Parent(s) John Thaw Name William Sr. | ||
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Born October 12, 1818 ( 1818-10-12 ) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Net worth US$12 million at the time of his death (approximately 1/1040th of US GNP) Relatives Russell William Thaw, grandson
William Thaw II, grandson
Reverend Stephen Thaw, grandson Died August 17, 1889, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States Spouse Mary Sibbet Copley (m. 1867), Eliza Blair (m. 1841) Children Harry Kendall Thaw, Alice Cornelia Thaw, Benjamin Thaw, Sr., Margaret Copley Thaw Similar People Harry Kendall Thaw, Russell William Thaw, Mary Sibbet Copley, Evelyn Nesbit | ||
Grandchildren Russell William Thaw | ||
William Thaw Sr. (October 12, 1818 – August 17, 1889) was an American businessman who made his fortune in transportation and banking.
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Biography
He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 12, 1818, to John Thaw and his wife Elizabeth Thomas. He worked as a clerk in his father's United States Bank of Philadelphia in Pittsburgh. He later switched to McKee, Clark and Co.
In 1841, William Thaw married Eliza Burd Blair (died 1863). They had five children that survived childhood:
By 1842, he and his brother-in-law Thomas Shields Clarke owned steam canal boats, particularly the Pennsylvania and Ohio line. 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, in which he was a large shareholder.
In 1863 after the death of his first wife, he married Mary Sibbet Copley. They had five children that survived childhood:
He died on August 17, 1889.
Philanthropy
William Thaw endowed science fellowships at Harvard University and Princeton University and bestowed lavish gifts on art and education. He underwrote the building of the Allegheny Observatory for John Brashear, considered at the time one of the ten best in the world.
Legacy
He is considered to have been one of the 100 wealthiest Americans, having left an enormous fortune. He was the father of Harry Kendall Thaw, whose 1906 murder of noted architect Stanford White resulted in a sensational trial and aftermath.