John George Alexander Leishman

John George Alexander Leishman, American businessman and diplomat, was been born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on March 28, 1857, the only son of Scots-Irish immigrants. His father John B. Leishman had drowned in the Allegheny River the same year in which he was born. Leishman began a lifetime of work at age ten, as an assistant for a Pittsburgh physician. Over the next seventeen years, Leishman would rise to become a trusted confidant of both Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Carnegie.

Early Career

Prior to his entry into the Carnegie service, John Leishman had been in the service of Shoenberger Steel Company, as what was termed a "mud clerk". Mud clerks were the steel industry’s representatives on the river wharf, responsible for tracking the shipping of goods: the arrival of raw materials and the departure of finished products. To guarantee efficiency and success, mud clerks lived 24 hours a day in small sheds on the riverbank. This work led first to an unsuccessful venture as an independent steel broker and then a successful partnership with his friend and colleague from Shoenberger Steel, William Penn Snyder.

Carnegie Steel Years

As senior partner in Leishman and Snyder, Leishman caught the attention of Andrew Carnegie, who convinced Leishman to enter Carnegie's service on October 1, 1884, as Special Sales Agent. Carnegie saw more than a little of himself in the younger man; throughout his life, Carnegie continued to think of Leishman as one of his “boys” and included Leishman in the official “History of the Carnegie Veterans Association”. Leishman occupied the following positions: Vice Chairman, Carnegie Brothers & Company, Ltd.; Vice President and Treasurer, Carnegie Steel Company and President, Carnegie Steel Company.

Personal Life

On September 9, 1880, at Homewood Chapel, Leishman married Julia Crawford, the daughter of Edward Crawford of Pittsburgh, and his wife, Nancy Fergussen. To them were born three children, Martha (1882-1944), Nancy (1894-1983) and John, Jr (1887-1942). The Leishman's social and business connections provided entrée into an extraordinarily exclusive circle of sixty-odd families, called the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. It was conceived as an idyllic summer colony, bought and developed by Henry Clay Frick in Cambria County, a short, convenient train ride away from the smoke and soot of Pittsburgh’s industry.

The Johnstown Flood

To create the summer colony, an abandoned Pennsylvania Railroad earthen dam was rebuilt and increased in size to create a mountaintop reservoir for pleasure boating, which was named Lake Conemaugh. Among the Club’s members were Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Mellon. The Club’s earthen dam failed on May 31, 1889, contributing to the Johnstown Flood disaster.

Many of the Pittsburgh members of the Club were hastily assembled in an ad hoc meeting and formed “The Pittsburgh Relief Committee.” Two decisions were made at that meeting. One was to make immediate, generous and tangible gifts to help the flood relief efforts. The other was a pledge never to speak of the Club or the Flood in public or in private. All litigation was handled by attorneys Philander Knox and his partner James Hay Reed, both of whom were themselves South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club members.

Assassination Attempt Foiled

On July 23, 1892, Alexander Berkman, a self-proclaimed anarchist, sought to destroy Henry Clay Frick, the man Berkman blamed for the carnage of the Homestead steel strike in the preceding weeks. Armed with a pistol and a sharpened rat-tailed file, Berkman gained easy access to the headquarters of Carnegie Steel and found his way into the second floor private office of the chairman, 43-year-old Henry Clay Frick. Berkman forced his way into Frick's private office on the heels of a porter who had taken in his card. He opened fire, and Frick fell to the ground with three bullets in his body. Berkman was fended off by Leishman, Frick’s second in command, who was in Frick’s office at the time.

Diplomatic Career

Amid the growing rancor between Frick and Carnegie, Leishman attempted to steer a middle course until he retired from Carnegie service in June 1897, to accept appointment by President William McKinley, as United States Minster to Switzerland. Thereafter, Leishman served as American ambassador to Turkey, Italy and Germany. His children made European marriages that were much talked of at the time, Martha (who later styled herself Marthe) married first Count Louis de Gounaut-Biron, and secondly the heir to the Equitable Insurance fortune, James Hazen Hyde (their son was Henry Baldwin Hyde of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in World War II. Nancy married first Karl von Croy, and secondly Andreas d'Oldenberg, Danish ambassador to France. John Jr. was for a time married to Elizabeth Helene Demarest, whose daughter by a subsequent marriage is the present Duchess of Sutherland.

Leishman retired to private life in 1914. His wife Julia died in 1918; Leishman, on March 27, 1924--both in Monte Carlo. They are buried in the Cemeterie de Monaco.

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References and sources:

"History of Carnegie Veterans Association” by William B. Dickson, 1938.

“Who Was Who in America,” 1897-1942, page 720.

“The Romance of Steel: The Story of a Thousand Millionaires,” by Herbert N Cassar, page 149.

“The Turk and His Lost Provinces,” by William Elery Curtis, Chicago: Fleming, Revell Co., 1903.

“The Martial Adventures of Henry and Me,” William Allan White

The Associated Press, Sketch #2459, issued July 1, 1936: “James Hazen Hyde.”

Saxon, Wolfgang, “Henry Hyde is Dead at 82: Wartime Spymaster for O.S.S.”, “New York Times,” 8 April 1997.

“J. G. Leishman Dies: A Former Diplomat,” “New York Times, March 28, 1924.

Chiefs of Mission by Country, 1778-2005; www.state.gov

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