Samuel Morse Felton, Sr.

Who was Samuel Morse Felton, Sr.?

Samuel Morse Felton, Sr. was a civil engineer and railroad executive. He was the Superintendent and engineer of the Fitchburg Railroad 1843-1851 and president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad from 1851-1865. Felton left the PWBRR to become President of the Pennsylvania Steel Company. While at Pennsylvania Steel, Felton also served as a director of several railroads, including the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, the Northern Pacific Railway, and the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad. In 1869 he was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as a Commissioner to inspect Pacific Railroads.

Felton was the brother of Harvard University president Cornelius Conway Felton and attorney John B. Felton and the father of Samuel Morse Felton, Jr., who was also involved with engineering and railroading.