- John D. Van Buren, Jr.
John Dash Van Buren, Jr. (
August 8 ,1838 New York City -March 11 ,1918 New Brighton, Staten Island ,New York City ) was an Americancivil engineer ,naval engineer , lawyer and politician fromNew York . He wasNew York State Engineer and Surveyor from 1876 to 1877.Life
He was the son of John Dash Van Buren (1811-1885), a merchant from New York City, assemblyman in 1863, and Governor
John T. Hoffman 's private secretary, and Elvira Lynch (Aymar) Van Buren.He studied at
Lawrence Scientific School ofHarvard University , and graduated C.E. fromRensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1860.From 1860 to 1861, he was Assistant Engineer of the
Croton Aqueduct Department of New York City. At the outbreak of theAmerican Civil War , he joined the Engineering Corps of theU.S. Navy and was on duty in theGulf of Mexico , theBureau of Steam Engineering and thePeninsula Campaign . Afterwards, he was for four years an Assistant Professor of Natural Philosophy and Engineering at theUnited States Naval Academy .In 1868, he resigned his commission of First Assistant Engineer, with the rank of
lieutenant , studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1869, and practiced for a short time in New York City. Then he returned to engineering, and entered the service of the City of New York as Assistant Engineer in the Bureau of Sewers, and later as Assistant Engineer in the Department of Docks under GeneralGeorge B. McClellan , his commanding officer of the Peninsula Campaign who had been appointed Chief Engineer of the Department of Docks in 1870.In 1875, he married Elizabeth Ludlow Jones, and their son was Maurice Pelham Van Buren (1894-1979).
In 1875, Van Buren was a member of the Tilden Commission to investigate the State canals. He was State Engineer and Surveyor from 1876 to 1877, elected on the Democratic ticket. Afterwards he resumed his private practice.
He was a member of the
American Society of Civil Engineers , and of theAmerican Society of Naval Engineers . Besides papers in the"Journal of theFranklin Institute " and the "Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers", he has published "Investigation of Formulas for Iron Parts of Steam Machinery" (New York, 1869).ources
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/valerius-vancamp.html] Political Graveyard
* [http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/bib/whitford/old1906/vol2/chapter3.htm] Engineers bios, at Rochester history
*famousamericans.net/johndashvanburen/
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F0CEEDC1F39EF34BC4052DFBF66838E669FDE] The Dem. nominations, in NYT on September 18, 1875
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B0CE6DF103BEE3ABC4A52DFB5668383609EDE] Obit in NYT on March 12, 1918 (erroneously stating he was "appointed state engineer", the office having been elective)
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.