Today in Wheeling History: June 22—William Leighton Jr., Hobbs, Brockunier & Co. glass chemist and poet, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1833).
William Leighton Jr. was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on June 22, 1833, per Appleton's Cyclopaedia and the Ohio County Public Library; Find a Grave lists June 25. His family moved to Concord, Massachusetts, in 1838, and he graduated from Harvard's scientific department in 1853. He worked for a time managing the New England Glass Works in Boston before coming to Wheeling in 1868 to head the chemical department at Hobbs, Brockunier & Co., succeeding his father, chemist William Leighton Sr., who had developed the firm's celebrated lime-glass formula and who retired that year. Leighton Jr. was admitted to the partnership and remained with the firm roughly twenty years, helping perfect the company's prized "Peach Blow" art glass and, with William F. Russell, patenting the "Hobnail" opalescent glassware pattern in 1886.
Outside the glass works, Leighton was one of Wheeling's most prolific amateur poets, founding and presiding over the city's Shakespeare Club and reading original verse at the 1878 dedication of the Paxton Fountain and the 1883 dedication of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. His best-known work, "Sons of Godwin" (1876), appeared almost simultaneously with Tennyson's "Harold," a coincidence that drew the English poet laureate's personal compliments. Leighton later left Wheeling for Chicago and then Europe, settling in Wiesbaden, Germany, where he translated the tales of poet Hans Sachs. He died there in 1911 and was buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library – “William Leighton Jr.” (https://tinyurl.com/y8msb8ys), Archiving Wheeling – “The Price of the Present, Paid By the Past” https://tinyurl.com/2wjxf7vj), Find a Grave – William Leighton Jr. [1833–1911] (https://tinyurl.com/3ek63y4c), Ohio County Public Library - South Wheeling Glass Works [Hobbs Brockunier Glass], 1886 (https://tinyurl.com/dexrbxyu), Ohio County Public Library - Dedication of the Paxton Foundation, November 9, 1878 (https://tinyurl.com/2xdax8ae), Ohio County Public Library - Soldiers Monument Poem [pdf] (https://tinyurl.com/525bp6vv), Ohio County Public Library - Paxton Fountain (https://tinyurl.com/mw8buxna), Wheeling Daily Register - Death of Wm. Leighton at Weisbaden, Germany (https://tinyurl.com/53t9vayn), Wheeling Daily Register - Sir William Leighton is Dead in Germany (https://tinyurl.com/3c82kphu), Wheeling Intelligencer - Obituary - William Leighton (https://tinyurl.com/2bvp8c8n), Wheeling Daily Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/mvbvxekw), Wikipedia - J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier and Company (https://tinyurl.com/mu9h85xn), Ohio County Public Library - In Honor of All Who Served - New Library Exhibit Honors Ohio Valley Veterans (https://tinyurl.com/ywckxxhj)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Find a Grave, Wheeling Daily Register, Wheeling Intelligencer
William Leighton Jr. was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on June 22, 1833, per Appleton's Cyclopaedia and the Ohio County Public Library; Find a Grave lists June 25. His family moved to Concord, Massachusetts, in 1838, and he graduated from Harvard's scientific department in 1853. He worked for a time managing the New England Glass Works in Boston before coming to Wheeling in 1868 to head the chemical department at Hobbs, Brockunier & Co., succeeding his father, chemist William Leighton Sr., who had developed the firm's celebrated lime-glass formula and who retired that year. Leighton Jr. was admitted to the partnership and remained with the firm roughly twenty years, helping perfect the company's prized "Peach Blow" art glass and, with William F. Russell, patenting the "Hobnail" opalescent glassware pattern in 1886.
Outside the glass works, Leighton was one of Wheeling's most prolific amateur poets, founding and presiding over the city's Shakespeare Club and reading original verse at the 1878 dedication of the Paxton Fountain and the 1883 dedication of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument. His best-known work, "Sons of Godwin" (1876), appeared almost simultaneously with Tennyson's "Harold," a coincidence that drew the English poet laureate's personal compliments. Leighton later left Wheeling for Chicago and then Europe, settling in Wiesbaden, Germany, where he translated the tales of poet Hans Sachs. He died there in 1911 and was buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library – “William Leighton Jr.” (https://tinyurl.com/y8msb8ys), Archiving Wheeling – “The Price of the Present, Paid By the Past” https://tinyurl.com/2wjxf7vj), Find a Grave – William Leighton Jr. [1833–1911] (https://tinyurl.com/3ek63y4c), Ohio County Public Library - South Wheeling Glass Works [Hobbs Brockunier Glass], 1886 (https://tinyurl.com/dexrbxyu), Ohio County Public Library - Dedication of the Paxton Foundation, November 9, 1878 (https://tinyurl.com/2xdax8ae), Ohio County Public Library - Soldiers Monument Poem [pdf] (https://tinyurl.com/525bp6vv), Ohio County Public Library - Paxton Fountain (https://tinyurl.com/mw8buxna), Wheeling Daily Register - Death of Wm. Leighton at Weisbaden, Germany (https://tinyurl.com/53t9vayn), Wheeling Daily Register - Sir William Leighton is Dead in Germany (https://tinyurl.com/3c82kphu), Wheeling Intelligencer - Obituary - William Leighton (https://tinyurl.com/2bvp8c8n), Wheeling Daily Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/mvbvxekw), Wikipedia - J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier and Company (https://tinyurl.com/mu9h85xn), Ohio County Public Library - In Honor of All Who Served - New Library Exhibit Honors Ohio Valley Veterans (https://tinyurl.com/ywckxxhj)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Find a Grave, Wheeling Daily Register, Wheeling Intelligencer
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