George Francis Train, American businessman (d. 1904)
George Francis Train (March 24, 1829 – January 18, 1904) was an American entrepreneur who organized the clipper ship line that sailed around Cape Horn to San Francisco; he also organized the Union Pacific Railroad and the Credit Mobilier in the United States in 1864 to construct the eastern portion of the Transcontinental Railroad, and a horse tramway company in England while there during the American Civil War.
In 1870 Train made the first of three widely publicized trips around the globe. He believed that a report of his first journey in a French periodical inspired Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days; protagonist Phileas Fogg may have been modeled on him.In 1872, he ran for president of the United States as an independent candidate. That year, he was jailed on obscenity charges while defending suffragist Victoria Woodhull against charges regarding an article her newspaper had published on an alleged adulterous affair. Despite business successes in early life, he was known as an increasingly eccentric figure in American and Australian history.
1829Mar, 24
George Francis Train
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Events on 1829
- 19Jan
Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy receives its premiere performance. - 7Apr
Book of Mormon
Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, commences translation of the Book of Mormon, with Oliver Cowdery as his scribe. - 25Apr
Swan River Colony
Charles Fremantle arrives in HMS Challenger off the coast of modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for the United Kingdom. - 10Jun
River Thames
The first Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge takes place on the Thames in London. - 14Sep
Treaty of Adrianople (1829)
The Ottoman Empire signs the Treaty of Adrianople with Russia, thus ending the Russo-Turkish War.