Wednesday, March 7, 2007

THOMAS S. CLARKE

Thomas S Clarke



Thomas S Clarke is the name of two men from the same prominent Pittsburgh family, who were grandfather and grandson. The middle generation was SFF&HC member Charles J Clarke, who is profiled elsewhere in this work

Thomas S. Clarke
1801 -1867

THOMAS SHIELDS CLARKE, the subject of this sketch, was born at Canonsburg, Pa., Jan. 18, 1801, and passed away at his home in Oakland, Pittsburgh, Oct. 19, 1867.

Thomas S Clarke was William Thaw’s brother-in-law and partner pre 1856; in 1856 Thomas S. Clarke and William Thaw joined forces to undertaken the conduct of the freight traffic of the Pennsylvania Railroad from Pittsburgh to all points west. At that time there was no system through bills of lading or through cars as later prevailed, and each railroad worked ‘upon its own hook’. The whole business of freight transportation was in an almost chaotic state. In about 1864 the Pennsylvania railroad devised a system of through transportation over different lines, Clarke and Thaw helped bring this about.

His photo may be seen here:

http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=pitttext;cc=pitttext;q1=thomas%20s%20clarke;rgn=full%20text;idno=00afq9167m;didno=00afq9167m;view=image;seq=0213

You can read more about him, here

http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=pitttext;cc=pitttext;q1=clarke;rgn=full%20text;idno=00afq9167m;didno=00afq9167m;view=image;seq=980;page=root;size=s;frm=frameset

On July 5, 1831, Thomas S. Clarke married Eliza Thaw, the daughter of John Thaw and sister of William Thaw, the father of SFF&HC member Benjamin Thaw. The son of Thomas S. Clarke and Eliza Thaw Clarke was SFF&HC member Charles J Clarke and their other child was a daughter was Agnes Shields Clarke.

Thomas S. Clarke
1860-?

Thomas Clarke (2) was the grandson and namesake of Thomas S. Clarke (1) who was born to Charles J Clarke and Louisa Semple in 1860. Along with is father and brother Lewis Semple Clarke, he was a member (charter member) of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club.

He was 29 years old at the time of the Flood.

3 comments:

C.A. Chicoine said...

More information on Thomas Shields Clarke(2) can be found at http://graylocke.tripod.com/tsclarke/index.html

Vicomte Flesym said...

Thank you for telling me about this link.

Unknown said...

There is some confusion about Edward “Eddie” Thaw. His parents were James H. Thaw born about 1843 and 26 years at time of birth of Eddie; and Susan or Sarah Thaw age 14 years 11 days at time of his birth. The young family was living in the home of 50 year old Elizabeth Clark, an Irish born housekeeper; and her children Albert, Nick, and Lizzie. It was Eddie’s Aunt Lizzie who was tried and acquitted in the murder of Eddie, who obviously did not survive. Lizzie and the grandmother Elizabeth were beneficiaries of the 17 year old Eddie’ s Life insurance policies. Lizzie’s husband at the time, Charles Bunnell left her in the beginning of the trial. There was never conclusive evidence on how Eddie consumed the arsenic that killed him, though Lizzie had purchased a product called “Rough on Rats” at the time of his sickness.
Though I haven’t verified it, Eddie at 17 May have been the cousin of Harry Kendall Thaw, about 15 at the time of Eddie’s death.
The Edward Thaw who died in 1924 in Los Angeles, was the younger brother of Harry.