page_title: William Henry Aspinwall
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: William Henry Aspinwall / Career
caption_attribution_description: Sea Witch, clipper ship
context_page_description: William Henry Aspinwall was a prominent American businessman who was a partner in the merchant firm of Howland & Aspinwall and was a co-founder of both the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and Panama Canal Railway companies which revolutionized the migration of goods and people to the Western coast of the United States.
  Aspinwall was descended from, and related to, many prominent American families including the Roosevelts, Howlands, and Aspinwalls, that were heavily involved in the merchant trade business and politics, wielding vast power and ensuring wealth for generations.
context_section_description: After obtaining a "substantial education" at local private schools, Aspinwall began working as a clerk for G.G. & S.S. Howland, a merchant firm founded brothers Gardiner Greene Howland and Samuel Shaw Howland, who were younger siblings of Aspinwall's mother Susan, a position he held until 1832.  The firm imported high-status goods such as porcelain, silk, and tea from China, and sold them to Americans of means.
caption: The Sea Witch
exif: {}