William Thaw Sr. (October 12, 1818 – August 17, 1889) was an American businessman who made his fortune in transportation and banking.

Early life

He was born in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, on October 12, 1818, to John Thaw and his wife Elizabeth Thomas.

Career

He worked as a clerk in his father's United States Bank of Philadelphia in Pittsburgh. He later switched to McKee, Clark and Co. By 1842, he and his brother-in-law Thomas Shields Clarke owned steam canal boats, particularly the

Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal The Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal, also known as the P & O Canal, the Cross Cut Canal and the Mahoning Canal, was a shipping canal which operated from 1840 until 1877, though the canal was completely abandoned by 1872. It connected canals in two s ...

. Their company added canal, portage railroad and other steamboat lines. With the rise of the railroad, Thaw divested the canal business and invested in the new Pennsylvania Company, which managed interests of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

, in which he was a large shareholder.

Philanthropy

Thaw endowed science fellowships at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

and bestowed lavish gifts on art and education. He underwrote the building of the

Allegheny Observatory The Allegheny Observatory is an American astronomical research institution, a part of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh. The facility is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (ref. # 79002157, a ...

for

John Brashear John Alfred Brashear (November 24, 1840 – April 8, 1920) was an American astronomer and instrument builder. Life and work Brashear was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, a town located 35 miles (56 km) south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ...

, considered at the time one of the ten best in the world.

Personal life

In 1841, William Thaw married Eliza Burd Blair (1822–1863). They had five children that survived childhood: * Eliza Thaw (1843–1912), who married George Breed Edwards (1842–1887) * William Thaw Jr. (1853–1892), who married Elizabeth Dohrman (1854–1948) * Mary Thaw (1856–1944), who in 1879 married William Reed Thompson (1845–1906) * Benjamin Thaw Sr. (1859–1933), who married Elma Ellsworth Dows (1861–1931) * Alexander Blair Thaw (1860–1937), who in 1886 married Florence Dow (1864–1940) In 1867, after the death of his first wife, he married Mary Sibbet Copley (1843–1929). They had five children that survived childhood: *

Harry Kendall Thaw Harry Kendall Thaw (February 12, 1871 – February 22, 1947) was the son of American coal and railroad baron William Thaw Sr. Heir to a multimillion-dollar fortune, he is most notable for having murdered the renowned architect Stanford Wh ...

(1871–1947), who would later shoot and kill the prominent architect

Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect and a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms at the turn of the 20th century. White designed many houses ...

in front of hundreds of witnesses and be ruled insane and confined to a mental institution In his will, he left $10,000, less than 1% of his fortune, to his estranged wife, the film actress and former model

Evelyn Nesbit Florence Evelyn Nesbit (December 25, 1884 or 1885 – January 17, 1967) was an American model (person), artists' model, chorus girl, and actress. She is best known for her career in New York City, as well as her husband, railroad scion Har ...

. * Edward Bernard Thaw (1873–1924), who married (1) 1896: Frieda Marsh (1875-1915), (2) 1906: Jane Olmsted (1880–1958) * Josiah Copley Thaw (1874–1944), who in 1903 married Mary Harrington Thomson (1881–1947) * Margaret Copley Thaw (1877–1942), who first married George Lauder Carnegie (1876–1921), nephew of

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

. After his death, she married Roger, Comte de Périgny and became Countess de Périgny. *

Alice Cornelia Thaw Alice Cornelia Thaw (January 2, 1880 – May 8, 1955) was an American philanthropist and, upon her marriage to George Seymour, Earl of Yarmouth (who later succeeded as 7th Marquess of Hertford), the Countess of Yarmouth. Early life Thaw was b ...

(1880–1955), who married

George Seymour, 7th Marquess of Hertford George Francis Alexander Seymour, 7th Marquess of Hertford (20 October 1871 – 16 February 1940) was a British aristocrat best remembered as a cross-dressing theatrical dancer, actor and ruthless fortune hunter. A member of the ancient House ...

(1871–1940). They divorced and she married Geoffrey George Whitney Sr. in 1913. In 1887, he commissioned architect

Theophilus P. Chandler Jr. Theophilus Parsons Chandler Jr. (September 7, 1845 – August 16, 1928) was an American architect of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He spent his career at Philadelphia, and is best remembered for his churches and country houses. He fou ...

to build him a home. Lyndhurst, completed in 1889 and demolished around 1942, was located at 1165 Beechwood Boulevard in the

Squirrel Hill Squirrel Hill is a residential neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The city officially divides it into two neighborhoods, Squirrel Hill North and Squirrel Hill South, but it is almost universally treated ...

neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Thaw died in Paris on August 17, 1889.

Legacy

He is considered to have been one of the 100 wealthiest Americans, having left an enormous fortune. He was the father of

, whose 1906 killing of noted architect

resulted in a sensational "

trial of the century "Trial of the century" is an idiomatic phrase used to describe certain well-known court cases, especially of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. It is often used popularly as a rhetorical device to attach importance to a trial and as such is not a ...

" and aftermath. A small town in East Central Illinois is named Thawville, Illinois in honor of William Thaw Sr. William K. Thaw owned a controlling interest in the Gilman, Clinton & Springfield Railroad and Thawville was platted in November 1871. The GCS went into receivership during the panic of 1873 and was later taken over by the Illinois Central Company. William K. Thaw visited the town only once—in February 1874 or 1875. At that time he was snowbound in town for two or three days. Taylor John owned the land now included in Thawville as far east as Wood St. and as far north as County Road (State Aid Road). Although an attempt to incorporate Thawville failed in 1897, another attempt was successful in 1903. The town is still there. A plaque is on the front of 304 Wood Street in Downtown Pittsburgh, commemorating his birthplace.

References

External links

Biography of William ThawHistoric Pittsburgh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thaw, William Sr. 1818 births 1889 deaths Harvard University people Businesspeople from Pittsburgh Burials at Allegheny Cemetery 19th-century American businesspeople