William H. Singer

John F. Singer kept a low public profile and very little is recorded about him. On the other hand, William H., 19 years younger than his brother John, lived in a more public way. The profile from Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania is helpful in understanding the family and their contribution to the steel industry.

The steel manufacturers of Pittsburgh have more than any other class of men given to the Iron City her undisputed supremacy, kindling the blaze of those lurid fires, the roar of which is as ceaseless as that of Niagara. Among the magnates of this colossal industry who have now passed from our sight but whose influence still animates the city which was the scene of their labors and achievements, none was more powerful than William H. Singer; of the firm of Singer, Nimick & Company, which for more than half a century held a commanding position in the steel manufacturing world.

Simon Singer, grandfather of William H. Singer, was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and later moved to Greensburg, in the same State. He married Mary Claussen, and sons and daughters were born to them.

George, son of Simon and Mary (Claussen) Singer, was born in 1797, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and in 1833 removed to Pittsburgh, where he engaged in business. He married Elizabeth Fleger, and they became the parents of eight children.

William H., son of George and E1izabeth (Fleger) Singer, was born October 2, 1835, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received a liberal education in the public and private schools of his native city, and made his entrance into business life as clerk in the service of Wallingford & Company, a well known commercial house. Later he associated himself with G. & J. H. Schoonberger & Company, iron manufacturers, with whom he remained several years.

His business talents, which were of the highest order, joined to his indomitable will, rendered it a foregone conclusion that he should enter a wider field of action, and in 1860 he became a member of the firm of Singer, Hartman & Company, steel manufacturers.

This celebrated house was founded in 1848 by John F. Singer, an elder brother of William H. Singer, the style becoming later Singer, Nimick & Company, and the house continued in existence until 1900.

In 1880 Mr. Singer was one of the founders and first president of the Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel Company, retaining the presidency until 1883, when this company was purchased by the Carnegie Steel Company, and it is now the Homestead Works of the Carnegie Company.

From 1883 until the close of his life. Mr. Singer was a director of the Carnegie Steel Company, and also of the Crucible Steel Company of America. His close and prominent connection with the steel industry extended over a period of half a century, and he won distinction as the originator of many useful improvements and appliances in this manufacture.

Among his inventions were the “rolling bevel” on circular plates, “soft centre” plough and safe steel, and “liquid compression“ for saw steel.

In all the positions which he filled he exhibited remarkable executive ability and judgment that was seldom at fault. He was a rare leader of men, possessing marvelous force, and at the same time always carrying with him a genial humor that made him most attractive. Himself the soul of honor, fraud and pretension were things he would not tolerate.

Intensely public-spirited, Mr. Singer took an active part in every movement which in his judgment tended to promote the best interests of his city and State. He ever stood as a synonym for all that is enterprising in business and progressive in citizenship. Those familiar with his fine personal appearance, his manly, handsome face, strong, and yet genial and gentle in its expression, cannot fail to remember how well his features and bearing illustrated his character.

In mind he was vigorous, direct, straightforward, truthful, and severely logical. Forcible in speech, he possessed a fine fund of humor, and was of inexhaustible charity and kindness of heart—a true gentleman and a loyal friend. He was a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, the Engineersrsquo; Societv of Western Pennsylvania, and the Duquesne, Pittsburgh, and Alleghenv Country clubs. He was a vestryman of Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church, Allegheny.

Mr. Singer married, May 27, 1858, Hester Laird Harton, of Pittsburgh, and they were the parents of the following children: George Harton; Elizabeth, who married W. Ross Proctor; William H., an artist of note; and Marguerite, wife of Dr. Robert Milligan. The Singer residence in Pittsburgh is very beautiful, and they have a charming summer home at Edgeworth, Pennsylvania.

Mrs. Singer—a woman of peculiar sweetness and beauty of character, combined with intellectual brilliancy and an unusual degree of energy—is the centre of a large circle of warmly attached friends.

The death of William H. Singer, which occurred September 4, 1909, at his home in Pittsburgh [?], removed from the city one whose life had become an integral part of its history—a member of one of its most prominent and representative families, a man of unquestioned honor and integrity and devoted to the ties of friendship and of kindred, regarding them as a sacred trust. It is but a few years since the distinguished figure of Mr. Singer was last seen among us, but his influence is still felt in the continuance and increase of the noble industry which was inspired and fostered by his genius and which his practical benevolence rendered a source of blessing to thousands.

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John W. Jordan, ed., Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania vol. 1. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915, pp. 60–62.