The History of AIG (Part I)

[Carol Thompson]

Mrs. Frank J. Raven was the sister of Frederick R. Sites. "Born in Foochow, China, the son of missionaries, Mr. Sites joined the steel corporation in Cleveland, and two years later was sent China as a resident engineer. He returned in 1918 and became treasurer of the Federal Shipbuilding Company, Kearny, N.J., a subsidiary of United States Steel." He was manager of the Shanghai office of US Steel Products Co., and then was named secretary to Judge Elbert H. Gary, chairman of US Steel. "Frederick R. Sites, Steel Ex-Official. New York Times, Apr. 30, 1947.)

Another brother, Rev. Clement Moore Lacey Sites (Ohio Wesleyan 1887, PhD Columbia 1899), also born in Foochow, went to China in 1899 with the Methodist Mission Board, and taught at Fukien Christian University and Technical University in Shanghai. He retired in 1941 and returned to New York City. (Dr. Clement Sites Dies. New York Times, Feb. 19, 1958.)

Their father, Rev. Nathan Sites (O.W.U. 1859) was the first alumnus to become a missionary. He arrived in Foochow in 1861. (Ohio Wesleyan Sets Record in Mission Work. Lima News, Nov. 17, 1925.) He brought his wife and children back to Delaware, Ohio, to attend school in 1885. (Piqua, Ohio, Miami Helmet, Mar. 26, 1886.) He died in China in 1895.