About May 1818, five-year-old Thomas Mellon arrived in Derry with his parents, emigrating to America from near Omagh. But his father became very ill and the ship’s surgeon refused them permission to board.

From selling their farm they had ‘about 200 guineas in gold coin’ (now worth c£16,0000) - little to spare on lodgings or doctors. So Thomas’s mother rented two upstairs rooms near Bishop’s Gate. She and a doctor nursed Thomas’s father for four weeks, almost giving him up for dead.

But he recovered. He walked with Thomas on the City Walls and Thomas spent his ‘scarce halfpennies’ with an old woman who sold ‘candies and sea dulse’ beside Bishop Gate.

From Derry they sailed 12 weeks to St John’s, Canada. Then sailed two weeks to Baltimore. Then three weeks by Conestoga wagon and settled at Poverty Point, Pennsylvania.

Thomas Mellon and his birthplace, Camp Hill Cottage, near Omagh.

placeholder image — Thomas Mellon and his birthplace, Camp Hill Cottage, near Omagh.

At 14 Thomas read Benjamin Franklin's ‘Autobiography’ - a major influence on his leaving farming and going to college. Thomas’s story of self-improvement, public service and success mirrors Franklin’s life.

In 1839 he opened a law office in Pittsburgh, developed a prosperous practice, and invested in property, coal, mortgages, and loans.

In 1870 he founded T. Mellon & Sons’ Bank in one room. It became a major Pennsylvania financial institution.

Thomas died in 1909. But his bank survives in Bank of New York Mellon - the world's largest securities servicing firm and a top ten asset managing firm. His birthplace, Camp Hill Cottage, is the nucleus of the Ulster-American Folk Park, Omagh.