Washington Augustus Roebling II (1881 - 1912)

Born 25 Mar 1881 in Trenton, Mercer, New Jersey, United States

Ancestors

Died 15 Apr 1912 at age 31 in At Sea in the Atlantic Ocean

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Biography

The man who sped up the world

Washington was born in 1881. He passed away in 1912 a victim of the RMS Titanic tragedy that sank in the early morning hours of 15 April 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean, four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton, UK to New York City.

Washington was very active in the early days of automobile racing. And was the "driving" force in developing the historic Mercer Automobile Company in Hamilton Township the suburbs of Trenton, New Jersey. "TRENTON MAKES THE WORLD TAKES"

As the sedate Victorian era ended and the brassy Edwardian decade unfolded in the first years of the 20th century, Washington A. Roebling II was an American household name.

He was young, rich and debonair. He was a race car driver. If life seems too fast, blame him. He was among the men of the last century who sped up the world, which has only gone faster since.

Washington Augustus Roebling was the only son of Charles Roebling, president of the Roebling wire manufacturing company in Florence, the firm that built the Brooklyn Bridge.

W.A. was a glamorous personality living a transcontinental life. He grew up in wealth and privilege, living with his father in a palatial house in Trenton. (His mother died when he was a child.)

He summered in Europe and wintered in New York. He went to fine schools and graduated from college with an engineering degree. His social life was regularly reported in newspaper society pages.

“He was a good-looking young man, super rich, living the life,” said Patricia Millen, director of the Roebling Museum in Florence.

W.A. was 19 when he joined the family business, but by 1903 he left. He developed a fascination with motorcycles and automobiles.

“All of the Roeblings had it in their blood to be instantly fascinated with new technologies,” Millen said. “He became completely absorbed with this newfangled machine called the automobile.”

Roebling was born in 1881, into a world of horse-drawn carriages. As the century turned, the automobile appeared on city streets across the country. In 1906, the “Stanley Rocket” broke the land speed record of a breathtaking 205 mph.

“Basically, Washington Roebling was committed to finding out how to make cars go faster and faster,” Millen said.

Financed by his family and other investors, Roebling collaborated with former Peugeot designer Etienne Planche (who would later design the first Chevrolets). They produced the remarkable Roebling-Planche race car.

The Trenton Evening Times reported that the car was clocked at 140 mph, winning the 1908 Spring Lake Racing Association championship in Sea Girt.

The next year, Roebling launched the Mercer Automobile Co. in Hamilton with members of the Kuser family Frederick Gotfried Rudolph Kuser and John Louis Kuser. Washington was the general manager, a hands-on guy who not only designed, but also built and raced his own machines.

Roebling, who had crashed and injured himself several times over the years, was determined to design and build a car that could go fast and be safe.

He gathered some of the country’s best engineers (one being Finley Robertson Porter) designers and racers. Within a year, they produced the Type 35R Mercer or, as it was called in advertisements, the Mercer Raceabout.

Its four-cylinder, 300-cubic-inch engine produced 55 horsepower and could be driven “safely” (that is, so it wouldn’t break apart) at 70 mph. The car was a sensation, not only for its speed and handling, but its beauty, too.

Roebling had big plans for his company, which was also producing a handsome touring edition of the Raceabout. He was constantly on a quest to improve his cars, and in the spring of 1912, he traveled to Europe to discuss automobile design and development with French and British engineers.

“He was young, only 31, and he was caught up in the automobile craze. He went to France and toured in a Fiat, learning all he could about that car, and the latest engineering technologies,” said Don Jones, a member of the board of directors of the Roebling Museum.

Washington A. Roebling

As the sedate Victorian era ended and the brassy Edwardian decade unfolded in the first years of the 20th century, W.A. Roebling II was an American household name.

He was young, rich and debonair. He was a race car driver. If life seems too fast, blame him. He was among the men of the last century who sped up the world, which has only gone faster since.

Washington Augustus Roebling was the only son of Charles Roebling, president of the Roebling wire manufacturing company in Florence, New Jersey the Roebling firm that built the Brooklyn Bridge.

W.A. was a glamorous personality living a transcontinental life. He grew up in wealth and privilege, living with his father in a palatial house in Trenton. (His mother died when he was a child.)

He summered in Europe and wintered in New York. He went to fine schools and graduated from college with an engineering degree. His social life was regularly reported in newspaper society pages.

“He was a good-looking young man, super rich, living the life,” said Patricia Millen, director of the Roebling Museum in Florence.

W.A. was 19 when he joined the family business, but by 1903 he left. He developed a fascination with motorcycles and automobiles.

“All of the Roeblings had it in their blood to be instantly fascinated with new technologies,” Millen said. “He became completely absorbed with this newfangled machine called the automobile.”

Roebling was born in 1881, into a world of horse-drawn carriages. As the century turned, the automobile appeared on city streets across the country. In 1906, the “Stanley Rocket” broke the land speed record of a breathtaking 205 mph.

“Basically, Washington Roebling was committed to finding out how to make cars go faster and faster,” Millen said.

Financed by his family and other investors, Roebling collaborated with former Peugeot designer Etienne Planche (who would later design the first Chevrolets). They produced the remarkable Roebling-Planche race car.

The Trenton Evening Times reported that the car was clocked at 140 mph, winning the 1908 Spring Lake Racing Association championship in Sea Girt.

The next year, Roebling launched the Mercer Automobile Co. in Hamilton. He was the general manager, a hands-on guy who not only designed, but also built and raced his own machines.

Roebling, who had crashed and injured himself several times over the years, was determined to design and build a car that could go fast and be safe.

He gathered some of the country’s best engineers, designers and racers. Within a year, they produced the Type 35R Mercer or, as it was called in advertisements, the Mercer Raceabout.

Its four-cylinder, 300-cubic-inch engine produced 55 horsepower and could be driven “safely” (that is, so it wouldn’t break apart) at 70 mph. The car was a sensation, not only for its speed and handling, but its beauty, too.

Roebling had big plans for his company, which was also producing a handsome touring edition of the Raceabout. He was constantly on a quest to improve his cars, and in the spring of 1912, he traveled to Europe to discuss automobile design and development with French and British engineers.

“He was young, only 31, and he was caught up in the automobile craze. He went to France and toured in a Fiat, learning all he could about that car, and the latest engineering technologies,” said Don Jones, a member of the board of directors of the Roebling Museum.

It was a trip from which W.A. would not return. After his tour was finished, he booked passage on the Titanic, taking Cabin A-24 in first class. His heroism on April 15, 1912, was well-documented by eyewitnesses, whose accounts appeared in the Trenton papers at the time.

He spent his last hour of life trying to calm passengers, staying cheerful as he helped women and children into lifeboats.

He was last seen leaning over the ship’s deck rail, smiling as he looked down and waved at people in a lifeboat.

“He could have gotten into a lifeboat at any time, but he gave that up,” Millen said.

In 1911, a thirty year old Washington made plans for a motoring tour around Europe with family friend Stephen Blackwell, son of the former U.S. Senator Jonathon Blackwell.

Roebling's chauffeur, Frank Stanley accompanied the two men, bringing with them Roebling's Fiat car. They toured Italy and France, and it was in France. However a week before the completion of their trip, Stanley fell ill and returned to the U.S. aboard another ship, bringing the Fiat back with him.

The final stop of the tour, Southampton, England, was reached in April of 1912. Washington and Blackwell planned to return home aboard a newly constructed ship, the Titanic. Roebling carried ticket no. PC 17590 (£50 9s 11d) and occupied cabin A-24. Within a week of its departure, on the historic night of April 15, 1912, the Titanic struck an iceberg. Washington worked calmly and diligently to help the women and children on board the sinking ship into lifeboats and on to safety. A Ms. Caroline Bonnell, who he met on the outward voyage to Europe, was one of the many women aided by Washington that tragic night. She later told the Roebling family and reporters that the last words she heard from Mr. Washington A. Roebling II was, “You will be back with us on the ship soon again” as he waved to her from the deck of the sinking ship with a smile.

Members of the Roebling family traveled to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to meet ships carrying victims of the Titanic, however; Washington’s body was never recovered. Despite Washington A. Roebling II’s tragic death at the young age of thirty-one, his contributions to the Mercer Automobile Company and his heroic acts aboard the Titanic have become part of the Roebling family’s famous legacy.

In addition to his father, Roebling also left behind two sisters, Miss Helen Roebling, at the time engaged to noted Philadelphia artist, Carroll Sargent Tyson, Jr.; and Mrs Richard McCall Cadwalader (nee Emily Roebling) of Philadelphia. Charles G. Roebling, a prominent member of the Trinity Episcopal Church in Trenton, later had the west wall of the cathedral rebuilt as a memorial to his son.

Charles Roebling himself died in 1918 and the age of 69, never having recovered from his son's death. After the chauffeur Stanley's return to America, the Fiat car, the only remnant of the men's ill-fated journey was driven back home by relatives. What became of it remains a mystery.

The history of Mercer Raceabout, one of America’s earliest sports cars Between 1910 to 1925 approximately 5,500 examples of the various models on the Mercer Automobiles were produced. Today only 122 of the various models these extraordinary automobiles exist today. A quick search online for remaining Mercer cars reveals a current sales price of anywhere between $1.5 to $3 million. The "Mercer Raceabout Type 35R" models of the years 1911 to 1914 are the most sought after and they are considered as America's 1st true sports car. There only 22 examples left. The Raceabout had a 300-cubic inch, "T-head" engine, just light enough to make for a smooth ride, powerful enough to easily go 80 mph but when pressed nearly 100 mph was obtainable. However on the notoriously poor roads of the time on wooden spoked wheels one can only imagine the what that experience was like and the nerve it took. Later on steel wire spoked wheels were available on the later models as can be seen in the 1913 Mercer Raceabout that Jay Leno owns and is featured the the Youtube video below.

• 1913 Mercer Raceabout - Jay Leno's Garage
• https://youtu.be/4L4Hj85Kb5o

• https://www.classicspeedsters.com/blog/2022/3/21/the-magic-of-the-mercer-raceabouts-pt-1

Around 1900 Washington developed a passion for automobiles and racing. His interest in automobiles transformed into a business when the Roeblings, along with the Kuser brothers of Hamilton Township, New Jersey, paid for the William Walter’s Automobile Company to be moved to the vacant Kuser Brewery on Whitehead road in Hamilton Township, New Jersey in 1906. While holding the position of secretary for the Walter’s Automobile Company, Washington also collaborated with the French automobile designer, Etienne Planche, to construct a race-car was named the Roebling-Planche and sold by the Walter’s Automobile Company.

In June of 1909, the Walter Automobile Company filed for bankruptcy. The Roeblings and Kusers acquired what assets where left of the company and invested them into the Mercer Automobile Company that manufactured cars that were safe for and made for individual citizens to drive at their own leisure. Washington continued his love of automobiles and pursued his interest in racing. He began racing Mercer models before they were put on the market to ensure they were safe and well-built.

" Washington Augustus Roebling, II, came from a wealth family. Which enabled him to indulge in a little motor sport. In 1910 he designed and built his own racing car, the Roebling-Planche, finishing second in the Vanderbilt Cup that year. "

He finished second in his No 33 Mercer at the Savannah Trophy Race for light cars on November 11, 1911 and No 1 Planche-Roebling was entered the next day for the American Grand Prize but did not start.

Birth

"New Jersey, Births, 1670-1980,"^[1]

Name: Washington Roebling

Event Type: Birth

Event Date: 25 Mar 1881

Event Place: Trenton, Mercer, New Jersey, United States

Gender: Male

Father's Name: Chas. G. Roebling

Father's Birthplace:U.S.

Mother's Name: Omisby

Mother's Birthplace: U.S.

"United States Census, 1900,"^[2]

Charles ? Roebling Head Male 51 New Jersey

Emily M Roebling Daughter Female 21 New Jersey

Washington A Roebling Jr. Son Male 19 New Jersey

Helen Robeling Daughter Female 16 New Jersey

Eliza W Hook Sister-in-law Female 60 New York

Mary Ryam Servant Female 37 England

Mary A Henly Servant Female 37 Ireland

Mary A Phalen Servant Female 24 Ireland

Mary A Mccartan Servant Female 23 Ireland

"United States Census, 1910,"^[3]

Charles G Roebling Head Male 59 New Jersey

Washington Roebling Son Male 29 New Jersey

Helen Roebling Daughter Female 25 New Jersey

Eliza Hook Aunt Female 62 New York

Myra Curney Servant Female 35 Ireland

Mary Ryan Servant Female 25 Ireland

Mary Hanley Servant Female 30 England

Katherine Mcguigan Servant Female 30 Ireland

Sources

• https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/story/opinion/columns/2012/03/28/the-man-who-sped-up/17918095007/
• https://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/correcting_the_vanderbilt_cup_race_record_of_washington_roebling_ii
• http://www.historicracing.com/driverDetail.cfm?driverID=3101&otd=on
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercer_(automobile)

1. ↑ "New Jersey, Births, 1670-1980," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FC53-69L : 10 March 2018), Washington Roebling, 25 Mar 1881; citing Trenton, Mercer, New Jersey, United States, Division of Archives and Record Management, New Jersey Department of State, Trenton; FHL microfilm 494,192.
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9FL-SPF : accessed 5 November 2019), Washington A Roebling Jr. in household of Charles ? Roebling, Precinct 2 Trenton city Ward 2, Mercer, New Jersey, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 61, sheet 12B, family 256, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,982.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MKB9-7K6 : accessed 5 November 2019), Washington Roebling in household of Charles G Roebling, Trenton Ward 2, Mercer, New Jersey, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 50, sheet 16B, family 388, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 896; FHL microfilm 1,374,909.

• (2019) Washington Augustus Roebling Encyclopedia Titanica (ref: #242, updated 5th November 2019 14:46:41 PM) URL : https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-victim/washington-roebling.html