The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume IV G Greene, George Washington GREENE, George Sears, civil engineer, was born in Lexington, Ky., Nov. 26, 1837; son of George Sears and Martha (Dana) Greene. He was educated at Harvard, but left college before graduation in order to take a position as assistant engineer with his father, who was chief engineer of the Croton aqueduct department, New York city. He was afterward engaged in surveying various railroads in the United States and in Cuba, and in developing copper mines in the Lake Superior region. He introduced improvements in civil engineering implements that came into general use and were adopted by the U.S. coast survey. He was engineer-in-chief of the department of docks, New York city, 1875-98. He was elected a member of the American society of civil engineers in 1867; was director, 1882-90; vice-president, 1885-86, and treasurer, 1887-90.