Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-03-03
FOUNDATIONS OF
GREAT FORTUNES.
TIE FIRST MONEY EARNED BY MBLTI-
MlLII0NAlRES.
Flaglsr Wood CBHar-Rockefsllsr Picked Up
POis0es-Sar;n Sold Horse Medicines,
and Several Sold Newspapers

There is a big colony OF self-made
made milliOnaires in New York, as eV-
cry one knows. but very few people
know how these great men made their
initial battle with Mistress Fortune,
or, in other words, how they earned
their first money.
Many of these millionaires find their
greatest pleasure in telling over the
stories of their early struggles and they
gain vast amount Of enjoyment in
recOunting the mammoth obstacles sur
mounted, the keen misfOrtmes over
come and the numerous setbacks mas
tered. / n talking with one another
none of the self-made men will allow q
fellow Croesus TO Guido him in hard
luck stories, and they give many illus
tratiOns of a comm human weakness
in the belief that no one else ever en-
countered the rough struggles thatthey
individually did.
John ID. Rockefeller, the man who is
popularity supposed to head Americas
list of milliOnaireS, with an estimated
fortune of $4,000. 600, doesn't talk
much about his past life. In fact,
John D. Rockefeller is q subject on
which the great millionaire says moth
ing. He let's other people do the talk
ing. the guessing and the figuring,
while he does the money-making.
The name of Rockefeller is always
associated with the city of Cleveland,
Ohio as it was there he embarked in
the oil enterprise which has made his
name famous the world over. But Mr..
Rockefeller is not a native of Cleye-
land. He was born i'm tn western
part of New York State, and he and his
brother William rOamed about the
country like ordinary country boys.
Their parents were poor and moved
from place TO place. IT. S a matter OF his
tory that one day, when the two boys
were roaming about the country, a
farmer hired them to pick no potatoes.
The two boys labored hard all day
and at it's close they were paid twenty
FIVE cents each for their days work.
Mr.. Rockefeller and his brother William
both acknowledge that the FIRST money
they ever earned was the hardest II
is Mr.. William Rockefeller who tells
the story. and he seems to get pleasure
out of it,
Joseph d. O'Donohue, the City Cham
berlain. appointed by former Mayor
Gilroy. is worth some five millions. all
of which he made himself, mainly deal
ing i'm coffee. Mr. O'DOnObUe came to
this country when a small boy, and
after a little schooling went to work
for a large coffee house i'm lower Wall
street. His business was TO carry mes
sages from the Office 10 the foreman OF
the dock where the vessels discharged
their cargoes. For this work he re-
ceived the generous pay Of 50 per
week for days work from a. N. un-
Til p. m.
PEDDLED HORSE MEDICINE.
John H. Starin had n hard time. lie
was raised in the Mohawk Valley
which was rather a wild place sixty
wears ago. when ne was a boy. At that
time he labored along under the musi-
cal soubriquet of John Hank. MI.
Stariu. who now has something like
twenty millions to his credit. likes TO
tell>about his early money-making eX-
periences. He says t1at he BEGAN
earning money before he learned totalk
and i'm consequence his memory does
not 90 back to his first deal.
He dates his prosperity TO the time,
however that he got package of horse
medicines on credit and started to
tramp about the country selling them.
1t was dreary foot-work, as the farm
houses were farapart in those days
But he carried the news Of all the viii
lagos about with him, and by telling
all he knew and something more that
he thought up as he walked along he
managed to put the farmers in good hui
NOR and sell them horse medicine. In
less than year he had saved enough
to buy a horse, and then he thought
his fortune was made as he could then
ride about the country in stNIe