Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made | Page 4

United States--The Chickering piano
factory--Birth of Jonas Chickering--Early love of music--Is apprenticed
to a cabinet-maker--Is employed to repair a piano--Succeeds in the
undertaking--Consequence of this success--Becomes a
piano-maker--Removes to Boston--Is employed as a journeyman--The
labor of his life--His patience and skill--Is known as the best workman
in the establishment--History of the piano--Chickering's first
discovery--His hope of success based on intelligence--Becomes a
master of the theory of sound--His studies and their result--Makes an
improvement in the framing of pianos--Invents the circular scale for
square pianos--Generously makes his invention free--A noble gift to the
world--His business operations--Increase in the demand for his
instruments--Death of Captain Mackay--Mr. Chickering undertakes the
sole charge of his affairs--Fears of his friends--Magnitude of the
business--The lawyer's question answered--The mortgages paid--Rapid
success of Mr. Chickering--His varied duties--Sharp competition--A
bogus Chickering--How a Boston bank lost his custom--His
independence in business--His character as a merchant--Trains his sons
to succeed him in business--The result of his efforts--The present house
of Chickering & Sons--Destruction of the factory--Offers of aid--Mr.
Chickering's kindness to his workmen--Sets to work to re-establish his
business--The new factory begun--Sudden death of Mr. Chickering.
CHAPTER VII.

NICHOLAS LONGWORTH.
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 to a
shoemaker--Removes to South Carolina--Returns to Newark and
studies law--Removes to Cincinnati--Admitted to the bar--His first
case--Is paid in whisky stills, and trades them for lands which make his
fortune--Rapid growth of Cincinnati--The oldest native inhabitant of
Chicago--Longworth's investments in real estate--Immense profits
realized by him--His experiments in wine growing--History of the
Catawba grape--Longworth decides to cultivate it entirely--His efforts
to promote the grape culture in the Ohio Valley--Offers a market for all
the grape juice that can be brought to him--The result of his labors seen
in the Ohio vineyards of to-day--His wine cellars--Amount of wine
made annually by him--The process used--How "Sparkling Catawba" is
made--Longworth's experiments with strawberries--His liberality--Gift
of land to the Observatory--His challenge to a grumbler--Estimate of
his character--His eccentricities--His generosity to his tenants--How he
made money by helping others to grow rich--His politics--How he
subscribed one hundred dollars to elect Clay--His hatred of
vagabondage--His stone quarry--How he provided it with laborers--His
system of helping the poor--Is charged with stinginess--The "devil's
poor"--Personal appearance--The "Hard-times" overcoat--Charity to a
millionaire--Death of Mr. Longworth.
CHAPTER VIII.
GEORGE PEABODY.
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 to Newburyport--Reasons for
his attachment to that place--His first patron--Peabody goes south--A
soldier in the War of 1812-15--A young merchant--A change of
prospects--A partner in the house of Riggs & Peabody--Peabody's
business capacity--An irregular banker--His reputation as a business

man--Promising opening of a brilliant career--Retirement of Mr.
Riggs--Growth of the business--A branch house in London--Mr.
Peabody saves the credit of the State of Maryland--Tribute from
Edward Everett--Success in London--A model American
merchant--Establishment of the house of George Peabody & Co.--The
Fourth of July dinner--The exhibition of 1851--Patriotism of Mr.
Peabody--How he saved the United States from
humiliation--Admission of the "London Times"--Mr. Peabody's
business habits--His economy--Adventure with a conductor--Finds a
conscientious hackman--Personal simplicity--Visits to the United
States--His munificent donations--His last visit--Returns to London and
dies--Honors paid to his memory--The funeral ceremonies--His burial
at Peabody--Statement of his donations and bequests--His example
encouraging to the young.
II. CAPITALISTS.
CHAPTER IX.
CORNELIUS VANDERBILT.
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 reputation for
firmness--Superintends the removal of a ship's cargo at the age of
twelve--How he pawned a horse--Becomes a boatman--How he bought
his boat--A disastrous voyage--His life as a boatman--His economy and
industry--Earns three thousand dollars--The alarm at Fort
Richmond--Vanderbilt's perilous voyage for aid for the forts--His
marriage--His first contract--How he supplied the harbor
defenses--Builds his first schooner--His winter voyages--Becomes a
steamboat captain--His foresight--Leases the hotel at New
Brunswick--The dangers of navigating the New York waters--The
steamboat war--How Captain Vanderbilt eluded the sheriff--Becomes
manager of the steamboat line--Declines an increase of salary--Only
wants to carry his point--Refuses to buy Mr. Gibbons's interest in the
steamboat company, and builds his own boat--Narrow escape from

ruin--Final triumph--Systematic management of his vessels--How he
ruined the "Collins Line"--The "North Star"--Becomes a railroad
director--How he foiled a plan to ruin him--dishonest
legislature--Vanderbilt's triumph--His gift to the Government--His
office in New York--Vanderbilt in business hours--Personal
characteristics--Love for horses--His family.
CHAPTER X.
DANIEL DREW.
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 business--Brings the first
western cattle to New York--Helps a friend to build a steamboat--The
fight with Vanderbilt--Drew buys out his friend, and becomes a
steamboat owner--Vanderbilt endeavors to discourage him--He
perseveres--His success--Formation of the "People's Line" on the
Hudson River--The floating palaces--Forms