Joseph Horne Company - Horne's Founding Families

Horne's Founding Families

Joseph Horne (1826-1891) was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, the son of Henry Horne, who had served in the Continental Army, Henry intended his son to be a physician. Joseph had other plans, moved three counties west to Pittsburgh and found his first job in the retail trade with Christian Yeager, the father of South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club member H. C. Yeager. Soon, Joseph moved to the F.H. Eaton store, and first became a partner. He bought out the business in 1849, renaming it The Joseph Horne Company, a name it would bear for more than 130 years. Horne was 23 at the time of the purchase. He joined forces with Christian B. Shea and A. P. Burchfield, whose families intermarried and entered the business, and brought a hauteur to this emporium that has never been equaled in Pittsburgh.

In 1881, the firm built their new building designed by Charles Tattersall Ingham at Wood and Liberty. In 1891, at age 65, Horne sold the wholesale side of his company's operations to the Pittsburgh Dry Goods Company. He married twice — first to Mary Elizabeth Shea, later to Emma Galway — and sired numerous children. His son Durbin Horne, born in 1854, was among Horne's children who followed their father into the family business. Both Joseph and Durbin Horne were members of the area's elite South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Joseph Horne died in 1892.

Christian Bernard Shea (1835 – 1900) was the brother-in-law of Joseph Horne, and his founding partner in The Joseph Horne Company. Shea was involved with both halves of the family business — retail (Joseph Horne Co. Department Store) and wholesale (Pittsburgh Dry Goods Company). Shea was also member of South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, which suffered devastation during 1889's Johnstown Flood.