480 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



He was appointed one of the United States Commissioners to visit 

 the Paris Universal Exposition of 1867, and make examination of 

 telegraphic apparatus. His report on this subject was published in 



1869. 



Charles Jackson, Jr., as he always called himself long after his 

 father's death, was the only son of the Hon. Charles Jackson, one of 

 the judges of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts from 1813 to 1823, 

 and Fanny (Cabot) Jackson, his second wife. He was born on the 

 fourth day of March, 1815. 



He was fitted for college chiefly at the schools of Mr. Daniel Green- 

 leaf Ingraham and Mr. William Wells. He entered Harvard College 

 at Commencement, in the year 1830, joining the Sophomore Class. 

 Without aiming at college rank, he held a very creditable position as 

 a scholar. 



On leaving college, he began the study of the law with his father, 

 and continued it in the office of the Hon. Charles Greely Loring. 

 He was admitted to the Suffolk Bar in 1836. The years 1837 and 

 1838 he spent in Europe. On his return, he gave his attention to the 

 study of civil engineering, and was employed on the Western and 

 Eastern railroads during the years 1839 and 1840. After 1840, he 

 devoted himself to iron-making, becoming largely interested in mines 

 and furnaces in Pennsylvania, and continued in this business to the 

 close of his life. 



From his college days he was recognized as a man of singularly 

 acute and original intellect. He took nothing on trust which he could 

 study out for himself. With an ever-active thirst for knowledge, a 

 marvellous rapidity and accuracy in acquiring information, and a 

 memory so remarkable that some almost incredible feats are told of it, 

 he was less generally known than many men much his inferiors who 

 care more for fame or notoriety. He was full of knowledge on a 

 great variety of subjects, and talked with an affluence of expression 

 and a knowledge of facts which always commanded the attention of 

 those around him. His business capacity was remarkable, and though 

 he had some trying experiences early in his career, his indomitable 

 courage and clear, cool head carried him safely through them all, and 

 brought his extensive plans to a complete and eminently successful 

 fulfilment. 



Mr. Jackson very rarely appeared before the public in any other 



