James Ellsworth (industrialist)

James W. Ellsworth
James Ellsworth, October 1897
Born(1849-10-13)13 October 1849
Hudson, Ohio, United States
Died2 June 1925(1925-06-02) (aged 75)
Florence, Italy
NationalityAmerican
OccupationIndustrialist
Spouses
Eva Francis Butler
​
​
(m. 1874; died 1888)​
Julia Clarke Fincke
​
​
(m. 1895; died 1921)​
Children2; including Lincoln

James William Ellsworth (October 13, 1849 – June 2, 1925) was an American industrialist and a Pennsylvania coal mine owner. The coal town of Ellsworth, Pennsylvania is named after him.[1] He also served as president of the Caxton Club and the Jekyll Island Club.

Ellsworth married Eva Francis Butler on November 4, 1874. They had two children, Lincoln and Claire, before Butler died in 1888 at the age of 36. In 1895, Ellsworth married Julia Clarke Fincke, who died in 1921 at the age of 74.

In 1907, following the completion of the Monongahela Railway, Ellsworth sold the coal mines to Bethlehem Steel and purchased the Villa Palmieri, Fiesole, in part to further his interests as a collector of art and rare coins.[2]

His son, Lincoln Ellsworth, was a pilot in the Amundsen-Ellsworth Polar Flying Expedition of May 1925 which Ellsworth sponsored. In 1925, Ellsworth died of bronchial pneumonia at his villa near Florence, while awaiting the news of his son's safety.[3]

  1. ^ Marquis, Albert Nelson, ed. (1908). Who's Who in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of the United States: 1908–1909 (PDF). Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 579. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
  2. ^ Heritage Numismatic Auctions Presents the Gold Rush Collection 1932899448 Ivy Press - 2004
  3. ^ "Founder of Ellsworth Dies at Florence, Italy". The Daily Republican. Monongahela, Pennsylvania. June 4, 1925. In the late nineties he came to this part of Pennsylvania and purchased options on coal lands near the present sites of Ellsworth for as low as $30 an acre..