Samuel Morse Felton, Jr.

Samuel Morse Felton, Jr.
Born	February 3, 1853 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died	March 11, 1930 (aged 77) Chicago, Illinois

Samuel Morse Felton, Jr. (February 3, 1853 – March 11, 1930) was an American railroad executive. He was an 1873 graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity.

Railroad career

He developed a reputation for being able to rapidly facilitate the health of ailing railroads. He had quite a career as an engineer, superintendent and general manager of several railroads before rising into the presidency of the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway. He also led the Alton Railroad, the Mexican Central Railroad, the Tennessee Central Railway and the Chicago Great Western Railway, before his own ailing health forced his retirement.

Military service

During WWI, Felton was appointed Director General of Military Railways with a military rank of Brig. General and in that capacity had charge of the organization and dispatch to France of all American railway forces and supplies. He continued in that position during the World War years.

Personal life

Felton was the son of Samuel Morse Felton, Sr. ^[1] and the nephew of Cornelius Conway Felton and John B. Felton ^[2]

In 1880, Felton married Dora Hamilton, the daughter of a prominent Philadelphia attorney, and they had three daughters and a son. Mrs. Felton died in 1923.

References

1. http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d8170.htm
2. William Bentinck-Smith (1982). The Harvard Book: Selections From Three Centuries. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674373013.

External links

• Samuel Morse Felton Family Papers, 1841-1930 Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.