1810 - 1879 (68 years)
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Name |
William Sloane |
Birth |
26 Oct 1810 |
Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland |
Gender |
Male |
Death |
23 May 1879 |
New York City |
Person ID |
I95610 |
My Genealogy |
Last Modified |
17 Nov 2020 |
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Notes |
- William Sloane was born in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, October 26, 1810, and died in New York City, May 23, 1879. After learning the methods of manufacture of carpets in Edinburgh under Richard Whytock the inventor of
the tapestry loom he came to New York in 1834 and at once entered into the employment of Thompson & Company, in Spruce Street. While so employed he made himself a complete master of the business and rose rapidly to a leading position. After nine years' faithful service he embarked in the rug business in 1843 ^t 245 Broadway facing City Hall Park, in a shop only twenty feet by eighty feet. A few years later he took his brother John into partnership and the firm traded under the now well known designation of W. & J. Sloane. Ability, good character, great natural shrewdness and persistent enterprise brought the brothers a growing and prosperous trade. The uptown movement compelled the firm to remove to 501 Broadway and in 1856 to 591 Broadway and in 1867 to 649-655 Broadway, an excellent building erected by themselves. Mr. Sloane did most of the buying for the firm and crossed the ocean many times. At the time of his death Mr. Sloane was a director and share-holder in The Bigelow Carpet Company and in The Alexander Smith & Sons Carpet Company, two of the leading establishments in the country. He was a
member of the Fifth Avene Presbyterian Church after 1845, ^nd during his last four years was its treasurer. He steadfastly refused to accept positions in the management of corporations, on the ground that he could not allow his name to appear, unless he were in a position to vouch for the entire management. A just man, of spotless character, he was highly esteemed. His wife who had been Euphemia Douglas, a native of Dunfermline, four sons and one daughter survived him. ? Am. Sue. Men; Scot. Am.; Ez'g. Post.
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