Emily Warren Roebling (1843-1903) - Find a Grave Memorial

Key Figure in the building of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Emily Warren was born the second youngest of 12 children of Sylvanus and Phebe Lickley Warren, and sister to Gouverneur Kemble (G.K.) Warren, 13 years her senior. After their father's death in 1859, G.K., an Army officer and West Point graduate, took an interest in helping to raise and educate Emily. While on a visit with G.K., Emily attended a military ball where she met Washington A. Roebling, an engineering officer who served with her brother. They were married in 1865 after Washington's release from the Army.

They lived in Europe for a time while Washington was researching bridge construction techniques for use in his father John Augustus Roebling's project to build the Brooklyn Bridge. While in Germany, she gave birth to a son, John Augustus Roebling II.

After the untimely death of her father-in-law and the severe disability suffered by her husband from working in underwater caissons, she took over the responsibility of communicating Washington's instructions to the workers and of overseeing the bridge project herself, so much so that it was rumored that she was effectively the head engineer. She persevered for the 11 additional years that it took to complete the Brooklyn Bridge.

In later years, she was active in many organizations including the Daughters of the American Revolution, where she served as Vice President. She was a member of the American Relief Society which aided veterans of the Spanish-American War. She travelled extensively, attended the coronation of Nicholas II of Russia, and was presented to Queen Victoria in London in 1896. She took a law degree from New York University in 1899. She became afflicted with stomach cancer and died in 1903 at age 59.

Bio by: Robert Morris