David Sinton (1808-1900)

He was born in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, and came to Pittsburgh with his family when he was three years old. He left home age-13 and became a salesman in Ohio on $4-a-month. Several years later and having gained management experience in various diverse enterprises he took on the management of John Sparks & Co., manufacturers of pig-iron and hollow-ware at Union Furnace, Lawrence County, Ohio. He eventually became a part-owner and returned to Cincinnati in 1849 to open a shop selling products from the furnaces in which he was interested. He increased his manufacturing ventures and invested in real estate and cotton mills in the South.

In Cincinnati, he was an active philanthropist, presenting $100,000 to the Union Bethel; clearing the $33,000 mortgage on the Y.M.C.A. property; and, purchasing the Grand Opera House for $100,000 on which he spent a further $30,000 improving it. But, his most ambitious plan to spend $200,000 on a granite esplanade and rostrum on Fifth Street got caught up in local politics and never came to fruition. He married Jane Ellison and had two children. After their son predeceased them in 1869, their daughter became sole heiress to his $20-million fortune. She married Charles P. Taft, half-brother of U.S. President William Howard Taft, and inherited their historic home Belmont on Pike Street.