Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Ferdinand William ROEBLING
Ferdinand was the President of John A. Roebling & Sons in Trenton, NJ. The business was started by his father, the developer of suspension bridge technology in the United States, in order to control the quality of wire used in his projects. Although the wire was used in many famous bridges, including the George Washington Bridge, for political reasons it was not used in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, John Augustus's most famous project.
[Quoted in The Stubbs Family of Little Britain, p 55.]
Ferdinand Wilhelm Roebling, (Sr.),
was born on Feb. 27, 1842, in Saxonburg, Butler County, Pennsylvania the second son of John Augustus and Johanna (Herting) Roebling. At an early age he was educated at the Trenton (New Jersey) Academy, before embarking on the study of chemistry at the Philadelphia Polytechnic Institute and later attended Columbian (later George Washington) University.
In 1859, he joined his elder brother, Washington Augustus and his father at the Roebling Wire Rope Works, becoming a secretary in the wire rope department. Upon the death of his father, John A. Roebling, in 1869, the two brothers changed the firm's name to John A. Roebling's Sons, in which Ferdinand W. was a partner. In 1876, the business was incorporated as the John A. Roebling's Sons Co. and Ferdinand W. served as secretary and treasurer, an office he held until his death. Following the death of their father, the two brothers divided the responsibilities of the business between them- Washington A. assuming those for the building and engineering and Ferdinand W. the commercial and administrative. When he entered upon his full responsibilities in 1869, with the company they were employing approximately 200 persons with about $200,000 in business. The company being capitalized at $150,000. By 1917, the number of employees had increased to 10,000 and the volume of the business to $15,000,000. Per year, while the book value of the company was estimated at approximately $50,000,000. In addition to being secretary and treasurer of the .John A. Roebling's Sons, Co., Ferdinand was involved in various other companies, serving as president of the Mercer Automobile Co., Trenton Brass & Machine Co., Union Mills Paper Manufacturing Co. and Universal Paper Bag Co.; as well as vice president and a director of the Syracuse, Rochester & Eastern Railroad; treasurer and a director of the New Jersey Wire Cloth Co., and a director of the Otis Elevator Co., Mechanics and Metals Bank of New York, Mechanics National Bank of Trenton, Standard Fire Insurance Co., Public Service Corporation of New Jersey, National Copper Bank of New York, and Trenton Hall & Building Association. At the request of Grover Cleveland, he served as a director in the reorganization of the Equitable Life Insurance Co. In 1898, when the American Steel & Wire Co. was formed he was asked to become its president, but declined. In addition he was one of the backers of the i_lve_ltor of the tabulating machine used in compiling the 1910 census and, with Gov. Winthrop 3I. Crane (q.v.) of Massachusetts, rehabilitated the Stanley Electrical Manufacturing Co. of Pittsfield, Mass., and sold it to the General Electric Co. in 1905.
Ferdinand was also active in civic affairs, as he was an original trustee and the first president of the board of the Trenton Free Public Library. In 1909, he was appointed chairman of the building commission for the Trenton City Hall. Active in political circles, though he never sought nor held public office. As a lifelong Republican his influence in New Jersey polities was great and he was frequently the real, but unseen, power behind political campaigns and the nomination of candidates. As a Republican he attended a number of his party's national conventions. He was a member of the Union League Club of New York City, the Lotus Club of Trenton. His hobbies included collecting paintings and ivory carvings; as well as the breeding of Guernsey cattle. He enjoyed classical music and was a notable violinist. He drove fast trotting horses, several of which established track records, and was a highly skilled shot with a rifle, pistol or shotgun and an expert fly fisherman.
He was married in Trenton Mar. 14, 1867, to Margaret Gatzmer, daughter of Thomas S. Allison, onetime secretary of state of New Jersey. They had four children: Karl Gustavus, Ferdinand William, Jr., Margaret, who married Frederiek Auten C. Perrine, and Augusta Henrietta Roebling, who married William Townsend White.
Ferdinand Wilhelm Roebling died at his home at 222 West State Street in Trenton, New Jersey on March 16, 1917.
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