Talk:Washington Roebling

Untitled
True or false: this person was named in honor of George Washington. (Check out the Honored Americans project at Talk:George Washington.) 66.245.87.137 19:15, 21 Aug 2004 (UTC)

FALSE: Although D.B. Steinman's "Builders of the Bridge" states otherwise, primary source material indicates that Washington Roebling was named for Washington Gill, a surveyor who worked under Roebling's father John Augustus. The first source is cited in McCullough's "The Great Bridge": a letter from WAR to JAR II, on July 4, 1904. Another is a statement in WAR's unpublished biography of his father (page 61) which reads:

"In 1837 he had in his part a young fellow from Richmond, Va. named Washington Gill, who acted as leveler. Being a Virginian he was very proud of his surname, and I have always understood that my father named me 'Washington' for him, and not directly for the father of his country."

All sources are in the Rutgers Roebling Family Collection.12.218.34.124 02:27, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

The article says that Washington was the son of John A. Roebling. If anyone knows which son (ie first, second, etc.), could they add it? Bernard S. Jansen 22:50, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

RE: "Roebling's most passionate hobby was collecting rocks and minerals. His collection of over 16,000 was donated to the Smithsonian Institution, becoming an important part of the national museum's mineral and gem collection." The Smithsonian isn't a museum, but is comprised of a number of museums and other research centres, etc. Therefore, reworded a little. Bernard S. Jansen 01:28, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Irrelevant Material
Please refrain from adding material or sources which are irrelevant, i.e. information about the Brooklyn Bridge excavation. In addition, this is not a biography of a living person - Washington Roebling has been dead since 1926. Brian Mulholland 20:41, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Titanic
Don't know if it's worth mentioning, but apparently W. Roebling was one of the passangeres on Titanic's ill-fated maiden-voyage in 1912. (Source "Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters", Edited by Logan Marshall; available at Project Gutenberg www.gutenberg.org ) As he obviously survived - and as I don't know how accurate a source the mentioned book is - I don't know if it would fit the article... it *is* a bit of interesting triva though. -Koppe July 13th 2007

It was his nephew who perished on the Titanic. His name: Washington A. Roebling, II. Also, please note that this Washington Roebling, II, died in 1912, whereas the Roebling for this entry died in 1926. They are not the same person, but they are often confused. -Brian Mulholland July 18, 2007

Gettysburg
According to Attack and Defense of Little Round Top by Oliver Willcox Norton, Roebling sent the 104th (or 140th?) NY to Little Round Top, not knowing that Lt. Ranald S. Mackenzie, another of Warren's aides, and another lieutenant had intercepted Vincent's brigade and sent it to Little Round Top. The 104th NY arrived later in the fight and reinforced Vincent. Norton was Vincent's bugler and standard bearer and was with Vincent when he was killed. Norton would have been riding with Vincent as the 5th Corps came on to the battlefield and would have heard Lt. MacKenzie's request to Vincent. Later Norton became an officer in the 8th U.S.C.T. and a founder of the American Can Corporation. I'm not sure of the NY regiment's number and will check later and then come back to modify the text and add reference and citation. This Brooklyn-born boy is currently reading The Great Bridge. Thomas R. Fasulo (talk) 01:08, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

I rewrote the section on Gettysburg, providing reference and citations. Thomas R. Fasulo (talk) 23:47, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Secondary drug addiction?
Under the Brooklyn Bridge construction section, it states: "Beside the bends, he may have had additional afflictions, possible neurasthenia, side effects of treatments, and secondary drug addiction." &mdash;so what is "secondary drug addiction"? --74.100.117.52 (talk) 07:52, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

New Source
The German Historical Institute in Washington, DC has published a short biographical article on Washington Roebling that can be found here: http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=52 Immigrantentrep (talk) 20:57, 30 May 2013 (UTC)

Discussion of legacy, particularly of Civil War service
While the article in its current state provides an excellently fleshed out biography, it contains almost no information on later legacy. The writings of Roebling were featured in Ken Burn's The Civil War, and while I know very little about him outside of this context, I'm sure the architect of the Brooklyn Bridge had some other impact on the world after his death. I've added a tag accordingly. 2601:643:8102:AAA0:FD53:D01E:7B7:FE3B (talk) 03:25, 23 October 2017 (UTC)