William Anson Pearson
William Anson Pearson (1855-1908)
1908 Obituary [1]
WILLIAM ANSON PEARSON was born at Athens, Pa., United States, on 29th July 1855.
His apprenticeship was served with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railway Co. at Scranton, Pa., from 1869 to 1873, and on its conclusion he remained four years with the same Company as draughtsman and foreman.
He was next engaged for one year in the Motive Power Department of the Union Pacific Railroad Co., at Omaha, and in 1878 was employed in their Civil Engineering Department.
In the following year he became master mechanic with the Virginia-Trukkey Railroad Co., at Carson City, Nevada, and during the years 1880 to 1884 he acted as superintendent of construction on Comstock Lode, in charge of the connection of all mines with the Sutro Tunnel.
After two years in Boston as a consulting engineer, he became in 1886 superintendent of the marine-engine department of the Dickson Manufacturing Co., at Scranton.
This was followed by an engagement with the Boies Steel Wheel Co., at Scranton, where he had charge of the design and construction department, which was followed by his being appointed manager of plant.
In 1893 he became chief engineer of the General Electric Co., at Schenectady, New York; this position he held until his death, which took place after a short illness on 26th May 1908, in his fifty-third year.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1907; he was also a Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.