William Henry Bush

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William Henry Bush (October 22, 1849 – early April 1931) was an American businessman and rancher. He was born in Martinsburg, New York, to James Bush and Caroline Lucretia Hills. Hired by Joseph Glidden, the inventor of barbed wire, he worked to find ranch land in Texas and promote the new wire.

With Henry B. Sanborn, he started the Frying Pan Ranch in Potter County, Texas. With his brother-in-law F. T. Simmons, he co-founded Bush, Simmons & Company, a hat business, in 1885. In 1903, Bush founded the Bush Hat Company and served as its president. He also founded the town of Bushland, Texas in 1903, named after him, which was established as a railway stop on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.

Much of the land he owned contained helium deposits, which made him a multimillionaire. By 1931 his wealth was about $2.17 million.

He married Elva Glidden, Joseph Glidden’s daughter, in 1877. On October 20, 1908, he married Ruth Russel Gentry. He had two daughters, Caroline Gentry Bush (who married Frederick Latham Emeny) and Ruth Emmeline Bush (who married Francis Thomas O’Brien).

Bush attended the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago. He died in Chicago in early April 1931 and was buried at Graceland Cemetery. Most of his estate went to his widow and two daughters, with his cousin Herbert S. Bush also receiving a share. He donated $100,000 to the Presbyterian Hospital of Chicago and $25,000 to the Chicago Art Institute.