James Laughlin

James H. Laughlin (March 1, 1806 – December 18, 1882) was an Irish-American banker and capitalist, a pioneer of the iron and steel industry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Early life He was born near Portaferry in County Down, Ireland, the son of Jane ( Boyd) Laughlin (1763–1814) and James Laughlin, Sr. (1748–1831). Among his siblings was brother Alexander Laughlin, whose son, Alexander J. Laughlin married Mary Franklin Jones (a daughter of his business partner Benjamin Franklin Jones).

Career In 1854, Laughlin bought the retiring Bernard Lauth's interest in the steel partnership with Benjamin Franklin Jones.

In 1844, Laughlin was appointed as a corporator to the board responsible for establishing the Allegheny Cemetery. In 1852, Laughlin and his associates, including B.F. Jones, founded a banking organization that, when chartered, was the First National Bank of Pittsburgh, later Pittsburgh National Bank.

Laughlin was the first president of the Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh.

He was a founder of the Pennsylvania Female College, Irwin Boyle Laughlin (1840–1871), who married Mary Wood Bissell, a daughter of John Bissell, in 1870. George McCully Laughlin (1842–1908), who married Isabel Bowman McKennan, a daughter of Judge William McKennan of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, in 1865. Elizabeth "Eliza" Irwin Laughlin (1844–1929), who married Duncan Clinch Phillips, a Pittsburgh window glass millionaire, in 1883. James Laughlin (1847–1919), who married Sidney Ford Page, the youngest child of John Harding Page.

American poet and literary book publisher James Laughlin IV is descended from Laughlin.

Laughlin died at his home in Pittsburgh on December 18, 1882.