Stephen William White (16 July 1840 – October 1914) was the secretary of the

Northern Central Railway The Northern Central Railway (NCRY) was a Class I Railroad connecting Baltimore, Maryland with Sunbury, Pennsylvania, along the Susquehanna River. Completed in 1858, the line came under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1861, wh ...

as well as a number of other Pennsylvanian railway companies until his retirement in 1910. Today, he is best known for his English translations of

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

's novels in the ''

Philadelphia Evening Telegraph The Philadelphia ''Evening Telegraph'' was a newspaper published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1864 to 1918. The paper was started on January 4, 1864, by James Barclay Harding and Charles Edward Warburton. Warburton served as publisher unti ...

''.

Biography

White was born in 1840 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, son of Emily and David W. White. In February 1854, he entered the Central High School of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated there on 11 February 1858 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree. From 1858 to 1870 White served as shorthand clerk to the treasurer of the

American Sunday School Union InFaith has its roots in the First Day Society (founded 1790). InFaith officially formed in 1817 as the “Sunday and Adult School Union.” In 1824, the organization changed its name to American Sunday School Union (ASSU). Then, in 1974, the ASSU ...

, assistant editor of the ''

Sunday School Times A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. ...

'', and bookkeeper to several importing dry goods and grocery houses. In 1863 he earned a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in the Central High School's 31st class. He married Ellen M. Leibert (1 July 1840 — 10 June 1897) on 21 September 1865. On 1 February 1870 he began work as private secretary to

Jay Cooke Jay Cooke (August 10, 1821 – February 16, 1905) was an American financier who helped finance the Union war effort during the American Civil War and the postwar development of railroads in the northwestern United States. He is generally acknowle ...

and held the job until 1873, when

Jay Cooke & Company Jay Cooke & Company was a U.S. bank that operated from 1861 to 1873. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with branches in New York City and Washington, D.C., the bank helped underwrite the Union Civil War effort. It was the first "wire ...

was bankrupted following the

Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the ...

. From 1872 through 1876 he worked as a freelance phonographer (

shorthand Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''ste ...

secretary) and translator, producing English translations of five works by

for serialization in the ''

''. On 1 January 1875 he entered the service of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

as assistant secretary of the

, and on 26 September 1877 he was promoted to secretary of the Northern Central Railway. In addition to his main duties there, he was also elected Secretary of the

Shamokin Valley and Pottsville Railroad Shamokin may refer to the following: Geographical locations * Shamokin, Pennsylvania, a city in Northumberland County * Shamokin Dam, Pennsylvania, a borough in Snyder County * Shamokin Township, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania * Shamokin (vi ...

on 1 September 1880; Assistant Secretary of the Pennsylvania Company and of the

Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, commonly called the Pan Handle Route (Panhandle Route in later days), was a railroad that was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system. Its common name came from its main line, whic ...

on 1 February 1881; clerk of the Girard Point Storage Company on 9 March 1881; Secretary of the Sodus Bay and Southern Railroad on 1 July 1884; Assistant Secretary of the Chicago, St. Louis and Pittsburgh Railroad on 23 September 1885; Secretary of the

Elmira and Lake Ontario Railroad The Elmira and Lake Ontario Railroad was a subsidiary of the Northern Central Railway and later the Pennsylvania Railroad, formed to give the Northern Central an outlet for coal traffic on Lake Ontario. Predecessors Horseheads–Canandaigua Th ...

on 31 December 1886; Assistant Secretary of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway on 18 September 1890; and Secretary of the

Allegheny Valley Railway Allegheny, Alleghany or Allegany may refer to: Places Geologic and geographic features * Allegheny River, in Pennsylvania and New York * Allegheny Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountain Range in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Vir ...

on 5 February 1892. White retired on 1 August 1910 at the age of 70, and died in 1914.

Translations

Julius Hoffmann The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the ...

, ''Grandfather's Darling: A Tale'' (german: Großvaters Liebling: Eine Erzählung), Hoffman & Morwitz, 1872. . *

, '' A Fancy of Doctor Ox'' (french: Une fantaisie du docteur Ox), first published in the ''Philadelphia Evening Telegraph'' on 20 June 1874. Reprinted as a 124-page book (''A Fancy of Doctor Ox; and, The Tour of the World in Eighty Days'') later that year. * Jules Verne, '' The Tour of the World in Eighty Days'' (french: Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours), first published in the ''Philadelphia Evening Telegraph'' from 27 June 1874 to 17 July 1874. Reprinted as a 124-page book (''A Fancy of Doctor Ox; and, The Tour of the World in Eighty Days'') later that year. * Jules Verne, ''

A Journey to the Centre of the Earth ''Journey to the Center of the Earth'' (french: Voyage au centre de la Terre), also translated with the variant titles ''A Journey to the Centre of the Earth'' and ''A Journey into the Interior of the Earth'', is a classic science fiction novel ...

'' (french: Voyage au centre de la Terre), first published in the ''Philadelphia Evening Telegraph'' from 12 September 1874 to 5 October 1874. Reprinted as a book (''A Journey to the Centre of the Earth; And, A Winter's Sojourn in the Ice'') later that year. * Jules Verne, '' A Winter’s Sojourn in the Ice'' (french: Un hivernage dans les glaces), first published in the ''Philadelphia Evening Telegraph'' from 6 October 1874 to 10 October 1874. Reprinted as a book (''A Journey to the Centre of the Earth; And, A Winter's Sojourn in the Ice'') later that year. * Jules Verne, ''

Mysterious Island ''The Mysterious Island'' (french: L'Île mystérieuse) is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1875. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Jules Férat. The novel is a crossover sequel to Verne's fam ...

'' (french: L'Île mystérieuse), first published in the ''Philadelphia Evening Telegraph'' in 1876. Reprinted as a 198-page book (''The Mysterious Island; With a Map of the Island and a Full Glossary'') later that year.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Stephen William 1840 births 1914 deaths Jules Verne American translators French–English translators German–English translators 19th-century American railroad executives Translators of Jules Verne Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni