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Below is a family biography included in the History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania published in 1889 by A. Warner & Co.   These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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WILLIAM THAW. One of the most important factors in the prosperity of Pittsburgh and Allegheny county has been the rapid and thorough development of transportation facilities connecting them with distant points, thereby furnishing markets for the immense natural wealth which has made Pittsburgh one of the foremost manufacturing cities in the country, if not in the world. If the establishment of Fort Pitt at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela was a military necessity in the infancy of our country, the erection of manufacturing establishments was no less a necessity in times of peace. The manufacturer, however would be limited but for the facilities afforded for carrying the products of the mill and of the furnace and the forge to other parts of the country. The first medium of transportation, of course, was by wagon, soon to be followed by the stagecoach, the canal-boat and the flatboat, and later by the railway, which could climb the mountains and descend to the valleys, almost annihilating distance, and bringing the producer and the consumer near together. Many have been witnesses to this development, though but few have been permitted to take part in it through its various stages. A prominent figure among these few is Mr. William Thaw, second vice-president of the Pennsylvania company, and manager of one of the great lines that go to make up that immense organization. His experience is an illustration of the rapidity of the evolution from the wagon-train and stagecoach to the palace car and lightening express train.

William Thaw was born in Pittsburgh, Oct. 12, 1818. He is of Scotch-Irish descent, tracing his lineage back to the time of Cromwell, with whom his ancestors, stern Covenanters, were in hearty sympathy. His great grandfather, John Thaw, was born in Philadelphia in 1710, died in 1795, and now lies buried in Abingdon churchyard. Benjamin grandfather of William Thaw, was born in 1753 married Hannah, daughter of Joseph Engle, whose parents, Benjamin and Deborah Engle, were of an old Philadelphia Quaker family and died in 1811. Of their children was John Thaw, a sketch of whom appears above.

William Thaw was born fourteen years after his parents removed to Pittsburgh. His education began at the common schools and was finished in the Western University of Pennsylvania. He began business in 1834, as clerk in his father’s bank, and Feb. 9, 1835, he entered the service of McKee, Clarke & Co., forwarding and commission merchants, as a clerk. In 1840 he formed a partnership with Thomas S. Clarke, as Clarke & Thaw transporters and owners of steam and canal-boats which they continued until 1855. During these years the canal system was the great channel of communication between the east and the west. This had been suggested as early as 1792, but the links in the chain were not connected until the fall of 1834, when the Philadelphia and Columbia road and the Allegheny Portage road were completed, making, with the canal, a through line between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh This gave a wonderful impetus to the latter city, and the business of furnishing transportation became one of the most important lines of enterprise. Clarke & Thaw owned and controlled the Pennsylvania & Ohio line, and held their own. The advent of steam worked a revolution in trade and commerce. The Pennsylvania railroad had its beginning April 13, 1846. The work of construction began at Harrisburg in July. 1847. The last division was opened Feb. 15, 1854, and the subsequent purchase of the Philadelphia & Columbia road gave the Pennsylvania Railroad company through rail connection from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and, of course put an end to the canals. The history of the subsequent growth of this great corporation is familiar to everyone. By successive purchases or leases it has acquired control of and operates 3,211.2 miles of railway. As the railroad system of the country grew, the waterway lines gradually went out of existence. Recognizing the inevitable result of the contest, Mr. Thaw gave himself to the task of disposing of his transportation lines with the least possible loss, and then turned his attention to the new system. In 1856 he joined his former partner, Thomas S. Clarke, who had the previous year undertaken the conduct of the freight traffic of the Pennsylvania railroad between Pittsburgh and all points west. At this time there was no system of through bills of lading and through cars as now prevails, and each road worked “upon its own hook.” The whole business of freight transportation was in an almost chaotic state, and the expenses were tremendous. About 1864 the Pennsylvania Railroad company devised a system of through transportation over different lines, and the Star Union Line was the result. Of this Mr. Thaw had charge until 1873. Mr. Thaw receives and is entitled to a large share of the credit of evolving this system, but he, with characteristic sincerity and modesty, disdains any special credit, and says that his labor was shared by many others, and that the system grew of itself and out of the necessities of the situation. The Pennsylvania company was chartered April 7, 1870, for the purpose of managing, in the interest of the Pennsylvania Railroad company, which owns all the stock of the former company, the roads controlled by the latter west of Pittsburgh. The importance of this company may be estimated when one looks at the list of lines concentrated under its system. Among them are the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago, the Erie & Pittsburgh, the Cleveland & Pittsburgh and its branches, the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis (Pan Handle), the Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh, the Cincinnati & Muskingum Valley, the Little Miami, the St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre Haute, the Grand Rapids & Indiana, and many more. Mr. Thaw is a director in the Pennsylvania Railroad company, second vice-president of the Pennsylvania company, and second vice-president of the P., C. & St. L. Ry., included in the above lines. Since 1873 he has been relieved of most of the duties connected with the transportation department, and gives his attention to the internal and financial affairs of the company.

Mr. Thaw has for many years been a member of the Third Presbyterian Church. He is a director in the Allegheny cemetery. He has been an earnest and generous friend of the Allegheny observatory, and to his liberality that institution is largely indebted for the financial help that has enabled it to prosecute its work. It was through his aid that the expedition of Prof. Langley to Mt. Whitney, in Southern California, some years ago was made possible.

Mr. Thaw has been twice married, and has a large family of children and grandchildren. Six sons and four daughters are living, of whom three are married. In his personal relations Mr. Thaw is one of the most estimable men in Pittsburgh. His large fortune is used for the noblest of purposes. His donations to his alma mater, the Western University of Pennsylvania, for which he cherishes a warm affection, aggregate three or four hundred thousand dollars, while he has given liberally to other educational institutions, as Hanover, Oberlin, Wooster University, Geneva, Carroll (Wisconsin), the college at Maryville, Tenn., the Western Theological Seminary and others, Charitable institutions of all kinds find in him a liberal and generous contributor.

Mentally he is among the foremost men of the state, gifted with a high order of intellect, strengthened by liberal culture, and years of study and observation. He is an excellent judge of men, and quick to detect any shams or pretenses. His reasonings based upon his convictions of right and duty, are never degraded to the service of expediency or mendacity. Impetuous and persistent, he is yet cautious in all that he does. Broad in his views, buoyant in disposition, honest, sincere and self-reliant, strictly upright in all his transactions, he has worthily won and as worthily holds a high position in the esteem and affection of all who know him. His sympathies and benefactions are bounded by no narrow lines of creed or prejudice, and his large benefactions go in every direction in which good may be accomplished. When he shall have passed to his last account, it will be said of him that the world is better for his having lived.

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This family biography is one of 2,156 biographies included in the History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania published in 1889 by A. Warner & Co.

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