John George Alexander Leishman was steel-manufacturer and diplomat. He worked in various executive positions at Carnegie Steel Company and later served as an ambassador for the United States.
Background
John George Alexander Leishman was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father John B. Leishman died when the boy was quite young, and in March 1865 his mother, whose health was poor, placed John and his sister Martha in the Protestant Orphan Asylum in Pittsburgh. Though Martha was soon given a foster home with a friend of the family, John remained in the Orphan Asylum until 1869, when a Miss E. Smith of Dunningsville, Washington County, applied for a boy "to take on trial. " In the secretary's report book for that year the incident is recorded with the conclusion: "Resolved with his Mother's consent to give John Leishman. " In September of that year, according to the same records, "his Mother came to Pittsburgh in improved health and brought John to the City to work for himself. " There is added the comment, "He is a bright good boy. "
Career
Leishman's first job was that of office boy in the iron and steel works of Schoenberger & Company. Here he worked twelve years. The author of The Romance of Steel pictures him as "undersized, " adding that "when he got his first job he looked as if he had escaped from a kindergarten". He later rose to the position of "mud-clerk, " with an office in a little shanty on the river bank, and the task of supervising the unloading of barges. Having accumulated a little money, he started a furnace of his own, but abandoned it after a time to form an iron and steel brokerage firm known as Leishman & Snyder. In this work he won the regard of Andrew Carnegie who employed the firm to obtain orders for him. Leishman dissolved the partnership in 1886, when, at the age of twenty-nine, he became vice-president of Carnegie Brothers, Limited. When this organization united with other interests in the formation of the Carnegie Steel Company, he was elected president.
In June 1897 President McKinley appointed him envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Switzerland. He thereupon resigned from the steel company, and devoted the rest of his active life to public service in the diplomatic field. His next post was that of minister to Turkey, which he entered upon in 1900. Six years later he became the first ambassador to that country. During this time he had the opportunity to show his patience and tactfulness in the face of very trying circumstances. His principal task was to present to the Turkish government the demands of the United States for the same protection to American schools and American property that was accorded the schools and property of other nations. In April 1909 he was transferred to Rome as ambassador to Italy, and from 1911 to 1913 was in Berlin as ambassador to Germany. He died at Nice, France, on the eve of his sixty-seventh birthday.
Achievements
While serving in Turkey as an ambassador, Leishman was instrumental in effecting the safe release of missionary Miss Ellen Stone as well as bringing about the purchase of the first overseas property to serve as a United States embassy, the Palazzo Corpi. He also distinguished himself for diplomatic tact and dexterity in his negotiations with Turkey for full rights for American citizens and schools in that country. His office was elevated to the rank of Extraordinary Ambassador and Plenipotentiary in 1906.
Connections
On September 9, 1880, while still in the office of Schoenberger & Company, Leishman married Julia Crawford, daughter of Edward Crawford, a manufacturer. Of the three children born to them, one, Nancy, became the Duchess of Croy.
