James Laughlin (March 1, 1806 – December 18, 1882) was an Irish-American banker and capitalist, a pioneer of the iron and steel industry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was born near Portaferry in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, Ireland, the son of James Laughlin, Sr. He was educated at Belfast, and after leaving school he assisted his father in taking care of his estate until age twenty, when his mother died and the family came to America. Upon his arrival he entered into partnership with his brother Alexander.

Involvement in Pittsburgh

In 1854, Laughlin bought the retiring

Bernard Lauth Bernard Lauth (August 23, 1820 in Alsace, France – June 25, 1894) he founded the American Iron Works in 1850, and formed a partnership with B.F. Jones in 1851. In 1854, Lauth retired from the steel firm, selling his partnership to James H. Lau ...

's interest in the steel partnership with Benjamin Franklin Jones. The company was renamed Jones and Laughlin in 1861, later reorganized as

J&L Steel The Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation began as the American Iron Company, founded in 1852 by Bernard Lauth and Benjamin Franklin Jones, a few miles (c 4 km) south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. Lauth's interest was bought in ...

. In 1844, Laughlin was appointed as a corporator to the board responsible for establishing the Allegheny Cemetery. In 1852, Laughlin and his associates, including B.F. Jones, founded a banking organization that, when chartered, was the First National Bank of Pittsburgh, later

Pittsburgh National Bank The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (stylized as PNC) is an American bank holding company and financial services corporation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its banking subsidiary, PNC Bank, operates in 27 U.S. state, states and the D ...

. Laughlin was the first president of the Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh. He was a founder of the Pennsylvania Female College, which later became

Chatham University Chatham University is a private university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally founded as a women's college, it began enrolling men in undergraduate programs in 2015. It enrolls about 2,110 students, including 1,002 undergraduate students an ...

. Laughlin died on December 18, 1882.

References

External links

Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation Historical Records
1871-1953, AIS.1973.07, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh.
Records of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation, MSS#33
Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. 1806 births 1882 deaths People from County Down American steel industry businesspeople Businesspeople from Pittsburgh Burials at Allegheny Cemetery American bankers 19th-century American businesspeople {{PGH-stub