alternating-current machinery, and has written largely on electrical
subjects. Richard Dudgeon (1820-99), born in Haddingtonshire,
Scotland, was distinguished as a machinist, inventor of the hydraulic
jack and boiler-tube expander.
SCOTS AS ENGINEERS
Thomas Hutchins (1730-1789), engineer and geographer was of Scottish
origin. He was author of some topographical works and also furnished
the maps and plates of Smith's Account of Bouquet's expedition
(Philadelphia, 1765). James Geddes (1763-1838), of Scottish birth or
parentage, was surveyor of canal routes in New York State and was
chief engineer on construction of the Erie Canal (1816), and chief
engineer of the Champlain Canal (1818). "In all matters relating to
the laying out, designing and construction of canals, he was looked
upon as one of the highest authorities in the country." James Pugh
Kirkwood (1807-77), born in Edinburgh, came to United States in 1832,
was one of the most eminent engineers in the country, one of the
founders of the American Society of Civil Engineers (1852) and
President (1867-68). James Laurie (1811-75), born at Bell's Mills,
Edinburgh, Chief Engineer on the New Jersey Central Railroad,
consulting engineer in connection with the Housatonic Tunnel, and
first President of the American Society of Civil Engineers. William
Tweeddale, born in Ayrshire in 1823, rendered valuable engineering
service in the Civil War, and was an authority on the sources and
character of water supply. Henry Brevoort Renwick, noted engineer and
expert in patent cases, first inspector of steam vessels for the Port
of New York, was a son of James Renwick the scientist. David Young,
born in Alloa, Scotland, in 1849, was President of the Consolidated
Traction Lines of New Jersey and General Manager of the larger
consolidated company. William Barclay Parsons (b. 1859), is partly
descended from Colonel Thomas Barclay, a Tory of the Revolution.
Hunter McDonald (b. 1860), descended from Angus McDonald, a refugee
from Culloden, is a prominent railroad engineer. T. Kennard Thomson,
born in 1864, is prominent as a bridge builder, designer of pneumatic
caissons, etc. His father came from Stranraer in 1834. Hugh Gordon
Stott, born in Orkney, in 1866, President of the American Institute of
Electrical Engineers (1907), Superintendent of motive power of
Manhattan Railway System, etc. William Gibbs McNeill (1801-53), of
Scottish parentage, was another engineer worth mentioning. Theodore
Crosby Henry (1841-1914), "the father of irrigation in Colorado," was
also of Scottish descent. William McLean (d. 1839), brother of Judge
McLean, was mainly instrumental in extending the Ohio Canal from
Cincinnati to Cleveland. John Findley Wallace (1852-1920), of Scottish
descent, was chief-engineer of the Panama Canal (1904-05), and also
designed and constructed many important engineering works. Angus
Sinclair (1841-1919), born in Forfarshire, was an engineer, author of
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