Rash's Surname Index


Notes for Joseph WHARTON

WHARTON, Joseph, manufacturer, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., March 3, 1826; son of William and Deborah (Fisher) Wharton; grandson of Charles and Hannah (Redwood) Wharton, and of Samuel Rowland and Hannah (Rodman) Fisher ; great-grandson of Joseph and Hannah (Carpenter) Wharton, and great-grandson of Thomas Wharton, the immigrant. He studied under private tutors, was commercially educated in a mercantile house, 1845-47, and engaged in the manufacture of white lead. He was manager of the Lehigh Zinc Co., 1853-63, and built the first successful smelter works in the United States in 1860. He established, in 1861, the first successful nickel and cobalt works in America, which he sold in 1901 to the International Nickel company. He was married, June 15, 1854, to Anna Corbit, daughter of Joseph S. and Ann (Corbit) Levering of Philadelphia, Pa. He was one of the founders of the Bethlehem Iron company, and established extensive nickel works in Camden, N.J. He was president of the board of managers of Swarthmore college, and endowed its chair of history and economics. He founded in 1881, the Wharton School of Finance and Economy, University of Pennsylvania, and subsequently increased his endowment of it to $500,000. He wrote many treatises on financial and scientific subjects; owned and carried on many industrial businesses, principal among them sundry blast furnaces, iron mines, coal mines and coke ovens. He received the honorary degrees of Sc.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and LL.D. from Swarthmore. He was a member of the Religious Society of Friends.
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