William Welsh Harrison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Welsh Harrison (May 5, 1850 – March 4, 1927) was an American businessman best known for building Grey Towers Castle.
Harrison was born on May 5, 1850, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a son of George Leib Harrison (1811–1885) and Sarah Ann (née Waples) Harrison (1816–1850).[1] Among his siblings were Harriet Morgan Harrison (wife of William W. Frazier),[2] Charles Custis Harrison, and Alfred Craven Harrison.[3] From his father's second marriage to Letitia Henry Mitchell (a sister of Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell,[4] he had a younger half-brother, Mitchell Harrison.[5]
Through his uncle, Thomas Harrison, he was a first cousin of chemical manufacturer George Lieb Harrison, who married Emily McMichael (a daughter of Mayor Morton McMichael).[6] His grandfather, John Harrison, started a chemical firm that was taken over by his cousins John Skelton Harrison and Thomas Skelton Harrison (and later sold to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company).[6]
He was educated at the Germantown Academy and the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1869.[7]
Career
Harrison joined his elder brothers in business with Harrison, Havemeyer and Co. at the Franklin Sugar Refinery, the largest refinery in Philadelphia of which his father had been proprietor. In 1892, they sold their stock to H. O. Havemeyer and the American Sugar Refinery.[8]
Shortly before his death, Harrison sued his broker, Francis Ralston Welsh, charging that Welsh defrauded him of $239,000 over a ten-year period.[9]
