Albert Brown Chandler

Albert Brown Chandler (August 20, 1840 – February 23, 1923) was an American corporate executive. He was notable for his association with Abraham Lincoln during Chandler's service as a War Department telegraph operator during the American Civil War, and his later work as president of the Postal Telegraph Company.

Early life Albert B. Chandler was born in Randolph, Vermont on August 20, 1840, one of thirteen children born to William Brown and Electa (Owen) Chandler. He was educated in the local schools of Randolph and the Randolph Academy. He lived near a print shop in Randolph, as well as the local telegraph office, which enabled him to acquire training in both trades while he was still a teenager.

Chandler became a telegraph operator for Western Union, and managed the office in Bellaire, Ohio from 1858 to 1859. He developed ciphers for transmitting secret communications, and worked with Thomas Eckert and Charles A. Tinker as confidential telegraphers for President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. After the war Chandler returned to Western Union, where he was in charge of completing new cables for operation of Transatlantic telegraph service, and for service between the United States and Cuba.

Chandler maintained homes in Brooklyn, New York and Randolph. The message, written by Chauncey M. Depew in an exhibit hall to Edward Dean Adams of the Niagara Falls Power Company at another location in the same building, traveled 16,000 miles on cables owned entirely by the Postal Telegraph Company, and was received and transcribed by Thomas A. Edison four minutes after it had been sent. Chandler kept a journal for more than 50 years, which was later privately published. His recollections from the 1860s (minus the volume for 1863, the location of which is unknown) are a valuable reference about the War Department during the Civil War.

Religion and philanthropy

Chandler was a member of Brooklyn's Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church.

Family On October 11, 1864, Chandler married Marilla Eunice Stedman of Randolph. He was buried at South View Cemetery in Randolph.