The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1906-11-02
OF
THE RICH
london Tit.Bits.l


1t is an interesting and INSTRUCTIVE
fact that at least four out of five 0
American multi-millionaires are som
of men, who, in their most fourishin,
days, probably never knew what /
was to enjoy an income of SIS week
indeed, to the majority of them sucF
a modest revenue would have seemed
riches.
The father of Andrew Carnegie
though he toiled early and late as g
damask weaver at Ounfermline, was
barely able to supply the humblest
of necessaries for his small family;
and when steam looms came to sup.
plant hand weaving he was compelled
| to sell his home and his few sticks
of furniture and take his boys to
America, where he found employment
as weaver in one of the cotton fac
tories of Allegheny City, and where
one of his sons, little though he
dreamed it, was to amass one of the
most colossal fortunes the world has
ever known.
The father of John d. Rockefeller,
whose wealth today is said to be at
least double that of even Mr.. Carnegie.
cultivated few barren acres in Tioga
county, New York, "ud added a little
to the family exchequer (scanty
enough at the best) by sending out his
boys to hoe and pillow and husk corn
for neighboring farmers.
W. A. Clark, the copper king" of
Montana, whose fortune is variously
estimated at from $40,000,000 to fab
ulous figures (some even credit him
with an income of $4,000 day. is
the son of small Pennsylvania far
mer, who probably never cleared $500
in any single year q. his life, and for
whom the future millionaire did the
hardest of farm labov until years after
he had reached manhood.
The father of w. S. Stratton, the
Colorado gold king, was a small boat
builder at Jefferson lille, Ind, with so
many children and purse so ill-filled
that he was compelled to take his son
away from school ct fourteen to ap-
prentice him to carpenter.
Commodore Vanderbilt, founder of
one of the wealthiest families in the
world, was Graded In direct poverty,
and between the age Of six and six
teen 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 fortune of $6O,0O0,000 before
he died, at the age of fifty-eight, was
the son of struggling farmer, who
found so much use FOR his sons serv-
ices that he practically received no
schooling at all.
Sir Hiram Maxim, the millionaire
inventor, had for father a small mil
Ter, whose business was so unprofita-
BILE that his son had to exc out the
family income by farm work and wood
before, at the age of fourteen
years, he was apprenticed to a coach
builder at East Corinth.
George Westinghouse, whose air
brake has yielded such a golden har-
vest, was the son of a mechanical
engineer in small way of business.
John w. Mackay, the Silver king"
was the son of a destitute Irishman
who emigrated to America with his
family, in search of fortune, and after
two years of terrible struggle died,
leaving penniless widow to support
herself and her young children at best
she could.
Russell Sage who left a fortune of
over $80,O00,000, was the youngest Of
the six children of very poor parents,
and was toiling on farm before he
was ten years old.
The parents of Mr.. Pillsbury, the