Thomas Wightman and Isabella Ruth Russell
Husband Thomas Wightman 1 2 3 4
Born: 8 Jan 1818 - Newtownards, County Down, Ireland 2 5 Christened: Died: 1 Sep 1908 4 Buried:
Father: James Wightman ( - ) 2 4 5 Mother: Martha Smiley ( -Abt 1830) 2 5
Marriage: 30 Jul 1845 2 6
Wife Isabella Ruth Russell 2 4 6
Born: 30 Jul 1824 2 Christened: Died: 1 Mar 1904 2 Buried:
Father: John Russell ( - ) 2 4 Mother: Catherine Anderson ( - ) 4
Children
1 M Rev. John R. Wightman 2 6
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
2 M James Smiley Wightman 2 6
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
3 M Algernon Sydney Wightman 2 7
Born: 9 Feb 1851 - Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co, PA 4 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Elizabeth R. Robinson ( - ) 8 Marr: 24 May 1887 4
4 M William Henry Wightman 2 6
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
5 F Mary Noble Wightman 2 6
Born: Abt 1862 Christened: Died: 1890 2 6 Buried:
6 M Samuel Ralston Wightman 2 6
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
7 F Isabella Ruth Wightman 2 6
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
8 M Thomas Wightman, Jr. 2 6
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
General Notes: Husband - Thomas Wightman
He was a native son of the Emerald Isle, having been born near the ancient seaport town of Newtownards, on Lough Strangford, county Down, about ten miles east of the city of Belfast.
For many years he was one of the well known glass manufacturers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for a quarter of a century head of the Thomas Wightman Glass Company. He was in active business until one year prior to his death.
His early educational advantages were such as were afforded in a little schoolhouse of red brick in the city of Pittsburgh. At an early age he developed distinctive proficiency in mathematics, and after leaving the day school to enter upon his business career he continued his studies in night schools and thus laid an excellent foundation for that broad and exact fund of knowledge which he has since gained by judicious reading and through active participation in business affairs of wide scope. At the age of fourteen years Mr. Wightman secured a clerkship in a local grocery, where he was employed for a period of two years, at the expiration of which, in 1834, he resigned and took a position in the glass manufactory of William McCully, thus giving inception to his career in connection with a line of industry with which he was thereafter identified. Upon taking up his new duties he was assigned to the work of the packing department, and shortly after he entered the employ of Mr. McCully that gentleman was called to New Orleans and entrusted the charge of the business to Mr. Wightman, who was not yet fifteen years of age. His employer returned and was so much impressed with the discrimination and proficiency shown by the youth that he offered him the responsible position of superintendent of the factory, which he accepted, retaining the incumbency until the year 1840, when, at the age of twenty-two years, he was admitted to partnership in the business, under the firm name of William McCully & Company. This association obtained until 1851, when Mr. Wightman entered into partnership with Frederick Lorenz, a former business associate of Mr. McCully. Mr. Lorenz died very suddenly, in 1856. He had become involved in financial difficulty and the business was assigned to Mr. Wightman for the benefit of creditors. Mr. Wightman simultaneously identified himself with the firm of Alexander D. Chambers' Sons, in the same line of enterprise. Atwood Lorenz, who had assumed charge of his father's interests, died shortly afterward, and Mr. Wightman thereupon resumed control of the business, which was conducted for a number of years under the firm name of Lorenz and Wightman, the title later being changed to Wightman & Company, Limited, until the name was adopted: the Thomas Wightman Glass Company, under which operations were successfully carried forward for the past eight years. In the city of Pittsburgh the plant of the concern comprised two large factories with the most improved equipment, one being devoted to the production of window glass and the other to bottle glass, and in addition to this the company also maintained factories at Parker's Landing and Monongahela, while a large jobbing business was conducted in quarters at 204 Wood street, in the city of Pittsburgh.
In politics Mr. Wightman originally gave his support to the Whig party, having cast his first presidential vote for William Henry Harrison, but upon the organization of the Republican party he transferred his allegiance to the same and was thereafter an uncompromising advocate of the principles and policies for which it stood. He was a zealous and consistent member of the Presbyterian church, in whose faith he was reared, and for thirty-six years he held membership in the old Fourth Presbyterian church, until he identified with the Bellefield church, of which he was an elder for the long period of thirty years, doing all in his power to forward the spiritual and material work of the church.
Mr. Wightman had important capitalist interests aside from those to which reference has been made. He was vice-president of the First National Bank and of the People's Bank for Savings, and also the Safe Deposit & Trust Company, implying, of course, a membership in the directorate of each of these important institutions. For many years he was a member of the board of trustees of the state reform school, and beginning in 1882 he held the office of president of the board. Mr. Wightman was the owner of valuable realty in the city of Pittsburgh, including his beautiful residence on Forbes street, which was located on a tract of ten acres and one of the finest homes in the city.
Even when past the age of fourscore years Mr. Wightman was to be found each day at his office, giving his personal supervision to his business affairs and showing a mental and physical vigor which would be a credit to one of far less years.
Mr. Wightman was ever appreciative of the higher values of life, and he read widely and understandingly of the best literature, and had one of the finest private libraries to be found in the state.
Prominent among the leading glass-manufacturers of Pittsburgh appears the name of Thomas Wightman. He was one of the earliest to engage in this important industry, and is recognized as one of the fathers of the business. In 1840, in connection with William McCully and Frederick Lorenz, he engaged in operating the Sligo Window-Glass works, established in 1824, and also the old O'Hara works, on South Side or West End. Subsequently the firm separated, and in 1851 Messrs. Lorenz and Wightman organized another firm, under the style of Lorenz & Wightman, retaining the O'Hara works. After the death of F. Lorenz Mr. Wightman withdrew, and the works were operated by F. Lorenz, Jr., for a few years. After his death they passed into possession, as lessees, of Fahnestock, Albree & Co., who operated them for about two years in 1860, 1861 or 1862. Later on M. A. Lorenz, Thomas Wightman and Nimick & Co. carried on the works under the name and style of Lorenz & Wightman until the demise of Mr. Lorenz, when the firm became Thomas Wightman & Co., and afterward put into a limited company, in 1883. Mr. Wightman was then engaged in the manufacture of window-glass and bottles, and was one of the leading manufacturers of Pittsburgh.
1 —, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part II (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 251.
2 John W. Jordan, LL.D, A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People, Vol. IV (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1908), Pg 264.
3 —, Encyclopedia of Genealogy and Biography of the State of Pennsylvania (New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1904), Pg 1055.
4 —, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 533.
5 —, Encyclopedia of Genealogy and Biography of the State of Pennsylvania (New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1904), Pg 1056.
6 —, Encyclopedia of Genealogy and Biography of the State of Pennsylvania (New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1904), Pg 1061.
7 —, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 533, 983.
8
—, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 983.
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