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George William Featherstonhaugh[1] FRS (London, 9 April 1780 – Le Havre, 28 September 1866) was a British geologist and geographer who initiated the Albany and Schenectady Railroad and was a surveyor of the Louisiana Purchase for the US Government.
[edit] Early lifeBorn to George and Dorothy Simpson Featherstonhaugh in London, he grew up in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England. Featherstonhaugh liked to climb cliffs, collect fossils, and gathering wild bird eggs to sell. He was adept at writing and became a Fellow of the Geological Society and the Royal Society.[2] [edit] First American SojurnIn 1806 he came to the United States where he planned to study the languages of the indigenous people. He married Sarah Duane of Schenectady, New York, on November 6, 1808. They had four children: James, Ann, George Jr., and Georgianna. He farmed, organized the first New York Board of Agriculture, and advocated the building of steam railroads in the United States. Difficulty experienced in the economic transportation of his crops led Featherstonhaugh to advocate a steam railroad that would connect the Hudson River at Albany, New York with the navigable Mohawk River at Schenectady. His acquaintance with George Stephenson (1781–1848) facilitated his quest. Ten years were spent in an attempt to educate the public for the experiment and it was not until December, 1825, that Featherstonhaugh was determined to apply for a charter. This was granted on April 17, 1826.[3] In1826 the painter Thomas Cole did a landscape entitled "the Seat of Mr. Featherstonhaugh in the Distance" but found Featherstonhaugh a "heartless employer".[4][5] After the death of his wife and two daughters, he returned to England in 1826. [edit] Second American SojurnHe later returned to the States to Philadelphia and, on January 28, 1831, married Charlotte Williams Carter in Schenectady County, New York. They had three children: Albany, Georgiannia, and Henry.[2] Construction of the railroad began on July 29, 1830, and one year later the road was completed from Engine hill (near the top of Crane Street hill) in Schenectady to Lydius street in the western suburb of Albany. Formal opening of the road was on August 13, 1831, when the DeWitt Clinton pulled the first train to Schenectady.[3] The Albany and Schenectady Railroad justified Featherstonhaugh's vision, and made the Mohawk Valley the center of early railroad construction in New York State. In 1832 the Saratoga and Schenectady Rail Road was completed, the Schenectady terminus being at what is now Water and Railroad Streets.[3] In July 1831 Featherstonhaugh issued the sole edition of the Monthly American Journal of Geology and Natural Science.[6] [edit] Exploring the Louisiana PurchaseAfter acquiring a vast quantity of unexplored land in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the government sought to document the mineral resources of the territory. In 1834, Featherstonhaugh, newly appointed as the first U.S. government geologist, was instructed to examine the elevated country between the Missouri and Red rivers and report back to Colonel John James Abert of the Topographical Bureau.[2] With his son George Jr. as his assistant, he took stagecoaches from Baltimore, Maryland, to St. Louis, Missouri. In St. Louis, they purchased a horse they named “Missouri” and a Dearborn wagon for the travel into Arkansas.[2] [edit] Among the CherokeesIn 1835, Featherstonhaugh traveled from Green Bay, Wisconsin up the Fox river to the Wisconsin River, then downstream to Prairie du Chien, and into the Mississippi River. He paddled up the Mississippi, passing the St. Croix River and the Minnesota River, stopping at Carver's Cave and Saint Anthony Falls.[7] In August of 1837 after travelling along the Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee Rivers, Featherstonhaugh joined with Special Government Agent John Mason, Jr. to attend the Cherokee National Council at Red Clay, TN at the beginning of the crisis that eventually led to the Cherokee Removal, sometimes called the "Trail of Tears". He spent more than a month with these Indians, and was an eyewitness of the resistance of Principal Chief John Ross and the Cherokee people to the fraudulent Treaty of New Echota. The public purpose of his visit was to inspect for the Federal government the geology of the mountainous regions of Georgia and North Carolina where gold had been discovered, but there was also another covert mission. In his memoirs, Featherstonhaugh described a pleasant encounter with a learned Welsh-born Baptist missionary Rev. Evan Jones, a fellow Britisher residing among the Cherokees. However, in a secret memoranda sent to Gen. Winfield Scott in May 1838, he wrote: "Evan Jones, An Englishman of dark. cunning character. This man many years ago settled as a missionary amongst the Cherokee, knows their language well, and has had a great deal of personal intercourse with them. In the event of a rupture with these people, he is a person likely to give them bad advice, and I should advise his removal from the Nation." This memorandum also lists four other white men living with the Cherokees, ananlyses tribal politics, and provides an estimate of a possible military confrontation with the tribe because of the upland topography.[8] In 1837 Featherstonhaugh sat for Hiram Powers the sculptor who considered him to have a "fine head".[9] The Australian poet Barcroft Boake also eulogised him.[10] [edit] Back to EnglandFeatherstonhaugh returned to England in 1838 with his wife and children. He was appointed consul from the British government to France and spent much time writing and publishing the journals of his travels in the United States. He died in Le Havre, France, 28 September 1866, and is buried at Tunbridge Wells, England. [edit] Works
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