WHO WERE THEY ? -- #73-74-75 -- The Brothers Fink - N&P, S.S., V&T, AM&O, N&W RR, N&W Ry

Tue Oct 16 14:56:49 EDT 2018

Any relation to Dave Fink of Guilford infamy?  I graduated from high school with him in 1954.

Glenn Fisher

Cornwall PA

> On October 16, 2018 at 1:16 PM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
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>     Here will divert a bit from our routine of listing one man at a time, and list three men altogether, as they were brothers:  Albrecht, Heinrich and Rudolf Fink.  All were engaged in civil engineering work.
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>     Everyone who has read N&W history knows of Henry (Heinrich) Fink, President of the railroad from 1896 to 1902.  But did you know he had two brothers who also worked for a predecessor of the N&W, the Norfolk & Petersburg RR ?
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>     As we go through their biographies, notice that they all spent time on the B&O before coming to the Norfolk & Petersburg.  Albrecht (Albert,) the oldest, hired on the B&O in 1849 at age 22, and went to the Norfolk & Petersburg in August 1855.  Heinrich (Henry,) the second oldest, hired on both the Western Maryland and B&O in 1851, at age 20, and went to the Norfolk & Petersburg in July 1855.  
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>     Rudolf, the youngest, hired on the B&O in 1853 at age 19, and went to the Norfolk & Petersburg in 1857 (month unspecified.)   
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>     In 1857, all three Fink brothers were working in the engineering department of the Norfolk & Petersburg.  Albert and Rudolf both left in July 1857 for jobs on the L&N.  Henry stayed, and eventually became the President of the N&W.
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>     How many other people can you find, besides Henry Fink, who rendered service to the Norfolk & Petersburg, the South Side, the Virginia & Tennessee,  AM&O, N&W RR and the N&W RY ?  Not many.
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>     Here are their biographies, but note that each is taken from a different edition of Biographical Directory of Railway Officials of America (Rudolf’s from the 1885 edition, Albert’s from the 1887 edition and Henry’s from the 1906 edition.)
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>     Albrecht had quite a stellar career after leaving the N&P.  Check out his further life here:
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>     https://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=21
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>     Etymology:    The word “Fink” in German means “finch,” as in the bird.  The most familiar  permutation on the word used as a surname is Finkelstein, which is a combination of Fink + Stein (Stein being the word for “stone.”)  The intermediate syllable “-el” functions as a glide syllable to link the two nouns without a consonant collision.  Every language uses glide syllables.  Don’t ask me to make sense of the combination “Bird + Stone”… there have been stranger combinations.  It obviously made sense to someone, at some time.   The  name is Finkelstein may have meant “diamond” on Old High German, but in modern German the word for diamond is “Diamant.”  One other possibility is that Finkelstein is a permutation of Funkelstein, which once was the word for Pyrite.  This ends your free language lesson for today, so here we go with the stories of the Brothers Fink…   
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>     #73 - FINK,  HENRY.  President, Norfolk & Western Ry in 1906.   Office New York, N. Y.  Born Nov. 29, 1831, in Germany.  Educated in the Polytechnic school at Darmstadt. Entered railroad service March 20, 1851, since which he has been consecutively to Oct. 14, 1851,  rodman and transitman Western Maryland Rd; Oct. 14, 1851, to fall of 1852, topographer and draftsman surveys and location Parkersburg branch Baltimore & Ohio Rd; fall of 1852, to July 1, 1865, resident engineer construction same branch and road; July 4, 1855, to Nov. 1858, resident engineer construction Norfolk & Petersburg Rd;  Nov. 1858 to Nov. 1867, master road and master of transportation, and Nov. 1867 to 1871, superintendent transportation same road and South Side and Virginia & Tennessee Rds;  1871 to June 6, 1876, superintendent transportation Atlantic Mississippi & Ohio Rd; June 6, 1876, to May 4, 1881, receiver and general manager same road; May 4, 1881, to July 1, 1883, second vice-president and general manager Norfolk & Western Rd;  Nov. 1881 to Jan. 7, 1885, vice-president and general manager East Tennessee Virginia & Georgia Ry, and general manager Memphis & Charleston Rd; Nov. 1881 to Oct. 1888, general manager Virginia Tennessee & Georgia Air Line; Jan. 7, 1885, to June 30, 1886, receiver East Tennessee Virginia & Georgia Ry; June 30, 1886, to June 24, 1892, vice-president same road; April 30 to Dec. 16, 1887, vice-president  Richmond & Danville Rd; May 26, 1887, to July 14, 1892, vice-president Memphis & Charleston Rd; Nov. 7, 1890, to March 1893, vice  president Cincinnati New Orleans & Texas Pacific Ry, and Nov. 11, 1890, to Nov. 1893, vice-president Alabama Great Southern Rd; Juno 24, 1892, to July 31, 1894, receiver East Tennessee Virginia & Georgia Ry;  July 14, 1892 to Feb. 28, 1898, receiver Memphis & Charleston Rd; Feb. 6. 1895, to Oct. 1, 1896, receiver Norfolk & Western Rd; Oct. 1, 1896, to date, president reorganized Company, the Norfolk & Western Ry [until his retirement in 1902.]   
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>     #74 - FINK, ALBERT, Commissioner Trunk Line Association in 1887. Office New York City.  Born Lauterbach, Germany, Oct. 27, 1827.  Entered railroad service Dec. 1849; to Oct. 1853, assistant to engineer Baltimore & Ohio Rd, in charge bridge and depot construction west of Cumberland, Oct. 1853 to Aug. 1855, resident engineer Parkersburg Branch Baltimore & Ohio Rd; Aug. 1855 to July 1857, division engineer same road, also consulting engineer Norfolk & Petersburg Rd; July 1857 to Oct. 1859, assistant engineer Louisville & Nashville Rd; Oct. 1859 to Oct 1865, chief engineer and superintendent road and machinery departments; and Oct. 1865 to July 1870, general superintendent, and July 1870 to Oct. 1875, vice-president and general superintendent same road; 1872 to 1875, also vice-president South & North Alabama Rd Co;  Oct. 1875 to May 1X76, commissioner Southern Railway & Steamship Association; June 1877 to date, commissioner, etc., as first above.
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>     #75 - FINK,  RUDOLF, Receiver Memphis & Little Rock RR in 1885. Office Little Rock, Ark.  Born Lauterbach, Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, November 29, 1834. Entered railroad service spring of 1853 as assistant to principal assistant engineer Baltimore & Ohio RR in the Baltimore office of that company; October 1853, appointed second assistant to resident engineer 1st Division Northwestern Virginia RR;  July 1855, appointed resident engineer same road;  spring of 1866. appointed chief of locating party Blue Ridge RR, South Carolina, and located part of line in Georgia and South Carolina; spring of 1857, appointed resident engineer in charge track laying Norfolk & Petersburg RR;  July 1857, went to Louisville & Nashville RR as resident engineer on construction of road, serving until its completion; January 1860, became road-master second division same road, and in July of same year was made assistant to superintendent of machinery and road department in charge of drafting office;  in 1864, appointed assistant superintendent mechanical department, serving until 1868;  October 1868, appointed engineer in charge of road department;  March 1, 1872, resigned above position to become connected with the New Albany, Ind. rolling mill;  February 1876, appointed senior assistant city engineer, Louisville Ky.,which position filled until February 1878, when appointed assistant superintendent Washington City Virginia Midland & Great Southern RR;   December 1878, appointed general manager Memphis & Little Rock RR;  August 1880, appointed general manager Selma, Rome & Dalton RR;  from October 1,1880 to December 31, 1883, general manager Mexican Central RR;  from April 1881 to December 1883, also served as director and president of the local board of Mexico; April 14, 1884, appointed receiver Memphis & Little Rock RR, which position he now holds.  
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>                    -- abram burnett,
> 
>     Provost of the Black Art of Dots & Dashes
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