Francisco Javier Cisneros
Francisco Javier Cisneros (1836-1898)
1899 Obituary [1]
FRANCISCO JAVIER CISNEROS was born on the 28th December, 1836, at Santiago de Cuba.
After having passed through the School of Engineering in Havana, he obtained employment on the Cuban railways.
In 1857-58 he was engaged on the construction of the Sagua la Grande Railway; at the end of the latter year he took charge of a branch of the Matanzas Railway; and in 1859 he added to that work the charge of the Trinidad and Sancti Spiritu Railway which he retained until 1862.
He was then for 6 years connected with the Eastern Railway of Cuba, and in 1868 he acted as Chief Engineer of the Caibarien Railway. The latter post he was obliged to resign at the end of that year, as he had to leave Havana, having been implicated in the insurrection of the Cubans against the Spanish Government.
In 1872 Mr. Cisneros became an American citizen, and was for a time in partnership in New York with Mr. A. G. Menocal.
In the following year he went to the United States of Colombia, where he at once engaged in railway work. The Antioquia Railway from Puerto-Berrio on the Magdalena River to Paras, the Cauca Railway, the Girardot Railway from Girardot to Juntas de Apulo, and the La Dorada Railway connecting the Upper and the Lower Magdalena, were constructed by Mr. Cisneros.
He also organised an enterprise of steamboats on the Magdalena River and regulated the mail service between the sea-ports and the interior of the country.
In 1893 a pier at Barranquilla, over 4,000 feet long, which had been carried out under his direction, was opened for the service of the railway and steamers.
Mr. Cisneros was a strong advocate of the policy of the annexation of Cuba to the United States, and he contributed largely from his means to the support of the insurrection in that island which led to the recent war between Spain and the United States. He was a man of great intelligence and resource, and was distinguished by innate courtesy, tact and generosity.
Mr. Cisneros died at New York on the 7th July, 1898, in his sixty-second year.
Several of his reports may be found in the Library of the Institution, of which he was elected a Member on the 5th February, 1884.