William Welsh Harrison

William Welsh Harrison (May 5, 1850 – March 4, 1927) was an American businessman best known for building Grey Towers Castle. Early life Harrison was born on May 5, 1850, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a son of George Leib Harrison (1811–1885) and Sarah Ann ( Waples) Harrison (1816–1850). Among his siblings were Harriet Morgan Harrison (wife of William W. Frazier), Charles Custis Harrison, and Alfred Craven Harrison. From his father's second marriage to Letitia Henry Mitchell (a sister of Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell, he had a younger half-brother, Mitchell Harrison. Through his uncle, Thomas Harrison, he was a first cousin of chemical manufacturer George Lieb Harrison, who married Emily McMichael (a daughter of Mayor Morton McMichael). His grandfather, John Harrison, started a chemical firm that was taken over by his cousins John Skelton Harrison and Thomas Skelton Harrison (and later sold to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company). He was educated at the Germantown Academy and the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1869.