William Pryor Letchworth

William Pryor Letchworth (May 26, 1823 – December 1, 1910) was an American businessman.

Early years

William was born in Brownville, New York on May 26, 1823, the fourth of eight children born to Josiah and Ann Hance Letchworth. Raised as a Quaker, Letchworth learned the values of hard work, charity, and development of the intellect from his family.

At age 15, Letchworh was hired as a clerk at Hayden & Holmes, a saddlery and hardware company. Letchworth succeeded at his tasks and in business in general, and by age 22 was partner at Pratt & Letchworth, a company involved in the "malleable iron" business.

Glen Iris Estate

Although successful, Letchworth found the day-to-day operations of business burdonsome. He sought refuge from the business world and decided to build a home. He settled on the location while as a tourist gazing at the view in what the Seneca Indians called the Sehgahunda Valley through which the Genesee River flowed. In 1859 he purchased his first tract of land near Portage Falls.

Letchworth hired noted landscape architect William Webster to design the grounds of the estate, which Letchworth named Glen Iris.

He bequeathed his thousand-acre estate to New York in 1906, which now forms the heart of Letchworth State Park.

Charity and Social Work

In 1873, he accepted an appointment to the New York State Board of Charities. "In 1875 he had inspected all the orphan asylums, poor-houses, city alms houses, and juvenile reformatories in the state which had an aggregate population of 17,791 children." The result of his investigation was a successful recommendation to remove all children under 2 years of age from these institutions. In 1878, Letchworth was elected to President of the Board. Letchworth resigned from the State Board of Charities in 1897. He then spent the next few years traveling around Europe and the United States by his own expense to explore the plight of the insane, the epileptics and poor children. From this research he wrote two books entitled "The Insane in Foreign Countries" and "Care and Treatment of Epileptics". Many of his methods would later be used by Craig Colony, a State epileptic hospital he helped to establish in Western New York in 1896.

His charity work was extended as he served as President for the National Association for the Study of Epilepsy and the Care of Treatment of Epilepsy, and as President of the First New York State Conference of Charities and Corrections, as well as President of the National Conference of Charities and Correction held in St. Louis in 1884.

External links

* [http://www.ilovethefingerlakes.com/history/famous-people-letchworth.htm Biography of William Pryor Letchworth]
* [http://www.letchworthparkhistory.com/glimpse1.html William Pryor Letchworth]
* [http://www.letchworthparkhistory.com/gleniris.html The Story of Glen Iris]