Edward Tatnall

Last updated

Edward Tatnall (1782–1856) was an American miller and railroad executive based in Wilmington, Delaware. [1]

Contents

Early life

Tattnell was a son of Joseph Tatnall, a miller and banker in Wilmington.

Business career

He was a director of the Delaware and Maryland Railroad and of the Wilmington and Susquehanna Railroad, two of the four railroads that helped build the first rail link from Philadelphia to Baltimore. In 1838, they merged into the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad. His service is noted on the 1839 Newkirk Viaduct Monument (upon which his name is misspelled as "Tatnell"). [2]

Personal life

His grandson, Henry Tatnall (1897–1940), was the Pennsylvania Railroad's first professionally trained vice president in charge of finance (1904–25). [3]

Notes

  1. Jordan, John Woolf (1911). Colonial Families of Philadelphia, Volume 2. Philadelphia: Lewis Publishing Company. pp. 1526–27.
  2. Wilson, William Bender (1895). History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company with Plan of Organization, Portraits of Officials and Biographical Sketches. Vol. 1. Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates & Company. pp. 296–299. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
  3. "Records of Vice President Henry Tatnall, 1897–1940 Pennsylvania Railroad". ArchiveGrid. WorldCat. Retrieved October 10, 2013.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Furness</span> American architect

Frank Heyling Furness was an American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his diverse, muscular, often unordinarily scaled buildings, and for his influence on the Chicago architect Louis Sullivan. Furness also received a Medal of Honor for bravery during the Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilmington station (Delaware)</span> Passenger rail station in Wilmington, Delaware

The Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Railroad Station, also known as Wilmington station, is a passenger rail station in Wilmington, Delaware. It serves nine Amtrak train routes and is part of the Northeast Corridor. It also serves SEPTA Regional Rail commuter trains on the Wilmington/Newark Line as well as DART First State local buses and Greyhound Lines intercity buses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad</span> Railway company, later part of the Pennsylvania Railroad

The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) was an American railroad that operated independently from 1836 to 1881.

The Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad was a railroad line built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the Maryland-Delaware state line, where it connected with the B&O's Philadelphia Branch to reach Baltimore, Maryland. It was built in the 1880s after the B&O lost access to its previous route to Philadelphia, the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B). The cost of building the new route, especially the Howard Street Tunnel on the connecting Baltimore Belt Line, led to the B&O's first bankruptcy. Today, the line is used by CSX Transportation for freight trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Preston Lea</span> American businessman and politician (1841–1916)

Preston Lea was an American businessman and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Republican Party who served as Governor of Delaware.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Cameron Sproul</span> American politician

William Cameron Sproul was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1897 to 1919 and as the 27th governor of Pennsylvania from 1919 to 1923. He also served as chair of the National Governors Association from 1919 to 1922.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theophilus P. Chandler Jr.</span> American architect

Theophilus Parsons Chandler Jr. was an American architect of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He spent his career at Philadelphia, and is best remembered for his churches and country houses. He founded the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania (1890), and served as its first head.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diamond Match Company</span>

The Diamond Match Company has its roots in several nineteenth century companies. In the early 1850s, Edward Tatnall of Wilmington, Delaware was given an English recipe for making matches by a business acquaintance, William R. Smith. In 1853, Tatnall attempted to turn the recipe into a business at Market Street Bridge over Brandywine Creek in Wilmington. The first matches ignited with the slightest friction, a problem Tatnall solved by reducing the phosphorus content by 25 percent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newkirk Viaduct Monument</span> Sculpture by Thomas Ustick Walter

The Newkirk Viaduct Monument is a 15-foot white marble obelisk in the West Philadelphia neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Installed in 1839, it is inscribed with the names of 51 railroad builders and executives, among other information.

James Canby (1781–1858) was an American businessman, banker and early railroad executive based in Wilmington, Delaware.

Herman Joseph Lombaert (1816–1885) was an American civil engineer who helped complete the first railroad between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland, and eventually became a vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR).

Mahlon Betts (1795–1867) was a carpenter, railroad car builder, shipwright, businessman, banker, and legislator who helped found three of Wilmington, Delaware's major manufacturing enterprises: the Harlan and Hollingsworth Company, the Pusey and Jones Company, and the Betts Machine Company.

James Price (1776—1840) was a miller, businessman, banker, and railroad executive based in Wilmington, Delaware.

William David Lewis (1792-1881) was a 19th-century banker, merchant, and railroad executive based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Joseph Tatnall (1740–1813) was an American businessman, who was a prominent Quaker merchant, miller, and banker in Wilmington, Delaware.

William Chandler was a 19th-century businessman based in Wilmington, Delaware, an active abolitionist, and an early railroad executive.

William Parvin Brobson (1786–1849) was a lawyer, Delaware state representative, newspaper editor, and railroad executive.

Joseph C. Gilpin was a 19th-century American businessman and early railroad executive, based in Delaware.

The Wilmington and Northern Railroad is a railway company that once owned a line from Reading, Pennsylvania to Wilmington, Delaware. The original main line from Wilmington to Birdsboro, Pennsylvania was built between 1869 and 1871 by its predecessor, the Wilmington and Reading Railroad. An extension from Birdsboro to High's Junction was completed in 1874. There the Wilmington and Reading connected with the Berks County Railroad and ran over its tracks to Reading. The Berks County Railroad was foreclosed on at the end of 1874 and reorganized as the Reading and Lehigh Railroad, under the control of the Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road. The Wilmington and Reading also experienced financial difficulties and was itself foreclosed on in 1876. It was reorganized in 1877 as the Wilmington and Northern. After the reorganization, the railroad was closely affiliated with the Reading, but retained its own organization and officers until 1898. In that year, the Reading bought a majority of the company's stock and incorporated it into its own system. The main line from Birdsboro to Wilmington became the Wilmington and Northern Branch, while the extension above Birdsboro was incorporated into the Reading Belt Line. The Wilmington and Northern continued to exist as a paper railroad within the Reading system. The portion of the Wilmington and Northern north of Modena, Pennsylvania was sold to Conrail at its formation in 1976. The line south of Modena was retained by the Wilmington and Northern, which leased and then sold it piecemeal to other railroads between 1981 and 2005. As of 2021, the Wilmington and Northern still survived as a subsidiary of Reading International, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware Railroad</span> Former railroad in the US state of Delaware

The Delaware Railroad was the major railroad in the US state of Delaware, traversing almost the entire state north to south. It was planned in 1836 and built in the 1850s. It began in Porter and was extended south through Dover, Seaford and finally reached Delmar on the border of Maryland in 1859. Although operated independently, in 1857 it was leased by and under the financial control of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad. In 1891, it was extended north approximately 14 miles (23 km) with the purchase of existing track to New Castle and Wilmington. With this additional track, the total length was 95.2 miles (153.2 km).