This information is based on newspaper accounts and other public information and is presented as accurately as possible. Before you copy and paste this information to your website, please keep in mind that this research took a lot of effort. Appreciate it. Learn from it. But do not plagiarize it. Yes, if you think we might be talking to you, we are.
- The results are being filtered by the organization: Western and Atlantic Railroad
M
William MacRae
Superintendent
Biography
William MacRae (September 9, 1834-February 11, 1882), a native of North Carolina, was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War.
After the Civil War, MacRae began a successful career as a railroad manager. He was the general superintendent of the Wilmington & Manchester, the Macon & Brunswick and the Western & Atlantic railroads.
John P. Mays
Conductor
Biography
John P. Mays joined the Western and Atlantic Railroad before the Civil War. However, there is some debate about the date, with either 1851 or circa 1857 given as possible start dates.
Mays was born on July 11, 1832, in Cobb County, Georgia. He was educated at an old field school for two years. A newspaper account indicates that at the age of 19, around 1851, he moved to Atlanta and began working as a train hand for the Western and Atlantic Railroad.
During the Civil War, Mays was entrusted with overseeing the railroad’s rolling stock, a critical responsibility he fulfilled with great care and competence. After the war, he resumed his work as a conductor.
He continued in that role until he was appointed claim agent for the railroad following the 1897 death of Sanford Bell. At the time of his appointment, Mays was the oldest living conductor on the line, having served in that capacity for more than 40 years.
Despite suffering from a chronic bronchial condition for 25 years, Mays remained active and committed to his work until his health declined in the final months of his life. He died on October 5, 1899.
M. P. McCrary
Engineer
Biography
M.P. McCrary joined the Western and Atlantic Railroad circa 1856.
John C. Moore
Conductor
Biography
John C. Moore is also notable as the first mayor of Smyrna, Georgia.
Harris Murner
Smyrna Agent
Biography
Harris Murner resigned as the Western and Atlantic Railroad agent in Smyrna in 1890.
Anthony Murphy
Superintendent of Motive Power
Anthony Murphy was born in county Wicklow, Ireland, in 1829 and emigrated to the United States in 1838. Murphy's family settled first in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.
He went to Trenton, New Jersey, when he was 18 years old and apprenticed to the machinists' trade. After three years, he moved to Piermont, New York, where he worked in Erie railroad shops for a year.…Read More Biography
Anthony Murphy was born in county Wicklow, Ireland, in 1829 and emigrated to the United States in 1838. Murphy’s family settled first in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.
He went to Trenton, New Jersey, when he was 18 years old and apprenticed to the machinists’ trade. After three years, he moved to Piermont, New York, where he worked in Erie railroad shops for a year. He then moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Murphy moved to Atlanta in the 1850s and worked as the superintendent of motive power for the Western & Atlantic Railroad.
He was to the Atlanta City Council in 1866 and was re-elected twice. He advocated for a waterworks system for the city and also for the building of the Georgia Air Line, later known as the Richmond & Danville.
He died on December 28, 1909.
O
S. A. Orr
Machinist
Biography
S.A. Orr joined the Western and Atlantic Railroad circa 1856.
W. B. Orr
Machinist
Biography
W.B. Orr joined the Western and Atlantic Railroad circa 1873.
P
J. J. Permenter
Engineer
Biography
J.J. Permenter joined the Western and Atlantic Railroad circa 1866.