Township, New Jersey, to Mary Ann (1820-1844) and Lewis M. Green (1818-1894). George Green's mother was from Pennsylvania, and his father worked as a butcher.
Green attended the University of Pennsylvania medical school for two years, but left in 1864 before he graduated.
He enlisted in the 142nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment (active 1864-1865) during the American Civil War (1861-1865). In 1867 he started a wholesale drug business in Baltimore, Maryland but the factory was destroyed by a fire. He moved to Ohio, married Angie Brown, and they had their first child there.
Green bought the rights to "Green's August Flower" and "Dr. Boschee's German Syrup" from his father, Lewis, who sold the elixir under the name "L.M. Green". George created a marketing campaign involving mass mailings of free samples, and the distribution of thousands of his almanacs. Both elixirs were mostly laudanum. He became a millionaire and in 1880 he built Woodbury's Opera House.
The family moved to Woodbury, New Jersey on November 23, Thanksgiving Day in 1872.
The Greens had a son, George Gill Green II (1883-1971), who was born on January 17, 1883 and died in January 1971.
In 1893 Green acquired an uncompleted hotel in Pasadena, California, and in 1894 completed and opened it as Hotel Green in Southern California.