Background
John Childe was born on August 30, 1802 in West Boylston, Massachusetts, United States. He was the one of the twelve children of Zachariah and Lydia (Bigelow) Child.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
John Childe
Edit ProfileEducation
During his boyhood Childe worked upon his father’s farm, with only such educational advantages as those of the district school, except for two years which he spent with an older brother in Canada and one year at Georgetown College, D. C. He was, however, an exceptionally studious boy, and in 1823 he entered West Point Academy, from which he was graduated in 1827 with the commission of second lieutenant.
Career
From 1827 to 1835 Childe served in the United States Army. In he entered the profession of civil engineering, and from that time on was actively engaged in survey, location, construction, and consulting work in connection with the establishment of new railroad lines.
One of his earliest and most difficult tasks was the location of the route for the Albany & West Stockbridge Railroad between Springfield and Pittsfield across the Green Mountain Range. Theretofore no attempt had been made in the United States to run a line through a district with such formidable obstacles. Childe entered upon his work with the greatest professional enthusiasm, and to the amazement of layman and engineer alike, accomplished it most satisfactorily. This achievement, in 1844, resulted in a constant demand for his services by one railroad or another.
His connection with the Southern lines began in 1848 when he became chief engineer of the Mobile Railroad Company. The road to be built was from Mobile to the mouth of the Ohio River, about 500 miles. Running across four states, through a region where railroads were unknown, many difficulties were anticipated—and found. Childe not only superintended the field workers but he, in order to obtain subscriptions for stock, canvassed the whole country through which the line was to run; through his efforts at Washington, Congress passed in its session of 1849-1850 the first of a series of acts donating about one million acres of land to aid the company; he visited the legislatures of the various states and obtained valuable privileges from them for the road. He even made two trips to England to dispose of large issues of bonds.
Owing to a change of directors in 1856, his professional connection with this work terminated in that year, and when in 1857 the Board of Harbor Commissioners was established for constructing an extensive harbor at Montreal, Canada, Childe was placed at the head of a corps of engineers to make the necessary examination and report. While occupied in arranging the large amount of statistical data for this report, he was taken seriously ill and died at his home in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Achievements
-
Childe’s character, enormous capacity for work, his unusual executive ability, and his genius for solving difficult railroad problems made him an outstanding figure of his time. Of fearless independence and absolute honesty, his decisions were respected alike by employer and employee. He constructed some of the most difficult projects of his time. His major achievement was the construction of the road from Mobile to the mouth of the Ohio River. It was the longest road that had been attempted in the United States at that time.
Connections
Childe was married in 1832 to Laura Dwight of Springfield, Massachusetts. She and their oldest daughter were lost on board the fated Arctic in 1854 while returning from Europe. In 1856 Childe was married to Ellen W. Healy of Boston, Massachusetts, who survived him.
References
-
Born
-
Died
February 2, 1858 (aged 55) -
Nationality
American