William Fletcher Weld (1800-1881)
Shipping Magnate, of Boston, Massachusetts
He entered the shipping trade in which his father had established the Weld family fortune. Eclipsing his father, he became one of the most successful merchant shipowners in the Golden Age of Sail with a fleet of 51-vessels operating under the name and symbol of the black horse flag. He became one of Boston's wealthiest citizens and left a fortune of $20-million, part of which he used to build Weld Hall in Harvard Yard. He married twice and had 6-children (listed above) who survived childhood.
