Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made

Those who imagine that the mercantile profession is incapable of developing the element of greatness in the mind of man, find a perfect refutation in the career of the subject o...

Henry Ward Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, on the 24th of June, 1813, and was the eighth child of Dr. Lyman Beecher, the famous Presbyterian divine of New England....

against me, but he swore I need not deny it, for he had seen me take out a phial in which I carried some truck that gave his sisters the jerks. As quick as thought came into my...

Cyrus far we have been considering the struggles of men who have risen from obscure positions in life, by the aid of their own genius, industry, and courage, to the front rank o...

One May morning, in the year 1776, the mouth of the Delaware Bay was shrouded in a dense fog, which cleared away toward noon, and revealed several vessels just off the capes. Fr...

One of the pleasantest as well as one of the most prominent places in the city of New York is the grave-yard of old Trinity Church. A handsome iron railing separates it from Bro...

In the year 1735, a party of astronomers, sent by the French Government to Peru for purposes of scientific investigation, discovered a curious tree growing in that country, the...

In the year 1818, a European vessel anchored in the harbor of New York, after a long and weary voyage from the Old World. She brought many passengers to the young metropolis, th...

Hiram Powers was born in Woodstock, Vermont, on the 29th of July, 1805. He was the eighth in a family of nine children, and was the son of a farmer who found it hard to provide...

James Gordon Bennett was born at New Mill, Keith, in Banffshire, on the north-eastern coast of Scotland, about the year 1800. His relatives were Roman Catholics, and he was brou...

To the writer's mind the most perfect specimen of the American lawyer known to our history was JOHN MARSHALL, of Virginia, Chief Justice of the United States. Profoundly learned...

Staten Island lies in the beautiful bay of New York, seven miles distant from the great city. Its lofty heights shut in the snug anchorage of the inner bay, and protect it from...

Amos Lawrence was born at Groton, Massachusetts, on the 22d of April, 1786. His ancestor came of a good English family, and was one of the company which sailed from England for...

The grape culture of the United States is yet in its infancy. Although the annual wine product is estimated at nearly three millions of gallons, there can be no doubt that ere m...

On Tremont Street, in the City of Boston, near the Roxbury line, there stands an immense building of brick, said to be larger than any edifice in the United States, save the Cap...

The father of James T. Brady was born in Ireland, and came to this country during the second war with England, and just after his marriage. Mr. Brady opened a school for boys, i...

It is not often that men who pass their lives in the acquisition of money are able to retain the desire to give it to others who have had no share in the earning of it. In Europ...

Wherever the English language is spoken, the name of HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW has become a household word, and there is scarcely a library, however humble, but can boast a wel...

Samuel Finley Breese Morse is the eldest son of the late Jedediah Morse, one of the most distinguished Presbyterian clergymen of New England. He was born at Charlestown, Massach...

Some years ago a gentleman having business with the great house of Harper & Brothers asked one of the employés of that establishment, "Which one is Harper, and which are the bro...

James B. Eads was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, in the year 1820. His father was a man of moderate means, and was able to give him a fair English education. From his earliest c...

There came to the old town of Salem, in the Province of Massachusetts, in the early part of the seventeenth century, an English family named Hawthorne--Puritans, like all the ot...

At a time when America was regarded in Europe as a savage region, and when Americans were looked upon as little better than barbarians by the people of the mother country, it wa...

The subject of this sketch is one of a race of actors. His great-grandfather was a contemporary of some of the brightest ornaments of the English stage, and was himself a famous...

Valentine Mott was born at Glen Cove, on Long Island, on the 20th of August, 1785. His father, Dr. Henry Mott, was an eminent practitioner in the city of New York, where he died...

Any readers of these pages doubtless remember the huge old-fashioned clocks, tower-like in shape, that in the days of their childhood ornamented the remote corner of the hall, o...

There is scarcely a family of means and taste in the country but is the possessor of one or more of Rogers's groups in plaster. You see them in every art or book-store window, a...

At the close of the Revolution the States of South Carolina and Georgia presented large tracts of land to the gallant General Nathaniel Greene, to whose genius they were indebte...

One of the busiest parts of the busy thoroughfare of Broadway, in the city of New York, is the point of its intersection with Fourth Street. Thousands and tens of thousands of p...

Samuel Colt was born at Hartford, Connecticut, on the 19th of July, 1814. He was descended from one of the original settlers of that city, and his father, who possessed some mea...

There are many persons who remember the elder Booth, the "Great Booth," as he was called, in his palmy days, when the bare announcement of his name was sufficient to cram our ol...

One of the most remarkable men in the American ministry is PETER CARTWRIGHT, the "Backwoods Preacher." Sixty-seven years of ministerial labors have passed over his head, and yet...

Emmanuel Leutze, by adoption an American, was born in the village of Emingen, near the city of Reutlingen, in Wurtemberg, on the 24th of May, 1816. His father emigrated to Ameri...

Robert Bonner was born in the north of Ireland, near the town of Londonderry, about the year 1824. He came to this country when a mere child, and was brought up in the State of...

To write the complete history of the printing press would require years of patient labor and research, and a much larger space than the limits of the present work will permit. T...

There are few men in the city of New York who have won more fairly their proud positions in the mercantile world than he whose name stands at the top of this page. For more than...

It is not often that a man, however gifted, is capable of rising to eminence in two distinct branches of public life, especially in two so widely separated from each other as me...

The name of DANIEL DREW has so long been familiar in the financial circles of the country, that it is surprising that the history of his life is not more generally known.

The old "corner book-store" at the intersection of Washington and School Streets, in the city of Boston, is one of the most notable places in the New England metropolis. The mem...

Legitimate business the field of success--Reasons for claiming Astor as an American--Birth and early life--Religious training--The village of Waldorf--Poverty--The jolly butcher...

Birth--Parentage--Early education--Goes to New York in search of employment--Obtains a clerkship in a city house, and in a few years becomes a partner--A rich man at thirty-four...

The fog in the Delaware--News of the war--Alarm of the French skipper--A narrow escape from capture--Arrival of Girard in Philadelphia--Early history of Stephen Girard--An unhap...

Birth and early life--Becomes his grandfather's ward--Designed for the ministry--A change in his plans--Comes to America--Teaches school in New York--Becomes a dry goods merchan...

The grape interest of the United States--Growing demand for American wines--Instrumentality of Mr. Longworth in producing this success--Early life of Mr. Longworth--Apprenticed...

Trinity churchyard--The Livingston vault--An interesting place--Fulton's tomb--Birth of Robert Fulton--Boyhood--Early mechanical skill--Robert astonishes his tutor--Robert's fir...

The largest building in the United States--The Chickering piano factory--Birth of Jonas Chickering--Early love of music--Is apprenticed to a cabinet-maker--Is employed to repair...

Discovery of India-rubber--Mode of collecting it--Preparation and use by the natives--Its introduction into the United States--Mr. E.M. Chaffee's process--The India-rubber fever...

Birth--Removal to Kentucky--"Rogue's harbor"--Condition of the country and the people--Frontier life--Early life of a preacher--Becomes a Christian--His account of his conversio...

The Lawrence family--A poor boy--Early education--Delicate health--Obtains a situation at Dunstable--Returns to Groton--Becomes Mr. Brazer's apprentice--The variety store--An am...

Staten Island seventy-six years ago--The establishment of the Staten Island ferry--Birth of Cornelius Vanderbilt--His boyhood--Defective education--A famous rider--His early rep...

Birth and parentage--Early education--His first lessons in business--An apprentice in a country store--Youthful ambition--A desire for change--The visit to Post Mills--Removal t...

Birth-place--Birth and parentage--A farmer's boy--Goes to New York to seek his fortune--Becomes a cattle drover--Leases the Bull's Head Tavern--His energy and success in his bus...

Birth and parentage--A restless boy--Dislikes school--Early fondness for mechanical inventions--Is sent to boarding-school--Runs away to sea--The story of a boy's invention, and...

Birth--Parentage--Early education--Graduates at Yale College--Becomes an artist--His masters--Visits England--His first attempt--"The Dying Hercules"--Opinion of Benjamin West--...

The model American lawyer--Birth and early life of John Marshall--A devoted father--Early education--The young patriot--Troubles with England--Marshall becomes a soldier--The "C...

The first sewing-machine--Birth of Elias Howe--A poor man's son--Raised to hard work--His first employment--The little mill-boy--Delicate health--Goes to Lowell to seek his fort...

A native of Pennsylvania--Circumstances attending his birth--The child of promise--First indications of genius--The baby's portrait--Lessons from the Indians--The box of colors-...

A Connecticut boy--The minister's family--A gloomy childhood--Ma'arm Kilbourn's school--The loss of his curls--The dull boy--A bad voice for an orator--His first religious impre...

The old-fashioned clocks--Their expensiveness--Condition of the clock trade of Connecticut sixty years ago--Early history of Chauncey Jerome--A hard life--Death of his father--B...

The home of General Greene in Georgia--The soldier's widow--An arrival from New England--The young schoolmaster--A mechanical genius--Early history of Whitney--Mrs. Greene's inv...

The Hawthornes of Salem--A sea-going race--Birth of Nathaniel Hawthorne--A sad home--Early life--His college days--Longfellow's recollection of him--Returns home--The young recl...

Birth--Childhood--Fondness for machinery--Early mechanical skill--Constructs a steam engine at the age of nine years--His work-shop--Death of his father--Works his way to St. Lo...

Birth--Intended for the Romish priesthood--How he was induced to come to America--Arrival in Halifax--Comes to the United States--What came of a shilling--Employment in Boston--...

The Brothers Harper--Birth and parentage of James Harper--The Long Island home--James Harper goes to New York--Becomes a "devil"--Winning his way--How he gave his card to a stra...

Birth--Juvenile mechanical skill--The life of a Vermont boy--Hard times--Removal of the Powers family to the West--The new farm--Misfortunes never come singly--Breaking up of th...

Early struggles--Acquires an education--Undertakes the support of his family--The boy teacher--Hard work--Is made instructor of Latin--A trying position--How he conquered his di...

Birth and early life--Adopts medicine as a profession--Studies in Europe--Returns home, and is made a professor in the Philadelphia Medical College--Political career--Elected to...

The elder Booth--His success as an actor--His sons--Birth of Edwin Booth--Early life--Brought up on the stage--Admiration for his father--Travels with him--First appearance--App...

Birth--Early years--Begins life as a clerk in a dry goods store--Artistic talent--Opposition of his parents--A change in his plans--Becomes an engineer--Failure of his eyes--Voy...

An American by adoption--Early life and education--How he learned to draw--Becomes an artist--His first picture--The evils of too much haste--His first professional engagement--...

Growth of the art of printing--Birth of Richard M. Hoe--Sketch of the career of Robert Hoe--He comes to America--His marriage--Founds the house of "Robert Hoe & Co."--The first...

The old "Corner Book-store" in Boston and its associations--Carter & Bendee employ a new clerk--Birth and early life of James T. Fields--His literary talent--Governor Woodbury's...

Birth and parentage--Emigration to America--Becomes a printer--A first-class compositor--Engaged upon the "Evening Mirror"--The "Merchant's Ledger"--Bonner purchases the paper,...

Birth and early life--The old house by the sea--College life--Early literary productions--Becomes a professor in Bowdoin College--Travels in Europe--Marriage--Literary labors--"...

Birth and early life--His "big head"--His kindliness of disposition--Enters his father's office to study law--Merry nature--How he studied law--A model for ambitious youths--His...

The Jefferson family--A race of actors--Jefferson the first--"Old Jefferson"--Jefferson the third--Birth of Joseph Jefferson--Childhood--Brought up on the stage--Olive Logan's r...

Birth--Early life--Enters Columbia College--His medical studies--Continues his studies in Europe--Great surgical genius--His early success as an operator--Returns home--Is made...