George Washington Whistler
George Washington Whistler ( Russian Джордж Вашингтон Уистлер , transcribed Dschordsch Waschington Uistler * 19th May 1800 in Fort Wayne , † April 7 jul. / 19th April 1849 greg. In St. Petersburg ) was an American railroad engineer .
Life
Whistler, son of US officer John Whistler, completed his officer training at the United States Military Academy with graduation in 1819 and then served in the artillery , where he worked as a topographer and railroad engineer. In 1833 he took his leave.
Whistler began his career as a railroad engineer in Stonington, Connecticut in 1833 on the New York and New Haven Railroad with James B. Francis as an assistant. In 1834 both moved to the company The Proprietors of Locks and Canals des Merrimack Rivers in Lowell (Massachusetts) . In 1835 Whistler became chief engineer. His sons, James McNeill Whistler , who became a painter , and William McNeill Whistler, who became a medical officer in the Confederate States Army , were born in Lowell . In 1835 he worked with Patrick Tracy Jackson to begin building the Boston and Lowell Railroad . In the same year he planned the Boston and Providence Railroad with the Canton Viaduct . In 1837 Whistler left Lowell after he had succeeded James B. Francis there. His home in Lowell is now the Whistler House Museum of Art , dedicated to his son James McNeill Whistler.
Whistler switched to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad , which initially sent him to England for further training . He was then involved in the construction of several railroad lines in the United States, including the construction of the Paterson and Hudson River Railroad , the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad and the Boston and Albany Railroad .
In 1842 Whistler was brought to St. Petersburg by Pawel Petrovich Melnikov as a consultant for the construction of the St. Petersburg – Moscow railway, the first long-distance railway in Russia, with an annual salary of 12,000 US dollars . He is credited with the chosen 5- foot gauge , which then became the standard in Russia. In addition to Melnikow, the engineers Nikolai Ossipowitsch Kraft and Dmitri Iwanowitsch Schurawski were involved in the construction. In addition to building the railway, Whistler helped build the St. Petersburg Blagoveschensky Bridge over the Neva and directed fortification work in Kronstadt . He was also concerned with plans to improve shipping on the Northern Dvina near Arkhangelsk .
Because of the cholera outbreak in southern Russia, Whistler moved his family to Kingston upon Hull in 1847 . He himself stayed and died of heart failure before the construction of this railroad was completed. After the funeral ceremony in the St. Petersburg Anglican Church, his body was brought to Kronstadt on a Russian barge with the permission of Tsar Nicholas I , from where it was then taken to Boston by US ship. Whistler finally found his grave in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn . As Whistler's successor, Tompson S. Brown was brought in from the USA , who worked on the construction of the St. Petersburg – Moscow railway line to completion.
Individual evidence
- ↑ George W. Whistler . Register of Officers and Graduates of the United States Military Academy, Class of 1819, Volume 1, p. 214, (accessed April 22, 2016).
- ↑ George Washington Whistler (accessed April 22, 2016).
- ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica: James B. Francis.
- ^ William McNeill Whistler, 1836-1900 . The Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler, Glasgow University (accessed April 22, 2016).
- ↑ Lowell Notes: Patrick Tracy Jackson (accessed April 23, 2016).
- ^ Lowell Notes: James B. Francis, (accessed April 23, 2016).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Whistler, George Washington |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Уистлер, Джордж Ва́шингтон (Russian) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American railroad engineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 19, 1800 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Fort Wayne |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 19, 1849 |
| Place of death | St. Petersburg |