Samuel Vaughan Merrick
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Main otherScript error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters".Template:Wikidata image
Samuel Vaughan Merrick (1801–1870) was a 19th-century American manufacturer, and the first president of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Biography
Born near Hallowell, Massachusetts (it became part of Maine in 1820) on May 4, 1801,Template:Sfnp Merrick left school in 1816 and moved to Philadelphia, where he worked for his merchant uncle John Vaughan.Template:Sfnp He subsequently studied engineering, and in 1824 founded, with scientist William Keating, The Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, of which he was President from 1832 until 1854.Template:Sfnp He also established the firm of Merrick and Agnew, which manufactured fire engines.Template:Sfnp
He married Sarah Thomas on December 25, 1823 and they had one son.[1]
In 1836, Merrick established the Southwark Iron Foundry,Template:Sfnp which became one of the most advanced manufacturing plants of its kind in this country. Operated by the firm of Merrick & Towne (later renamed Merrick & Sons), the foundry built the engines for the USS Mississippi.Template:Sfnp
Merrick took a deep interest in public affairs and was instrumental to the introduction of illuminating gas into Philadelphia, being the chairman of a Committee of the Common Council that reported on the benefits of gaslighting. He also served as the first president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which he had advocated as a means to connect Philadelphia to the west,Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp and was also president of the Sunbury and Erie RailroadTemplate:Sfnp (later part of the PRR) and the Catawissa Railroad (later part of the Reading Railroad). Merrick was a member of the American Philosophical Society from 1833 until his death.[1]
Merrick maintained a residence in Haddon Township, New Jersey.[2] He died in Philadelphia on August 18, 1870, [1] and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery.[3]
Footnotes
References
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Template:Churella-PRR-1
- Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".