Frank Wall (steamboat engineer)
| Frank Wall | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
January 4, 1810 County Londonderry, Ireland |
| Died | July 3, 1896 (aged 86) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Occupation | Steamboat engineer |
| Known for | Founder of Wall, Pennsylvania |
| Spouse(s) | Catherine Agnes Kelly |
| Children | Anna Margaret Wall Isabell V. "Bell" Wall Frances "Fannie" Elizabeth Wall Michael Louis Wall Mary Charlotte "Lottie" Wall Simms Francis Xavier Wall, Jr. Katherine "Kate" Wall Kuhn John Kelly Walls |
Francis Xavier "Frank" Wall (January 4, 1810 – July 3, 1896) was a steamboat engineer and millionaire considered the founder of the town of Wall, Pennsylvania.
Francis Xavier Wall was born on January 4, 1810 in County Londonderry in modern-day Northern Ireland to Michael Walls and Margaret McKee.
He emigrated to America with his mother in 1822. His father went in 1810. He early left his father's home near Pittsburgh and worked on railroads and on the Pennsylvania Canal. His first job at the age of 18 was as a teamster for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.
He had a natural inclination for mechanics and turned his efforts to engine making until obtaining a position as an engineer on steamboats on the Mississippi River. He would go from Pittsburgh to New Orleans including the Gulf of Mexico. He served in this capacity seventeen or eighteen years. He also traversed the Chattahoochee and Indian Rivers of Georgia during the Seminole Wars.
Wall was married to Catherine Agnes Kelly of Columbus, Georgia about 1846. Her family came from Dungannon in County Tyrone.
Wall is located at the site of a farm purchased by James Walls in 1829. The property, on the south bank of Turtle Creek, was passed to James' sons Henry and John Walls, who lived in a log cabin near the heart of present-day Wall. A station on the Pennsylvania Railroad opened in the early 1840s, which was named "Walls' Station" in honor of the Walls family. Eventually, the name of the station and the town that grew up around it was shortened to "Wall Station". Henry and John Walls sold their property to their cousin Frank, who developed the property around the station. The town then shortened to Wall after Frank, whose property development led to him being the owner of the first two houses erected in the region.
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