Mercer County NJ Archives Biographies.....Roebling, Ferdinand W. 1842 - 1917 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nj/njfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 Author: Mary Depue Ogden, Editor (1917) ROEBLING, Ferdinand W., Man of Large Affairs. The career of the late Ferdinand W. Roebling, who served in the capacity of treasurer and general manager of the John A. Roebling Sons Company, builders of the Brooklyn Bridge and other great structures, and widely known in the wire rope industry, illustrates in a forceful manner what can be accomplished by men of the stamp of Mr. Roebling. He was a capable, conscientious and genuine captain of industry, conservative, yet keenly alive to every improvement for advancing along progressive lines the industries that fell to his management, and to what extent the history of the imperial commercial growth of the United States is indebted to men of the character and energy possessed by Mr. Roebling would be difficult indeed to estimate. Ferdinand W. Roebling was one of the four sons of John A. Roebling, the founder of the house that bears his name, a full account of whom appears in Volume II of this work. He was born at Saxonburg, Butler county, Pennsylvania, February 27, 1842, and when he was seven years of age his parents removed to Trenton, New Jersey, in which city he spent the remainder of his days. He received his education in the Polytechnic College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and during his course specialized in chemistry. About the close of the Civil War, he assumed the general management of the John A. Roebling Sons Company, at Trenton, the business being established at Saxonburg in 1840 by his father, who transferred the plant to Trenton in 1848, erecting a house for his family at the side of the manufacturing plant, which they occupied until 1857, when they removed to another section of the city and their home became the office of the company. The John A. Roebling Sons Company is the most extensive of its kind in the world, its product consisting of iron, steel, copper and brass wire, wire rope, electric cables and modern wire goods. It has for many years been closely connected, either through building entirely or furnishing material, with the great suspension bridges of the United States, completing the cables for the East River suspension bridges, and the magnificent New York and Brooklyn Bridge, considered the most impressively beautiful bridge in the world, is a monument to its designer, John A. Roebling, who suggested and developed this daring engineering feat. The submarine cables connecting America and Europe carry copper conductors turned out at the Trenton works, and enough wire is manufactured in the works every day, of all kinds, to reach twice around the world. They also turn out a vast amount of telegraph wire, sufficient for a man to make five railroad trips from the Atlantic to the Pacific, each by a different route, and never lose sight of the product of this plant which is strung on the myriad poles alongside of the parallels of steel over which rolls the commerce of this wonderful country. The disposition of such a vast output calls for extensive commercial arrangements in all parts of the United States and abroad, all of which, in addition to the manufacturing side, were under the direct management of Mr. Roebling from his business office in the city of Trenton. When Mr. Roebling assumed charge of the Trenton works, the total annual output did not exceed two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and at the present time (1917) it averages each year many million dollars. He was one of the first to appreciate the importance of electrical development, and outside of the branch of his Trenton manufacture which enters into the electrical field, that of electrical conductors being the largest part of the product, he became an active director in a number of electrical and allied manufacturing companies, becoming responsibly identified with concerns engaged purely in manufacturing, which furnish employment for thousands of people, and which have an output of millions of dollars annually. In addition to this he served in an official capacity in the Wirecloth Company, as president of the Union Mills Paper Manufacturing Company, as vice-president of the Syracuse, Rochester & Eastern Railway Company, and as a director in the Mechanics' National Bank of Trenton. Mechanics' and Metals National Bank of New York, the Otis Elevator Company, Mercer Automobile Company, Trenton Street Railway Company, the Interstate Railway Company, Trenton Brass and Machine Company, and the Standard Fire Insurance Company. Mr. Roebling always took particular pride in the fact that so many of his staff and so many workmen remained with him for long periods, this fact amply testifying to the interest he ever manifested in their welfare, and in return they were loyal and faithful to his interests, and during his almost half a century of stewardship at Trenton but one disagreement occurred, and that a small strike in a minor department, and for a short period only. There grew up around him family after family of industrious, skilled artisans, in several instances three generations being in the employ of his company. One of the characteristics of Mr. Roebling, which was also possessed by his father and by his brothers, was that of investigating before believing, taking nothing for granted. He was a quiet, thoughtful man, thorough master of every essential detail of his extensive manufacturing interests, yet always finding time to keep in touch with the commerce of the world through his various established offices in all the foreign capitals. One singular fact about Mr. Roebling was that he never crossed the ocean, it being particularly noticeable from the fact that he was a man of such vast interests, stretching to all parts of the world. He was the possessor of a fine library of technical books, covering a wide range of subjects, which he often consulted, and he also had a particularly fine collection of books on ceramics and decorative ware, a study naturally suggested by the position of Trenton as the center of the pottery industry of the United States. Mr. Roebling served as president of the board of trustees of the Public Library of Trenton. He was a devotee of open-air exercise, and he spent a portion of each year in out-door sports, having been particularly fond of duck shooting. The following paragraph is taken from the November, 1902, issue of the "Cosmopolitan Magazine,": "Mr. Roebling, in his earnest, yet progressive, everyday life, developing the interests of his companies, and giving increasing employment and advantages to thousands and tens of thousands, has erected a monument to himself and his character as noble and imperishable as any of the great engineering achievements with which the name of his family has been identified." He was a member of the Union League and Engineers' Club. Mr. Roebling married Margaret Gatzmer Allison, who bore him four children: Karl G., married Blanche D. Estabrook; Ferdinand W., Jr., married Ruth Met-calf; Margaret, became the wife of Dr. F. V. C. Perrine; Augusta Henrietta, who became the wife of William T. White. Mr. Roebling died at his home in Trenton, March 17, 1917. In addition to his four children, he is survived by three brothers: Charles G. Roebling, president of the John A. Roebling Sons Company; Colonel Washington A. Roebling, of Trenton, and Edward Roebling, of New York. Additional Comments: Extracted from: MEMORIAL CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF MARY DEPUE OGDEN VOLUME III MEMORIAL HISTORY COMPANY NEWARK, NEW JERSEY 1917 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/njfiles/ File size: 8.0 Kb