William Thaw Sr.

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American businessman (1818–1889)

title: "William Thaw Sr." type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1818-births", "1889-deaths", "harvard-university-people", "businesspeople-from-pittsburgh", "burials-at-allegheny-cemetery", "19th-century-american-businesspeople"] description: "American businessman (1818–1889)" topic_path: "people/1810s" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thaw_Sr." license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American businessman (1818–1889) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameWilliam Thaw
imageWilliam Thaw.jpg
birth_date
birth_placePittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
death_date
death_placeParis, France
spouse{{Plainlist
children{{Plainlist
parentsJohn Thaw
Elizabeth Thomas
relativesRussell William Thaw (grandson)
William Thaw II (grandson)
signatureSignature of William Thaw Sr.png
::

| name = William Thaw | image = William Thaw.jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Paris, France | death_cause = | spouse = {{Plainlist|

Early life

He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 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. 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.

Philanthropy

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.

Personal life

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Thaw_Home_Cresson_LOC13982v_(cropped).jpg" caption="Lyndhurst, the Thaw mansion in Pittsburgh, built 1887–1889"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/William_Thaw_Monument,_Allegheny_Cemetery,_2015-06-19,_01.jpg" caption="William Thaw monument in [[Allegheny Cemetery]], Pittsburgh"] ::

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 (1871–1947), who in 1906 shot and killed the prominent architect Stanford White in front of hundreds of witnesses. The murder resulted in a sensational "trial of the century" in which Harry Thaw was 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.
  • 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. After his death, she married Roger, Comte de Périgny and became Countess de Périgny.
  • Alice Cornelia Thaw (1880–1955), who married George Seymour, 7th Marquess of Hertford (1871–1940). They divorced and she married Geoffrey George Whitney Sr. in 1913.

In 1887, Thaw commissioned architect Theophilus P. Chandler Jr. to build him a home. Lyndhurst, completed in 1889 and demolished around 1942, was located at 1165 Beechwood Boulevard in the Squirrel Hill 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.

Thawville, Illinois, a small town in the east central part of the state, is named in honor of William K. Thaw, who owned a controlling interest in the Gilman, Clinton & Springfield Railroad. 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. Thaw visited the town only once—in February of either 1874 or 1875; at that time he was snowbound in town for two or three days. An attempt to incorporate Thawville failed in 1897, but another attempt in 1903 succeeded.

A plaque on the front of 304 Wood Street in downtown Pittsburgh commemorates William K. Thaw's birthplace.

References

References

  1. (June 10, 1929). "Mary C. Thaw Dies; A Philanthropist; Mother of Harry K. Thaw Succumbs to Pneumonia in Her 87th Year. Lifetime Gifts $6,000,000. Widow of a Pittsburgher Who Figured Largely in Development of Pennsylvania Railroad. Her Father a Pioneer Editor". [[New York Times]].
  2. (June 10, 1929). "Mrs. Thaw, 86 Dead At Home In Pittsburgh. Mother of Harry K. Thaw, Widely Known For Many Philanthropies, Victim of Pneumonia". [[Associated Press]] in the [[Hartford Courant]].
  3. (February 22, 1947). "Harry K. Thaw is Dead in Florida. Coronary Thrombosis Fatal to Former 'Playboy' Who Shot Stanford White in 1906". [[New York Times]].
  4. (February 22, 1947). "Harry K. Thaw, Ex-Millionaire Playboy, Is Dead". [[Chicago Tribune]].
  5. (March 3, 1947). "Died".
  6. (March 30, 1947). "Harry Thaw Will Leaves $10,000 To Evelyn Nesbit".
  7. (January 10, 1942). "Countess De Perigny, Harry Thaws Sister. Widow of George L. Carnegie, Nephew of Steel Magnate". [[The New York Times]].
  8. (November 8, 1945). "Count Roger De Perigny. British East Africa Rancher Married Carnegie Kin". [[New York Times]].
  9. (February 10, 1924). "Countess Perigny Sued For Alienation. Newark Woman Says Sister of Harry Thaw Stole Husband, an Auto Salesman". [[New York Times]].
  10. (May 10, 1955). "Mrs. Geoffrey Whitney, Broker's Widow And Member of Thaw Family, Dies at 75". [[The New York Times]].
  11. (December 19, 1912). "Former Countess of Yarmouth to Marry Boston Broker in Spring". [[New York Times]].
  12. (1889-08-17). "Death of William Thaw". The Yonkers Statesman.
  13. (1889-08-18). "Obituary". [[The New York Times]].
  14. (1996). "The Wealthy 100: From Benjamin Franklin to Bill Gates—A Ranking of the Richest Americans, Past and Present". Carol Publishing Group.

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