Poor HV
NAME: Poor, Henry Varnum.
ACHIEVEMENT(S): Provided vital sources of railroad information in mid to late nineteenth century.
NICKNAME/ALIAS:
DATE/PLACE OF BIRTH: 8th December 1812, in East Andover (now Andover), ME (then part of Massachusetts).
DATE/PLACE/AGE AT DEATH: 4th January 1905, in Brookline, MA. Aged 92.
DISCIPLINE: Railroad Historian, Journalist, and Economist.
FIELD: Writer.
LANGUAGE: Journalism.
PARENTS: Dr. Silvanus Poor and Mary Merrill.
SIBLINGS: John Alfred Poor.
SPOUSE: ?
CHILDREN: Henry William, banker and economist.
EDUCATION: Bowdain College.
MAJOR WORK: ‘Poor’s Manual’
LIFE AND TIMES: Poor graduated from Bowdain College in 1835 and went to work for his uncle, Jacob McGraw, in his law firm. After a short while, Poor was admitted to the bar in Maine and began practising as a lawyer.
He had become interested in politics and had joined the Whig Party, campaigning for William Henry Harrison.
In 1849, Poor went to New York with his brother John, who had bought the ‘American Railroad Journal’. This was the first commercially-run periodical on railroads and John gave Henry the job of editor. The magazine was a great success and Poor became interested in all aspects of the railroads.
He started to collect railroad statistics from America and abroad, and soon became a leading expert on the industry. He wrote a piece (which showed the returns for the railways of twenty-eight different states) sometimes referred to as ‘Poor’s First Manual’
Poor went on to compile information for a history of the improvement of the United States.
This included the development of transport systems in New England, the Middle Atlantic States and Maryland. The first volume of ‘History of the Railroads and Canals of the United States of America, Exhibiting their Progress, Cost, Revenues, Expenditures and Present Condition’ was published in 1860.
In 1862, Poor started work as an editor at the ‘New York Times’. The railroad was still his main subject and he used his influence to promote its expansion. He was given the post of first secretary of the Union Pacific Railroad Company in 1864.
In 1867 Poor set up the Poor Company to import rails and general railway supplies. As a sideline, they published a manual of railway statistics and annual reviews of progress in railroad development. The manual was a great success and became a regular publication. In 1869 the first issue was: ‘The Manual of the Railroads of the United States.’
Many further titles were published, but the periodical was always referred to as ‘Poor’s Manual’ and was regarded as the prime source of railroad information. Poor remained its editor until 1900 and publication lasted until 1924
As well as Poor’s Manual, the company published other informative documents including ‘Poor’s Directory of Railway Officials’, re-issued every year from 1886 to 1895 and ‘Poor’s Handbook of Investment Securities’, first published in 1890.
Poor was also well regarded as an economist, and he wrote various pieces on the subject. These included ‘Money and its Laws’, 1877; ‘Resumption and the Silver Question’, 1878; ‘Twenty-two Years of Protection’, 1888; ‘The Tariff: Its Bearing upon the Industries and Politics of the United States’, 1892 and the pamphlet, ‘The Pacific Railroads and the Relations Existing Between Them and the Government’, 1879.
Poor died at Brookline, on 4th January 1905, survived by his son, Henry William Poor.
ASSESSMENT: Poor was one of the first systematically to gather data and information of the railroads, which helped in planning their development.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: His work related to that of <work related to> McCallum*
ONELINER: Henry V Poor, early railroad publisher
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
ANB