Thomas M. Carnegie - Death

Death

With the purchase of his Cumberland Island estate, Thomas Carnegie resolved to retire from business and spend more time in Georgia. The stress of working for his brother had left him exhausted.

In late September 1886, Thomas Carnegie fell ill with what he believed to be a cold. He was sick off and on for the next several weeks. On October 16, he left work thinking he was suffering from yet another cold, but died of pneumonia just three days later. His wife and all of his children except Margaret (who was attending a boarding school in New York) were at his bedside when he died. For most of his life, Thomas had been a member of the Swedenborgian Church. His funeral, however, was conducted by an Episcopalian, and Carnegie was buried on October 21, 1886, in Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh. His mother, also quite ill for some time, died on November 10 (never learning of her younger son's death).

Thomas' death was a serious blow to Andrew Carnegie's financial interests. Thomas had run most of Andrew's enterprises, and to fill his role Andrew Carnegie turned to Henry Clay Frick as his replacement. Frick later played a critical role in the Homestead Strike and in brokering the deal between Carnegie and J. P. Morgan that created U.S. Steel.

Thomas' will named Lucy his sole executrix and legatee. The will asked (but did not require) her to seek the advice of her brother-in-law Andrew Carnegie and her father (deceased in 1878) in disposing of Thomas' business interests. Although Andrew Carnegie advised her to sell out to him, she refused and retained ownership in businesses which led to rapid rises in her personal wealth over the next several decades.

Both Andrew and Thomas Carnegie had been members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, a highly exclusive wealthy businessman's club which operated a mountaintop retreat overlooking Lake Conemaugh, one of the largest man-made lakes of the day. Lake Conemaugh was formed by the construction of the South Fork Dam in 1853, but had been drained and abandoned prior to its purchase by the South Fork organization. The club, which formed in 1879, maintained the South Fork Dam and refilled the reservoir. Andrew and Thomas built a cottage near the clubhouse, and often stayed there. The South Fork Dam failed on May 31, 1889, resulting in the disastrous Johnstown Flood.