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Thomson (FRANK an American engineer)

FRANK, an American engineer; born in Chambersburg, Pa., July 5, 1841; spent four years in the Altoona shops of the Pennsylvania rail road, where he became an expert mechanical engineer, and during the Civil War rendered valuable assistance as 2d assistant secretary of war, in the construction of bridges and railroads and the transportation of troops. Appointed superintendent of the eastern division of the Philadelphia and Erie railroad in June, 1864; general manager of the department of motive power of the Pennsylvania railroad in 1873; and a year later (July 1, 1874) became general manager of the Pennsylvania railroad system, E. of Pittsburgh and Erie. On Oct. 1, 1882, he became 2d vice-president; in veyor-general of the Leeward Islands, His most famous poem is "The (1726-1730), and next to this "The Castle of Indolence" (1748). He wrote some plays, among them being "Sophonisba" (1730) and "Tancred and Sigismunda" (1745). He died near Richmond, England, Aug. 27, 1748.