Cassius Milton Wicker (August 25, 1844 – November 2, 1913) was a railroad manager and banker.Lewis Randolph Hamersly, John W. Leonard, Frank R. Holmes (1907) Who's who in New York City and State, Issue 3. p. 1348. New York: L.R. Hamersly & Company

The Railroads

Wicker began his railroad career at twenty-one as a check clerk for the Star-Union Line in

East St. Louis East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

, moving up to cashier for the People's Dispatch,

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

emigrant agent for the North Missouri Railway, and assistant general freight agent for the North Missouri Railway. In 1871 he became assistant general freight agent for the Chicago and North Western Railway, where he had the duty of settling the claims for the losses in the

Great Chicago Fire of 1871 The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 10 ...

. In 1876 he moved to the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

as a general agent, assistant general freight agent, traffic manager for the Trans-Ohio division, mining manager in Northern Michigan, and general manager of the B&O's Illinois coal mines. In 1882 he became a commissioner for the Chicago Freight Bureau. In 1887 he was named vice-president of the Colorado Eastern Railway and in 1889 president of the Zanesville and Ohio River Railway. Concurrently he was also a vice-president of the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway, the

Brooklyn, Queens County and Suburban Railroad The Brooklyn, Queens County and Suburban Railroad (BQC&S) was a street railway company in Brooklyn and Queens, New York, United States. It originated as a horsecar line until it was acquired by the Long Island Traction Company on November 24, 189 ...

, president of the Hudson Valley Railway, the Denver Railroad, Land and Coal Company, the Dillon-Griswold Wire Company, and president of North Shore Traction Company (which owned the Lynn and Boston Railway and controlling stocks in many others).Mitchell Charles Harrison (1902) ''An encyclopædia of Prominent and Progressive Americans'', Vol.1., p.378. New York: The Tribune Association

The Banks

Wicker was also a trustee and vice-president at the Washington Savings Bank, chairman of the board of the Bank of Discount, president of the Bankers' Money Association, and director of Aetna.

Personal life

Wicker was born August 25, 1846, the son of Cyrus Washburn Wicker and Maria Delight (née Halladay) in North Ferrisburgh, Vermont. He was educated in the "little red school house" at North Ferrisburg and at the Williston and Middlebury Academies. Three of his ancestor were on the Mayflower: William Latham,

Elder Brewster William Brewster (1566–6710 April 1644) was an English official and ''Mayflower'' passenger in 1620. In Plymouth Colony, by virtue of his education and existing stature with those immigrating from the Netherlands, being a Brownist (or Purita ...

, and

Mary Chilton Mary Chilton (May 31, 1607 – May 16,1679) was a Pilgrim and purportedly the first European woman to step ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Biography Mary Chilton was baptized on May 31, 1607 in Sandwich, Kent, England and was the daughter o ...

. On June 5, 1872, he married Augusta Carroll French (1849–1889) the daughter of former Illinois Governor Augustus C. French becoming the brother-in-law of Edward French and the uncle to poet

Nora May French Nora May French (1881 – November 13, 1907) was an American poet and member of the bohemian literary circles of the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club which flourished after the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906. Biography French was b ...

. They had three children Henry Halladay Wicker, Lucy Southworth Wicker, and Cyrus French Wicker. Cassius M. Wicker died in 1913.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wicker, Cassius Milton 1844 births 1913 deaths American bankers American railway entrepreneurs People from Ferrisburgh, Vermont Chicago and North Western Railway Baltimore and Ohio Railroad people 19th-century American Episcopalians 19th-century American businesspeople