John Henry Devereu an American civil engineer and a railroad executive. His professional life was connected with the New York Central.
Background
John Henry Devereux was born on April 5, 1832 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. He was a remote ancestor was a Robert d’Evreux of the Norman conquerors of England. Another was among the founders of Marblehead, Massachusetts, United States. His father was Captain John Devereux, a well-known Marblehead and Boston sea captain. The son’s life was that of a pioneer among the builders of the modern American railroad system, an adventurer in capitalism. Only fragments of information of his early life have survived.
Education
Devereux attended an academy in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for a time.
Career
At sixteen, the age his father went to sea, young Devereux left his home to begin life in Cleveland, Ohio. His arrival in Cleveland (1848) was at the beginning of its railroad era. Capitalists had been slow to invest in the new means of transportation. Cleveland found the solution in municipal aid, voting to the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railway Company $200, 000 for a line to Columbus and to the Cleveland & Pittsburgh $100, 000 for one to Pittsburgh. Construction work on these lines gave the newcomer his opportunity, and a short apprenticeship in an engineering corps made him a railway engineer. In 1852 his profession led him to Nashville, Tennessee, also a center of western railroad building.
On the outbreak of the Civil War he returned to Ohio. When the Federal government took over the operation of the border railroads for military purposes, Devereux offered his services.
In 1862 he became superintendent of the railroads centering at Alexandria, Virginia. The Official Records bear frequent testimony to his share in maintaining an efficient railroad service back of the Army of the Potomac.
At the beginning of 1864 Devereux withdrew from government service to become general superintendent and shortly vice-president of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad (leased in 1871 by the Pennsylvania Railroad). In 1868 he resigned in order to accept a place as vicepresident and general manager of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. Five years later (1873) he became president of the Big Four (Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, & Indianapolis), an office he held until his death. From 1874 to 1880 he was also receiver of the Atlantic & Great Western (later incorporated in the Erie System), and in 1881 its president. During his connection with the Atlantic & Great Western, entrances into Pittsburgh and Chicago were acquired. During the same period the Big Four was extended to St. Louis. His administration of these railroads fell across the hard times of the seventies and the severe railroad competition of the eighties. He sought to maintain a profitable business through pooling and consolidations. Attempts to combine the Big Four with the Atlantic & Great Western and later with the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton were frustrated by the courts of Ohio.
Under Devereux’s regime extensions were financed by bond issues. Fierce competition brought down rates. Before the two attacks on profits—increasing fixed charges and declining rates—dividends on Big Four stock vanished. Devereux was ready for government control, that is, government intervention as a protection for railway investments. As a witness before the Cullom Interstate Commerce Committee in St. Louis in June 1885 he advocated the punishment of railway officials giving secret rebates, legalization of pooling, publicity of rates, and, if constitutional, an interstate commerce commission with power to maintain fair rates.
His professional life was also intimately connected with the New York Central. He was William K. Vanderbilt’s agent in the negotiations by which the New York Central acquired the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad (the Nickel Plate).
On the whole his achievements were to the advantage of his section, as well as to his personal fortunes.
Achievements
Devereux was a vice-president of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad, a vice-president and general manager of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, president of the Big Four (Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, & Indianapolis). He was also receiver of the Atlantic & Great Western (later incorporated in the Erie System), and in its president.
He was one of the incorporators of the Case School of Applied Science, a member of the Cleveland Humane Society, and a life member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Personality
Devereux was a man of large physique and great energy. Those who knew him said his most marked characteristic was a genial magnetic personality.
Connections
In 1851 Devereux married Antoinette, the daughter of L. A. Kelsey (mayor of Cleveland, 1848).
