Mellon family | |
---|---|
Current region | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Place of origin | County Tyrone, Ireland |
Founded |
|
Founder | Archibald Mellon |
Connected families |
Larimer family Negley family |
Estate(s) | Rokeby Stables; Oak Spring |
The Mellon family is a wealthy and influential American family from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The family includes Andrew Mellon, one of the longest serving U.S. Treasury Secretaries, along with famous members in the judicial, banking, financial, business, and political professions. Other notable figures include the prominent banker, R.B. Mellon, and his son R.K. Mellon, who provided funding and leadership for the first Pittsburgh Renaissance.
The American branch of the Mellon family traces its origins to County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. In 1816, Archibald Mellon emigrated from Northern Ireland to the United States and set up residence in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. [1] Two years later, Archibald was joined by his son, Andrew, and his family.
The family's wealth originated with Mellon Bank, founded in 1869 by Archibald's grandson, Thomas Mellon. Under the direction of Thomas's son, Andrew William Mellon, the Mellons became principal investors and majority owners of Gulf Oil (which merged with Chevron Corporation in 1985), Alcoa (since 1886), The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (since 1970), Koppers (since 1912), New York Shipbuilding (1899–1968) and Carborundum Corporation, [2] as well as their major financial and ownership influence on Westinghouse Electric, [3][ dead link] H.J. Heinz Company,[ citation needed] Newsweek, U.S. Steel, Credit Suisse First Boston and General Motors.[ citation needed] The family bank would go on to merge with the Bank of New York to become BNY Mellon.
The family also founded the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., donating both art works and funds, and is a patron to the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Yale University, the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer in Haiti, and with art the University of Virginia. Carnegie Mellon University, and its Mellon College of Science, is named in honor of the family, as well as for its founder, Andrew Carnegie, who was a close associate of the Mellons. The family's founding patriarch was Judge Thomas Mellon (1813–1908), [4] the son of Andrew Mellon and Rebecca Wauchob, who were Scotch-Irish farmers from Camp Hill Cottage, in Lower Castletown, County Tyrone, Ireland, and emigrated to what is now the Pittsburgh suburb of north-central Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. The family can be divided into four branches: the descendants of Thomas Alexander Mellon Jr, of James Ross Mellon, of Andrew William Mellon, and of Richard Beatty Mellon. The Mellon family are members of the Episcopal Church. [5]
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The names of fashionable families who were already Episcopalian, like the Morgans, or those, like the Fricks, who now became so, goes on interminably: Aldrich, Astor, Biddle, Booth, Brown, Du Pont, Firestone, Ford, Gardner, Mellon, Morgan, Procter, the Vanderbilt, Whitney. Episcopalians branches of the Baptist Rockefellers and Jewish Guggenheims even appeared on these family trees.
The Mellon family controlled, through ownership of stock, seven of the 200 largest non-financial corporations in 1937. (1) Gulf Oil Corporation was controlled through 70 percent of the common stock owned by members of the Mellon family. Gulf Oil Corporation in turn controlled the Texas Gulf Sulphur Company through predominant minority (34 percent) ownership of common stock. The Mellon family [also] owned 52 percent of the common, 82 percent of the preferred, stock of (3) Koppers United Company. This is a holding company owning all the voting stock of Koppers Company, one of the largest producers of coke and coal in the United States. Koppers Company is also a holding company, owning 67 percent of the Virginian Corporation, which in turn held controlling interests in (4) The Virginian Railway and (5) The Brooklyn Union Gas Company. Slightly more than half of the common stock, and 33.9 percent of the preferred, of the (6) Pittsburgh Coal Company were owned by members of the Mellon family.(7) The Aluminum Company of America was controlled [by the Mellon family] through ownership of 35.2 percent of the common, 25 percent of the preferred, stock, by far the largest block in existence.
Today the Mellons control or own substantial shares in a $6 billion industrial and financial domain. In addition to the holdings in the bank, now the Mellon National, the family owns about 30% of Alcoa, 41.3% of Gulf Oil, 33% of the First Boston Corporation, 40% of Koppers Company, and 100% of Carborundum Company.
During the days when Wall Street was as boring as a gray flannel suit, [Thomas Mellon] Evans was one of its more daring and rapacious characters, waging waves of takeover battles. Sometimes, he was victorious, as with the Crane Company, and a cement maker, the Medusa Corporation. Sometimes, he was defeated, as he was with Anaconda and Westinghouse Air Brake.
"Guilford Transportation Company (GTI) became a major player in carrying freight throughout the Northeastern United States when it entered the railroad business in 1981. It bought not only the Maine Central Railroad but also the Boston and Maine Corporation and the Delaware and Hudson Railway Company...GTI changed its name to Pan Am Systems in 2006. The company is privately owned by an heir to the Mellon banking fortune, Timothy Mellon, and other stakeholders including David Fink, formerly of Penn Central, and his son, David A. Fink.
Judge Thomas Mellon bought the Ligonier and Latrobe Rail Road in 1871 when the line was still incomplete. Mellon changed the name to the Ligonier Valley Railroad and completed the line in 1877.
After losing a good deal of money with this early partisan of the New Deal, which subsequently reversed policy, Harriman and Astor bought a large interest early in 1937 in News-Week. There they joined a group of other important stockholders, which included Ward Cheney, of the Cheney silk family, John Hay Whitney, and Paul Mellon, son of Andrew W. Mellon.
The Post-Gazette's new competition came from the Greensberg— now Pittsburgh—Tribune Review owned by Richard Mellon Scaife, heir to banking, oil and steelmaking fortunes.
At Butler, Pennsylvania, [Andrew] Mellon built the Standard Steel Car Company to manufacture railroad rolling stock.
Mellon family | |
---|---|
Current region | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Place of origin | County Tyrone, Ireland |
Founded |
|
Founder | Archibald Mellon |
Connected families |
Larimer family Negley family |
Estate(s) | Rokeby Stables; Oak Spring |
The Mellon family is a wealthy and influential American family from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The family includes Andrew Mellon, one of the longest serving U.S. Treasury Secretaries, along with famous members in the judicial, banking, financial, business, and political professions. Other notable figures include the prominent banker, R.B. Mellon, and his son R.K. Mellon, who provided funding and leadership for the first Pittsburgh Renaissance.
The American branch of the Mellon family traces its origins to County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. In 1816, Archibald Mellon emigrated from Northern Ireland to the United States and set up residence in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. [1] Two years later, Archibald was joined by his son, Andrew, and his family.
The family's wealth originated with Mellon Bank, founded in 1869 by Archibald's grandson, Thomas Mellon. Under the direction of Thomas's son, Andrew William Mellon, the Mellons became principal investors and majority owners of Gulf Oil (which merged with Chevron Corporation in 1985), Alcoa (since 1886), The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (since 1970), Koppers (since 1912), New York Shipbuilding (1899–1968) and Carborundum Corporation, [2] as well as their major financial and ownership influence on Westinghouse Electric, [3][ dead link] H.J. Heinz Company,[ citation needed] Newsweek, U.S. Steel, Credit Suisse First Boston and General Motors.[ citation needed] The family bank would go on to merge with the Bank of New York to become BNY Mellon.
The family also founded the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., donating both art works and funds, and is a patron to the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Yale University, the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer in Haiti, and with art the University of Virginia. Carnegie Mellon University, and its Mellon College of Science, is named in honor of the family, as well as for its founder, Andrew Carnegie, who was a close associate of the Mellons. The family's founding patriarch was Judge Thomas Mellon (1813–1908), [4] the son of Andrew Mellon and Rebecca Wauchob, who were Scotch-Irish farmers from Camp Hill Cottage, in Lower Castletown, County Tyrone, Ireland, and emigrated to what is now the Pittsburgh suburb of north-central Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. The family can be divided into four branches: the descendants of Thomas Alexander Mellon Jr, of James Ross Mellon, of Andrew William Mellon, and of Richard Beatty Mellon. The Mellon family are members of the Episcopal Church. [5]
{{
cite web}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(
help)
The names of fashionable families who were already Episcopalian, like the Morgans, or those, like the Fricks, who now became so, goes on interminably: Aldrich, Astor, Biddle, Booth, Brown, Du Pont, Firestone, Ford, Gardner, Mellon, Morgan, Procter, the Vanderbilt, Whitney. Episcopalians branches of the Baptist Rockefellers and Jewish Guggenheims even appeared on these family trees.
The Mellon family controlled, through ownership of stock, seven of the 200 largest non-financial corporations in 1937. (1) Gulf Oil Corporation was controlled through 70 percent of the common stock owned by members of the Mellon family. Gulf Oil Corporation in turn controlled the Texas Gulf Sulphur Company through predominant minority (34 percent) ownership of common stock. The Mellon family [also] owned 52 percent of the common, 82 percent of the preferred, stock of (3) Koppers United Company. This is a holding company owning all the voting stock of Koppers Company, one of the largest producers of coke and coal in the United States. Koppers Company is also a holding company, owning 67 percent of the Virginian Corporation, which in turn held controlling interests in (4) The Virginian Railway and (5) The Brooklyn Union Gas Company. Slightly more than half of the common stock, and 33.9 percent of the preferred, of the (6) Pittsburgh Coal Company were owned by members of the Mellon family.(7) The Aluminum Company of America was controlled [by the Mellon family] through ownership of 35.2 percent of the common, 25 percent of the preferred, stock, by far the largest block in existence.
Today the Mellons control or own substantial shares in a $6 billion industrial and financial domain. In addition to the holdings in the bank, now the Mellon National, the family owns about 30% of Alcoa, 41.3% of Gulf Oil, 33% of the First Boston Corporation, 40% of Koppers Company, and 100% of Carborundum Company.
During the days when Wall Street was as boring as a gray flannel suit, [Thomas Mellon] Evans was one of its more daring and rapacious characters, waging waves of takeover battles. Sometimes, he was victorious, as with the Crane Company, and a cement maker, the Medusa Corporation. Sometimes, he was defeated, as he was with Anaconda and Westinghouse Air Brake.
"Guilford Transportation Company (GTI) became a major player in carrying freight throughout the Northeastern United States when it entered the railroad business in 1981. It bought not only the Maine Central Railroad but also the Boston and Maine Corporation and the Delaware and Hudson Railway Company...GTI changed its name to Pan Am Systems in 2006. The company is privately owned by an heir to the Mellon banking fortune, Timothy Mellon, and other stakeholders including David Fink, formerly of Penn Central, and his son, David A. Fink.
Judge Thomas Mellon bought the Ligonier and Latrobe Rail Road in 1871 when the line was still incomplete. Mellon changed the name to the Ligonier Valley Railroad and completed the line in 1877.
After losing a good deal of money with this early partisan of the New Deal, which subsequently reversed policy, Harriman and Astor bought a large interest early in 1937 in News-Week. There they joined a group of other important stockholders, which included Ward Cheney, of the Cheney silk family, John Hay Whitney, and Paul Mellon, son of Andrew W. Mellon.
The Post-Gazette's new competition came from the Greensberg— now Pittsburgh—Tribune Review owned by Richard Mellon Scaife, heir to banking, oil and steelmaking fortunes.
At Butler, Pennsylvania, [Andrew] Mellon built the Standard Steel Car Company to manufacture railroad rolling stock.