Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1896-01-16
Merchant MiIliOnaires.

IutllIOHNlTPS.
MEN WHO MADE IMMENSE FOR
TUNES IN TRADE-GEORGE
PEABODY's START.
The recent death of Eben ID. Jor.
dan, the millionaire dry goods mer.
chant of Boston, calls attention to
the great number of fortunes which
have been accumulated in the dry
goods business in all the large cities
of the United States, says a writer
in the Pittsburg Dispatch. Mr.. Jor-
dams case was typical. He started
in life with nothing but energy and
the determination to succeed. He
was first employed on a farm and
then he began clerking in dry goods
stores. When he was nineteen years
old he was started in the dry goods
trade by leading merchant of Bos-
ton and he began business in a store
for which he paid 5000 a year. He
was twenty-nine years old when he
started the firm Of Jordan, Marsh &
Co., with a capital of $4,000. In
this concern Mr.. Jordan became a
millionaire.
George Peabody, of Baltimore,
started as clerk in general store
at Danvers, Mass, the place of his
birth, when he was eleven years old,
in 1906. He afterward clerked in
other places and went to Georgetown,
ID. g., tinally--ata a time when George
town was larger than tho city of
Washington, which has now absorbed
Ito take charge of store for his
uncle. At the age of nineteen he
became partner of Elisha Riggs in
dry goods store, which was after
ward moved to Baltimore, and there
Mr.. Peabody laid the foundation OF
the enormous fortune which he de-
voted chiefly to philanthropic pur-
poses. In 1885 he went to London
and negotiated the sale of So, 200, 900
worth Of bonds for the State of Ma
ryland, and his commission of 81, 900
600 he turned back in the State
treasury. Two years later he went
to London and established a bank
ing. house. He gave largely to the
Grinnell Arctic expedition. His
gifts for the establishment of lodg-
ing houses for the poor of London
amounted to S2,500,O0O. He gave
So, 500, 900 to promote education in
the South. Libraries and art CALLER
les in many places stand as memori-
ais to his philanthropy. He could
have had honors at the hands of the
Queen Of England, but preferred to
remain a simple citizen. Gladstone
said of him: "He taught the world
how man may be the master of his
fortune and not its slave" He was
the most liberal philanthropist in the
worlds history.
A. T. Stewart stuck to the dry
goods business till his death. Un-
fortunately, the law stood in .his
way. Mr.. Stewart was school
teacher in New York before he was
twenty years old. He Inherited So
600 by the death of his father i'm Ire
land and he invested his capital in
laces and linens, which he brought
to New York in 1925. He paid $3.50
a year for the rent Of his shop and
slept in the back room. Twenty
three years later he built the big
marble store which covers half a
block on Broadway and fourteen
years after he put up retail store at
the cost of $2,75O,0OO. He was do
ing business of S65, 200, 900 a year
at the time of his death i'm 1885,
His estate was valued at $40, ,000, 900.
l.. u. Letter, who lives in Wash
ington, started in life as light por-
ter In dry goods store. He built
up a fortune In partnership and re-
tired some years ago with about S5,-
600, 900, which he has increased to
about double the amount, if rumor
be true. The ground on which his
magnificent Washington residence
stands cost 100000.
The most striking of dry goods
millionaires of to-day is John Wana-
maker, of Philadelphia. He began
life carrying clay in his fathers
brickyard and later he accepted en-
pioyment as clerk in a store at
bare living wages. He is worth
81 ZOO, 900 to-day and his income is
said to be $4,000 a day.
Levi p. Morton, ex- Vice President
of the United States, and now Gov.
ernor Of the State of New York,
was clerk in dry goods stores in
Vermont and afterward in Boston
and he laid the foundation for his
wealth in the firm Of Beebe, Nor.
gan & Co., which he entered in Bos
ton In 1850. Four years later he
camo to New York and established
the dry goods house of Morton &
Grinnel, in which he became rich
In 1853 he founded the banking
house of Morton, Bliss & Co., ir
New York and the house of Morton
Rose & Co., I'm London. He Is worth
to-day something between So, 600, ,00(
and $10,000,000 and he is presiden
tial possibility.
A great many millionaires saw
the way to success while working
In general stores, in which dry good.
was only one commodity sold. d
o. Mills, of New York, made hi
millions in the days Of the Californi,