Talk:Washington Roebling

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article must adhere to the policy on biographies of living persons. Controversial material of any kind that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous. If such material is repeatedly inserted or there are other concerns relative to this policy, report it on the living persons biographies noticeboard.

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page.	Biography Portal
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the Project's quality scale. [FAQ] (If you rated the article, please give a short summary at comments to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses.)
	This article is supported by the Science and academia work group.

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 Another is a statement in WAR's unpublished biography of his father (page 61) which reads: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)