Mellon family
Thomas Mellon, founder of the Mellon banking dynasty.
Current regionPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Place of originCounty Tyrone, Ireland
Founded
  • 1816
  • 208 years ago
FounderArchibald Mellon
Connected familiesLarimer 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 prominent members in the judicial, banking, financial, business, and political professions, as well as banker R.B. Mellon, and his son R.K. Mellon, who provided funding and leadership for the first Pittsburgh Renaissance.

History

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] 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]

Prominent members

Andrew Mellon, prominent banker and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury throughout the Roaring Twenties.

Members

Network

Associates

Businesses

Philanthropy & miscellaneous nonprofits

Buildings, estates & historic sites

References

  1. ^ "Thomas Mellon '" from modest Tyrone roots to founder of American dynasty". www.newsletter.co.uk. October 22, 2018. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
  2. ^ "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  3. ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=1929012. ((cite web)): Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ^ Fitzpatrick, Dan (July 1, 2007). "Mellon family's legacy lives on". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  5. ^ W. Williams, Peter (2016). Religion, Art, and Money: Episcopalians and American Culture from the Civil War to the Great Depression. University of North Carolina Press. p. 176. ISBN 9781469626987. 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.
  6. ^ Tanfani, Joseph (25 July 2013). "Late heiress' anti-immigration efforts live on". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013.
  7. ^ "Obituary: Richard M. Scaife / Ideologue, philanthropist, newspaper publisher". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  8. ^ Imbach, Florian. "Der Mann ohne Heimat". Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  9. ^ Lowitt, Richard (2016). Twentieth-Century Oklahoma: Reflections on the Forty-Sixth State. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 317. ISBN 978-0-8061-4910-3. OCLC 910936292.
  10. ^ "Mellons in Pittsburgh" (PDF). Old Post Gazette. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  11. ^ "Beaver County Times - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  12. ^ "Helen Mellon Schmidt obituary". St. Augustine Record. September 27, 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  13. ^ "Mrs. Edward P. Mellon's obituary". New York Times. September 6, 1938. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  14. ^ "Matthew T. Mellon '22". paw.princeton.edu. Princeton Alumni Weekly. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  15. ^ "Paid Notice: Deaths WALTON, RACHEL MELLON". The New York Times. 14 March 2006. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  16. ^ "The Heinz Endowments : Board of Directors". Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  17. ^ "Miss Orr Marries James Walton Jr". The New York Times. 8 September 1991. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  18. ^ McNulty, Timothy. "'Throwback' to the golden age of wealth and power in the city". Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  19. ^ Pace, Eric (2 December 2000). "Gwen Grant Mellon, 89, Dies; Founder of a Haitian Hospital". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  20. ^ "Wood & Torbert Families - William Larimer Mellon III". www.woodvorwerk.com.
  21. ^ "Anna Burke, Justin Patterson". The New York Times. 22 September 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  22. ^ Grove, Lloyd (July 8, 1998). "Child of Fortune, Take 2". The Washington Post. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  23. ^ Vondas, Jerry (August 5, 2003). "Renowned decorator also respected for generosity". TribLIVE.com. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  24. ^ "Constance Barber Mellon, 41, Prominent Patron of the Arts". The New York Times. 4 January 1983. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  25. ^ Cannadine 2006, pp. 80–81.
  26. ^ Kotz, David M. (1980). Bank Control of Large Corporations in the United States. University of California Press. p. 114. ISBN 0-520-03937-8.
  27. ^ Cannadine 2006, pp. 137–138.
  28. ^ Commercial Bankings and their Trust Activities: Emerging Influence on the American Economy, Vol.1. Staff Report for the Subcommittee on Domestic Finance, Committee on Banking and Currency, House of Representatives, 90th Congress, 2d Session, p.770. (July 8, 1968).
  29. ^ Chavez, Lydia (1981-05-27). "Mellon Also Buying the Maine Central". New York Times. p. 5, Section D. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
  30. ^ "Spring Valley Mining and Irrigation Company Records MSS.015". Online Archive of California. California State University, Chico, Special Collections, Meriam Library. 2012-11-28. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
  31. ^ "Richard Scaife, Conservative Champion, Newsman & Philanthropist, Dies". TribLive.com. Tribune-Review Publishing Company. 2014-07-04. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
  32. ^ Tribune Review 2014.
  33. ^ "Foundation Gets $708,942." Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 27, 1971, p. 6 (subscription required).
  34. ^ Dewey, Susan (2013). "Treasuring the Dunes". Cape Cod Home. Cape Cod Life Publications. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  35. ^ Reginato 2010.
  36. ^ Heyl, Eric (2014-07-05). "Dick Scaife found peace in the beauty of his childhood home, Penguin Court". TribLive.com. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  37. ^ Jacob, Mary K. (2021-10-25). "Cape Cod estate of Bunny Mellon, known as Scallop Path, sold for $19M". New York Post. Retrieved 2023-02-24.

Bibliography

External links

Carnegie Mellon University
City of Pittsburgh
Banking families
Categories