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Railroad Company was overtaken by dis-
aster he purchased the road, reorganized
and rebuilt it, and for about twenty years
served as its president. Later he bought
the old Marietta & Northern Georgia
railroad, which he reorganized and developed
as the Atlanta, Knoxville &
Northern. For seven or eight years he
was connected with the road, developing
it into a fine piece of property. He was
one of the original men interested in developing
the West Shore railroad, and
later was president of the Virginia &
Southwestern Railroad Company. In
1903 he bought the control of the Detroit
& Mackinac railroad, and has ever since
been president of the company.
The above record makes it clear that
Mr. McHarg's railroad work has invari-
ably been constructive. While the element
of speculation which is never wholly
absent from any business undertaking
had its part in his ventures, more espe-
cially as they were all the rehabilitation
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
of unsuccessful enterprises, he has contributed
substantially to the advancement
of the railroad interests of the last third
of a century, having imparted to every-
thing he undertook some portion of his
vitalizing energy.
The business career of Mr. McHarg
began in 1873, when he went into the
bond and investment business in part-
nership with William Adams, under the
firm name of Adams & McHarg. At the
end of twelve years the connection was
severed and Mr. McHarg continued the
business alone. For some years he was
a director of the New York, New Haven
& Hartford Railroad Company, and since
1883 he has held a directorship in the
Manhattan National Bank, in which for
over twenty years he held the ofifice of
vice-president. His clubs are the Union
and Down Town, of New York City.
Yachting was always his favorite recrea-
tion, and for a number of years he owned
a very pretty schooner. He attends and
supports St. John's Protestant Episcopal
Church of Stamford.
Mr. McHarg married, July 21, 1875,
Frederica Bremer Britton, and they have
been the parents of the following chil-
dren: I. Edith May, born May 4, 1876;
did not live. 2. John, born December 22,
; 1877 did not live. 3. Madeline B., born
November 26, 1878; died December 10,
1881. 4. Henry King, Jr., born October
30, 1883 ; married Jane, daughter of
Thomas J. Craven, of Salem, New Jersey,
and has three children; Jane Craven,
Henry King (3), and Esther Belle. 5.
Marion Adelaide, born January 28, 1886;
married (first) George Venable, and has
one daughter, Frederica; married (second)
Ernest Roentgen, nephew of the
discoverer of the X-ray; they have one
308
daughter.
For thirty years Mr. McHarg has been
a resident of Stamford, and during that
time he has been a leader in everything
that has been done for the welfare of the
town. The time will come when the extent
of his benefactions will be known,
but Mr. McHarg has shown an inflexible
determination that in his benevolences
his left hand should not know what his
right hand doeth. All that may be said
now is that the Stamford Hospital, the
Young Men's Christian Association, the
Ferguson Library, the Associated Chari-
ties, and the Presbyterian and St. John's
Episcopal churches are indebted beyond
anyone's surmise to his generosity and
public spirit.
(The King Line).
Joshua King was born November 24,
1758, at Braintree (now Quincy), Massa-
chusetts. His father was one of three
brothers who came from England. When
the American army surrounded Boston,