William C. Ludwig, Merchant, was born in Reading, Berks county, Pennsylvania, in 1809. He was educated at the Reading Academy, and at the age of eighteen years came to Philadelphia and entered the dry goods house of Eckel & Warne as clerk. He remained here a year and a half, when by the death of the junior partner the firm was changed to Eckel, Spangler & Co. By this change he became a partner in the concern, in which he remained for a period of eleven years. He then retired from the house and formed a co-partnership with Mr. Kneedler, under the style of Ludwig & Kneedler, which was afterwards changed to Ludwig, Kneedler & Co. For a long series of years he gave his untiring devotion to the interests of this house, and it has stood pre-eminent for soundness and reliability among the many great business firms of the city. In 1869, however, he was obliged to retire from mercantile life, owing to the precarious state of his health; not, however, without the great regret of the remaining members of the house, who felt that their most able head and director would no longer mingle with them in their avocations. But while so devoted to his own immediate interests, he found time and opportunity to advance the interests of his adopted city in various directions. He was one of the original corporators of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the co-laborer of S. Morris Waln, Charles H. Fisher, J. Gillingham Fell, Edward C. Knight, Edmund Roberts and John Welsh, in that giant enterprise. He has been a member of the Board of Directors from its organization, and yet remains as such. For twenty years he has been a Director of the Penn National Bank; and also in the Board of the Delaware Mutual Safety Insurance Company. He was one of the originators of the Merchants' Fund Society of Philadelphia, and its Treasurer. This is one of the most estimable of the many charities for which the city is celebrated, its aim being to assist and relieve the old and decayed merchants, especially those who are infirm. He has also served for the past twenty-eight years as President of the Mercantile Beneficial Association, and still holds that office. Until the failure of his health he was engaged in every public enterprise which could rebound to the benefit of the city; and at the time he retired from active business life he was connected with no less than nineteen different associations. His credit has always been unimpeachable from the beginning of his career; and he has frequently been the means of sustaining and encouraging those who, from accumulated disasters, were threatened with ruin. To young men, whether in business or desiring to enter it, he has never turned a deaf ear; and to this class his advice and assistance have proved of incalculable benefit.
Source: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the Nineteenth Century. Philadelphia: Galaxy Publishing Co., 1874, pp. 206.
Contributed by: Nancy.