Albert W. Nickerson

Albert Winslow Nickerson (May 21, 1840 – May 17, 1893) was an American railroad executive and director of both the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the Mexican Central Railway. Personal life Nickerson was born on Perkins Street in Jamaica Plain on May 21, 1840, to Joseph Nickerson, a prosperous Boston businessman. Albert attended the Eliot School in Jamaica Plain and did not attend college. Later in his life, Joseph Nickerson became involved in several railroads and was the president of two. Joseph's brother Thomas Nickerson (1810–1892) also served as a railroad executive, notably as president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) between 1874 and 1880. In 1880, when Joseph Nickerson died as one of the richest men in Boston, Albert inherited several million dollars and was made a director of the ATSF and the Mexican Central Railway. Nickerson was married twice. He married Amelia Frances Lindsay on March 1, 1876. He had five children: Albert, Richard, William, Ruth, and Agnes. He was a vestryman at St. Paul's Church, an Episcopal church in Dedham. He was a close friend of President Grover Cleveland. His friendship with the president was a leading cause of Cleveland purchasing Gray Gables, which adjoined Nickerson's "Great Hill" estate in Marion, Massachusetts. Career After he inherited his father's stock in 1880, he joined the boards of both the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the Mexican Central Railway and held them until his death. He was an accomplished businessman in his own right by this time, with an estimated $3 million in holdings. He invested in milling companies in Lawrence, Massachusetts, becoming president of Arlington Mills. Though he could be overbearing, he was known as a good friend to his employees.