Sidney John Ratcliffe

b. 11 February 1893, d. 13 September 1942
  • Sidney John Ratcliffe was born on 11 February 1893 in Buffalo, Erie County, New York.
  • George Washington Ratcliffe and Daisy Ethel DeYoung appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1900 in Buffalo, Erie County, New York, at 273 West Ferry Street and one female domestic servant.. Other members of the household included Sidney John Ratcliffe, George Lincoln Ratcliffe.
  • George Washington Ratcliffe and Daisy Ethel DeYoung appeared in the US federal census of 15 April 1910 in Wilkinsburg, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Other members of the household included Sidney John Ratcliffe, George Lincoln Ratcliffe.
  • He married Dorothy M. Wolff, daughter of Clarence Wolff and Margaret (?), on 17 June 1915 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
  • Sidney John Ratcliffe registered for the draft on 5 June 1917 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, while living with his wife and child in Murrysville, and employed there as a clerk by People's Natural Gas Company. [The Haymaker Gas Well in Murrysville, drilled in 1878, was the nation's first commercial natural gas well, and for some time it was the largest commercial gas well in the world. George Westinghouse suggested that the gas could be piped to Pittsburgh to be used in place of coal in the mills. This was the start of the modern natural gas industry in the United States.]
  • Sidney John Ratcliffe and Dorothy M. Wolff appeared in the US federal census of 1 January 1920 in Wilkinsburg, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, at 1308 Singer Place. Other members of the household included George Wolff Ratcliffe.
  • He was employed as a clerk by a gas company, according to the 1920 census.
  • The following appeared on 21 March 1941 in The New York Times: (West Palm Beach, Fla., March 20) George W. Ratcliffe, retired president of the Manufacturers Light and Heat Company of Pittsburgh and a leader there for a quarter century, died here early this morning at the Lake Court Apartment Hotel. He had played golf yesterday afternoon and friends reported him apparently in good health that evening. Mr Ratcliffe retired from business in December, 1935.
         Born in Buffalo, he attended public schools there and later entered the gas business in that city. In 1903 he went to Pittsburgh as assistant treasurer of the Peoples Natural Gas Company. He held this position until 1910 when he became associated with the Manufacturers Light and Heat Company before that concern merged and became part of the Columbia Gas and Electric Company system.
         He leaves a widow, Mrs. Daisy Ratcliffe, who is ill here; two sons, George L. Ratcliffe of Los Angeles and Houston, Texas, and Sidney J. Ratcliffe of Pittsburgh, and a grandson, George W. Ratcliffe 3d.
  • Sidney John Ratcliffe registered for the draft in 1942 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, while living with his wife at 7047 Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh, and employed there by People's Natural Gas Company.
  • Sidney John Ratcliffe died on 13 September 1942 at age 49 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
  • Dorothy M. Wolff became a widow at his death.
  • He was interred at Homewood Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
  • The following appeared on 14 September 1942 in The New York Times: (Pittsburgh, Sept. 13) Sidney J. Ratcliffe, treasurer and director of Peoples Natural Gas Company, died today in the Pittsburgh Hospital. His age was 49.
         Mr. Ratcliffe was born in Buffalo, N. Y., a son of the late George W. Ratcliffe, former president of the Manufacturers Light and Heat Company of Pittsburgh. He joined the Peoples Natural Gas Company in July, 1912, and was made treasurer and a director of the company in January 1935.
         He also was treasurer and a director of the New York State Natural Gas Corporation and the Keuka Construction Corporation, and a director of the Lycoming Producing Corporation and the Lycoming United Gas Company. Mr. Ratcliffe was a member of the accounting section of the American Gas Association and chairman of the accounting committee of the Pennsylvania Natural Gas Men's Association.
         He was a member of the Pittsburgh Athletic Association and the Madison (Ohio) Golf Club. /P/ Mr. Ratcliffe leaves a widow, Dorothy Wolff Ratcliffe; his mother, Mrs. Daisy E. Ratcliffe of Pittsburgh; a son, George W. Ratcliffe of Clarksburg, W. Va., and a brother, George Ratcliffe of Los Angeles.
         A funeral service will be held on Tuesday at 3 P. M. at the Ratcliffe home, 7047 Penn Avenue.
  • Last Edited: 10 Mar 2013

Family: Dorothy M. Wolff b. 20 February 1893, d. 10 October 1979