A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for John Alexander Low Waddell
J.A.L. Waddell was an important civil/structural engineer, who was especially influential in the area of vertical-lift movable bridges. A nice recent biography was published in the Feb 2007 issue of Structure Magazine, "John Alexander Low Waddell: Genius of moveable bridges" by Richard G. Weingardt (obtained from http://www.structuremag.org/article.aspx?articleID=469). A few excerpts giving personal information follow:
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John Alexander Low was born in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada, on January 15, 1854. His father, Robert Needham Waddell, was born in Newry, Ireland and immigrated to Canada in 1831, when he was 16. He served as a captain in the Canadian Militia in 1856 and was appointed high sheriff of the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham in 1865. John’s mother Angeline Esther Jones was the daughter of Colonel William Jones, the sheriff of NYC and a member of the state legislature.
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After studying at a business college in Toronto, John enrolled at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, where he graduated as a civil engineer in 1875.
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Prior to sailing for Japan in 1882, Waddell married Ada Everett, the only daughter of Horace Everett, a prominent lawyer in Council Bluffs. John and Ada would have three children - a daughter and two sons. One son, Leonard, would become a well-known Kansas City lawyer/realtor and the other, N. Everett, would become a civil engineer like his father - and eventually a partner in his firm.
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In 1917, naming his son Everett as a partner, Waddell opened a second office in NYC with expectations of making it his headquarters. Bridge building in the U.S. began reviving right after World War I and both of the firm’s offices did extremely well for three years, then tragedy suddenly struck - Everett died unexpectedly in 1920.
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When the flamboyant J.A.L.Waddell died in 1938 in NYC at 84 - four years after Ada, his devoted wife of 52 years - his company’s fortunes were on the rise.
An e-mail from a descendant, Melvin Ford, dated 5 Sep 2011, said the following:
John Alexander Low Waddell married Ada Everett of Council Bluffs, Iowa, on July 3, 1882. They had three children, Needham Everett, Leonard, and Ethel. His politics were Republican, and he enjoyed reading, hunting and fishing. On November15, 1937, two months short of his 84th birthday, John Waddell suffered a stroke. Four months later,on March 3, 1938, he died in his apartment in the Hotel Earle, Washington Square, New York City. His wife had died four years earlier. He was sutvived by his son, Leonard; two brothers, Robert and Montgomery Waddell; one sister, Ethel Hawks; four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. The grandchildren were; Jack, the twins Ada and Fransis Waddell and my mother Ada Everett Talbot, Great-grand daughter Yvonne Joy Ford.
"Iowa Marriage Records 1880-1940" on Ancestry.com gives his marriage date as July 13 rather than July 3.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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