Herman J. Lombaert
American civil engineer
Herman Joseph Lombaert (1816–1885) was an American civil engineer who helped complete the first railroad between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland, and eventually became a vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR).
Biography
Lombaert was born on Oct. 30, 1816, in Easton, Pennsylvania, the son of Charles (1790-1875) and Anna Arndt Lombaert (1794-1879). In the 1830s, Charles was a company officer or contractor for several railroads, including the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad (P&T).
After Herman Lombaert completed his civil engineering studies, he took a job with the P&T under engineer Samuel H. Kneass (1806-1858), with whom he helped build the main line. In 1836, Kneass and Lombaert helped survey the prospective route of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B)
from the Delaware state line to its initial Philadelphia terminus at the intersection of Broad Street and Moyamensing Avenue. Lombaert was the target bearer, while Kneass' younger brother Strickland Kneass was the chain carrier. The line became the first rail link from Philadelphia to Baltimore (and survives today as part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor).
In 1838, Charles Lombaert was one of three superintendents of construction for the PW&B. Herman, the son, had moved up from his job on the surveying team to the post of assistant engineer, under Samuel Kneass, for the Philadelphia-Wilmington stretch. And in the meantime, Kneass had become not just Herman's boss but his brother-in-law: on March 14, 1837, Kneass married Herman's sister Anna (1814-1869) in Morrisville, Pennsylvania.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Herman J. Lombaert” is american civil engineer. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Herman, Lombaert and American, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american civil engineer” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16062938. VIAF identifies the subject as 22012982. The Library of Congress control number is nr93011634. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1816, 1885, 1790 and 1875.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Herman J. Lombaert”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Herman J. Lombaert primary sources, Herman J. Lombaert archive and Herman research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Herman J. Lombaert”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Herman J. Lombaert” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.