East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-10-06
The Unknown Fathers of
Rich Men

1t is an interesting and instructive
fact that at least four out of five of
American multi-milloiIaires are sons
of men who, i'm their most flourishing
days, probably never knew what 1t
was to enjoy an income of SIS a week:
indeed, to the majority OF them such
modest revenue would have seemed
riches.
The father of Andrew Carnegie, tho
he toiled early and late as damask
weaver at Dunfermline was barely
able to supply the humblest of neces-
saries for his small family; and when
steam looms came to supplant hand
weaving he was compelled to sell ehis
looms and few sticks of furniture and
take his boys to America where he
found employment as a weaver in one
of the cotton factories of Allegheny
city, and where one of his sons, little
tho he dreamt it, was to amass one of
the most colossal fortunes the world
has ever known.
The father of ]. d. Rockefeller,
whose wealth today is SAID to be at
least double that of even Mr.. Carne-
gle, cultivated a few barren acres in
Tioga county, New York, and added
little to the family exchequer (scanty
enough at the besD by sending out ms
boys to hoe and plow and husk corn
for naboring farmers.
=
w. A. Clark, the copper king" of
Montana, whose fortune is variously
estimated from $4,000, 900 to fabulous
figures (some even credit him with
an income of 100000 day., Is the
son of a small Pennsylvania farmer,
who probably never cleared $500 in
any single year of his life, and for
whom the future millionaire did the
hardest of farm labor until years after
he had reacht manhood.
The father of W. s. Stratton, the
Colorado gold king. was small boat
bilder at Jeffersonville. Ind. with so
many children and a purse so ill-filled
that he was compelled to take his son
away from school at IA to apprentice
him to a carpenter.
=
Commodore Vanderbilt, founder of
one of the wealthiest famili-e in the
world was Graded in the direst pow
erty. and between the ages of and
IS earned his own living by perform
ing any odd jobs that came his way,
from selling newspapers and holding
horses to farm labor and porter's
work: and Jay Gould, who accumu-
lated a fortune of s60,OOO.OOO before
he died at the age of 5S, was the son
of struggling farmer. who found so
much use for his sons services that
he practically received no schooling
at all.
Sir Hiram Maxim, the millionaire
inventor, had for a father a small
miller, whose bizness was so unprofit-
able that his son had to eke out the
family income by farm work and
wood turning before. at the age of IA,
he was apprentice to a coachbilder at
East Corinth
George Westinghouse, whose air
brake has yielded such a golden har-
NtSN. W as lIt sun VI a Hlttlldllltdl til-
gineer in a small way of bizness; John
w. Mackay, the "silver king" was the
son of a destitute Irishman who emf
grated to America with his family in
search of a fortune, and after two
years of terrible struggle died, leav-
ing a penniless widow to support her
self and young children as best she
could.
Russell Sage, who left fortune of
over sS0,000,0O0, was the youngest
of the six children of very poor par
ents, and was toiling on a farm before
he was 10. The parents of Mr.. Pills
bury, the flour king of America,
were in poor circumstances and his
boyhood was passed in a very humble
home; and Mr.. Gates, Mr.. Letter and
Potter Palmer were all sons of small
farmers and served their apprentice
ship to work as farm laborers. John
Wannamaker, whose stores and riches
are famous the world over, is the son
and grandson of brickmakers, and the
father of Mr.. Heinz. who has made
millions out of his condiments, made
a modest income as brickmaker and
market gardener