Talk:Franklin B. Gowen

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Article Grading: The following comments were left by the quality and importance raters: (edit · refresh)

needs inline citations --plange 21:35, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
This article was nominated for the March 2005 International writing contest.
To-do list for Franklin B. Gowen: edit · history · watch · refresh
  • Break into sections
  • Expand the section on his childhood (although I would like to find more details about his education)
  • Further elaborate on his term as president of the Reading
  • Expand the sections about his law practice, both before and after the railroad
  • Add family details (did he marry or have children?)
  • Re WBA -- by time of Long Strike, it had become the W&LBA, tied into nationwide unionizing of miners and mine workers -- need to correct this in the Long Strike discussion Shimjung1 16:15, 18 July 2007 (UTC) Shimjung1 16:27, 23 July 2007 (UTC)
  • Bankruptcies of Reading Railroad and Gowen's ouster Shimjung1 16:27, 23 July 2007 (UTC)
  • Are there any other photos that would be appropriate that we can use here? -- need graphics of John Siney, Pottsville Twin Shaft colliery, Philadelphia's Port Richmond, John Kehoe, perhaps George de Benneville Keim, a Wootten 'camelback' locomotive Shimjung1 00:30, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
  • Gowen & Great railroad strike of 1877 : more interesting than Mollies IMHO. Shimjung1 16:27, 23 July 2007 (UTC)
  • Convert the references to inline citations as appropriate

My dead-tree encyclopedia's Molly Maguires entry says 24 were convicted, but only 10 executed...do you have a solid source for 'nearly twenty' executed? Might mention Ancient Order of Hibernians connection in the 'Investigating the unions' section. The intro mentions the trial leading to the disbanding of the Maguires, but the body text has no follow up...might mention it in the 'The trial and sentencing of the Molly Maguires' section, especially if you can find a date when it happened. Niteowlneils 04:02, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Forgot to mention: "Charles Smith, Gowen's predecessor at the railroad, had his comeuppance as he survived Gowen for another eleven years." seems like a bit of a non-sequitur--I don't usually think of simply out-living someone as a 'comeuppance'. Seems like it should be rephrased or explained. Niteowlneils 04:08, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)
The McClure's Magazine reference from 1894 asserts the execution toll as 19 at the end of the article. The same reference also says that the trial's result "was the complete extermination of the order of Molly Maguires," but doesn't give a date. I'll add it to the subsection. I've seen mention of the Hibernians connection, but I wanted to keep this article more toward Gowen himself as he is the subject of the article; I'll try to fit in a quick mention of the connection. On the outliving, it's a reference to the coup that Gowen led to move Smith out of the presidency permanently that is touched on in the Rise to the presidency section. slambo 14:34, Mar 11, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] HTML comments

To answer the HTML comments that were inserted:

  • Fifth child or fifth son? I'm not entirely sure. Most of the references that I've seen say he was James Gowen's fifth son, with no mention of who his mother was. Indeed, there is no mention that I've seen of who James Gowen had married or how many times he married. The only reference that I've found so far to go into any further details is the Gowen Research Foundation reference; it lists the family of James Gowen and Mary Miller, showing Franklin as the fourth child. Since most references state fifth son and I don't know about any other marriages for James Gowen, I haven't nailed it down to less ambiguous terms yet. If I ever find out more, I'll be sure to update the text.
  • Where did he study law? I don't know; it's early enough that he may even have been self-taught much like the popular stories of Abraham Lincoln. I haven't seen it in any of the references yet, and the John Beck's name is the only school name that I've seen so far.

slambo 15:26, Mar 11, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Portrait at Penn

I added a link to a portrait of a Franklin B. Gowen at UPenn, but it says there that he was a prof during the 20th century, well after the F.B. Gowen in the article died. The Portrait at the University of Pennsylvania is likely that of a descendant. So I have removed it.--BillFlis 19:37, 26 May 2007 (UTC)