Thomas Fletcher Oakes

{{Infobox person

| name = Thomas Fletcher Oakes

| image = Thomas Fletcher Oakes (1843–1919).png

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1843|07|15}}

| birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1919|03|14|1843|07|15}}

| death_place = Seattle, Washington

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| occupation = Railroad executive

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| signature = Signature of Thomas Fletcher Oakes (1843–1919).png

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Thomas Fletcher Oakes (July 15, 1843 – March 14, 1919) was president of Northern Pacific Railway from 1888 to 1893.

Biography

Thomas Fletcher Oakes was born in Boston on July 15, 1843.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lcVKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA183 |title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |volume=I |publisher=James T. White & Company |page=183 |year=1893 |access-date=2021-04-08 |via=Google Books}} He entered railway service June 1, 1863; to April, 1879, on Kansas Pacific Railroad; two years secretary to contractors, two years purchasing agent; three years purchasing agent and assistant treasurer; six years general freight agent; one year vice-president; one year five months general superintendent; April 1879, to May 1880, general superintendent Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf and Kansas City, Lawrence and Southern; May 1880, to May 1881, vice-president and general manager Oregon Railway and Navigation Company; May 1881, to November 1883, vice-president Northern Pacific Railway, and November 1883, to 1888, vice-president and general manager.

Oakes was placed in charge of the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad after Charles Barstow Wright formed the Oregon Improvement Company. Harris retained Oakes as executive vice president, after Harris became president of Northern Pacific.{{cite book |last1=Speidel |first1=William |title=Sons of the Profits |date=1967 |publisher=Nettle Creek Publishing Company |location=Seattle |pages=170, 183}}

His son, Walter Oakes, of Seattle, a founder of the Alaska Steamship Company, was father of the ethnologist Maud Oakes.Secretary's Report, Class of 1887, Harvard College, Twenty-Fifth Anniversary 1887-1912, p. 154{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KIEUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA408 |title=History of Washington: The Rise and Progress of an American State |volume=5 |page=408 |first=Clinton A. |last=Snowden |publisher=Century History Company |year=1911 |access-date=2021-04-08 |via=Google Books}}

Thomas Fletcher Oakes died at his residence at the Sorrento Hotel in Seattle on March 14, 1919.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22795770/the-seattle-star/ |title=Pioneer Railroad Executive Is Dead |newspaper=The Seattle Star |page=4 |date=1919-03-14 |access-date=2021-04-08 |via=Newspapers.com}}

References

{{cite book| title=The Biographical Directory of the Railway Officials of America for 1887| location=Chicago, Illinois| publisher=Railway Age| year=1887| page=236 }}

{{s-ttl| title=President of Northern Pacific Railway| years=1888 – 1893 }}

Oakes, Thomas Fletcher

Category:Northern Pacific Railway people

Category:Businesspeople from Boston

Category:19th-century American businesspeople