Homer Earle Sargent, educated chiefly at the then famous Leicester Academy, has been one of the prominent railway men of this country, commencing in 1844 with the Western Railroad of Massachusetts, and called the following year to the Boston & Worcester, now Boston & Albany Railroad, as way-station agent, then agent at Worcester, and later as general freight agent at Boston.
From this last position he was in 1858 called to the Michigan Central Railroad as its general agent and representative at Chicago, then to its general managership, where he continued until his resignation in 1874, a period of sixteen years. In 1876-77 he was urged to, and finally did, accept the general managership of the Northern Pacific Railroad, with which company he continued four years, and, in addition to managing duties, completed the road from the Missouri to the Yellowstone. Forseeing the complications that followed change of ownership, he retired while the financial condition of the company was sound and usassailable.
In recognition of his services in the promotion of inductrial emigration to the State, North Dakota, through its legislature, gave his name to one of its finest central counties.
Mr. Sargent formulated the first through railway freight tariff from Boston to the Lake Cities and St. Louis; was originator and for many years one of the directors of the Union Stock Yards at Chicago; also one of the incorporators and a director of the Pullman Palace Car Company.
Together with active railway duties prior to and covering a period of thirty-six years' residence in Chicago, and holding various positions of horor and trust, are added characteristic charities, for all of which he will be remembered kindly, especially in the city of his adoption, whose growth he has witnessed from a population of seventy-five thousand to nearly or quite two millions.
Homer Earle Sargent passed his minority on the paternal homestead in Leicester, (Worcester County, Massachusetts), assisting upon the farm and acquiring his education in the district school and the academy. Upon the attainment of his majority, guided by a predilection for employment in the railroad interest, he took in 1843, the position of clerk to the agent at the State Line station, on the Western -- now Boston & Albany -- road. As a point from which to estimate the marvellous (sic marvelous) rapidity of development of intercommunication and traffic, between the Atlantic coast and the Western States, he relates that, during four months of the winter of 1843-44, the Hudson river being closed, all the travel and the transportation of merchandise from New York to the West was by the way of Bridgeport and the State Line station; and that it was all performed by one passenger train and one freight train daily!
In April, 1844, he returned to his father's farm, but in 1845 entered the employ of the Boston & Worcester Railroad, and was with that company thirteen years; first as station agent at Millbury, then in the same capacity at Worcester, and lastly, for six years, as general fright agent at Boston. While in the position last mentioned he formulated and put in practice the first through tariff sheet for the transportation of merchandise between Boston and the Mississippi river. The preparation of this required of him a journey to the West, and a personal conference with the president, the superintendent or the general manager of each railroad forming a part of the route. The tariff amounted to two dollars and forty-five cents for one hundred pounds from Boston to St. Louis. The through bill-of-lading system now in general use is but the development of this original arrangement.
In 1858 he was called into the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad Company where he remained sixteen years, -- the first half of the period as general freight agent and general agent at Chicago, and the last half as general superintendent and general manager. During this period he became one of the incorporators, and for several years a director of the Pullman Palace Car Company; and was largely instrumental in securing the first Pullman sleeping-car service eastward, from Chicago to Rochester, New York.
'The friends of Mr. Sargent,' says the History of Chicago, 'count among the many prominent efforts of his life none greater than the organization of the Union Stock Yards of this city, the sucess of which was mainly due to his initial labor.' It appears that he first indicated the most suitable place for the yards. He was chairman of the committee which purchased the land -- 320 acres for $100,000 -- 'it is now worth a score of millions' -- a director of The Union Stock Yards and Transit Company, and a 'prime mover in the management of the Stock Yards and Transit Company, and a 'prime mover in the management of the Stock Yards until a few years ago, when he gave way to younger men.'
'After leaving the Michigan Central Mr. Sargent was offered the general management of the Northern Pacific Railroad, in 1877. He at first declined, but, later in the year, was prevailed upon to accept the position, which he held until 1881, when he tendered his resignation.'
The Fargo and Southern Railroad, between Fargo, Dakota, and Ortonville, Minnesota, a distance of 120 miles, has been begun, but only thirty-five miles of it graded, when , in 1883, he became interested in the company and was elected as its president. He prosecuted the work with such energy that in less than ten months the entire line was finished and ready for operation. This road has been of great benefit to Fargo. The Argus, a newspaper of that city, says: "The people of North Dakota Know Mr. Sargent well. The people of Fargo have a right to claim him one of her greatest benefactors. * * * The Fargo & Southern owes its great success to his taking hold and engineering its financial operations and securing its completion."
In February, 1861, he was appointed a trustee of Farwell Hall, in Chicago; in April of the same year, a member of the first war finance committee of that city; in 1864, a director in the Fourth National Bank; in 1865, a director of the Provident Life Insurance and Investment Company; in 1871, a trustee of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society; in 1879, a trustee of St. Luke's Free Hospital; and in 1885, president of the Board of Trustees of the Young Men's Christian Association.
He has now withdrawn from the presidency of the Fargo & Southern Railroad, and hold no office limiting his command of his time. Aside from large interests in Chicago, he has a wheat farm of 2,400 acres, far west of the Mississippi, upon which the harvesters are now -- September 9, 1887 -- threshing the wheat at the rate of two thousand bushels per day. He resided, in winter, in Chicago, and in summer in Detroit, Minnesota."
............Compiled by Pliny Earle of Northampton, Massachusetts, The Earle Family, Ralph Earle and his Descendants (Printed for the Family, Worcester, Mass.: Press of Charles Hamilton 1888), Seventh Generation. Repository: P. Kristine Hurd, P. O. Box 2703, Westport, WA 98595, Kristine_Hurd@msn.com, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mcmanigle/Index.html.