GREAT FORTUNES, AND HOW THEY WERE MADE

Or, The Struggles and Triumphs of Our Self-Made Men

by

JAMES D. MCCABE, JR.,

Author of _Planting the Wilderness_, etc., etc.

Numerous Illustrations from Original Designs by G. F. & E. B. Bensell







[Illustration: CONSTERNATION AT THE SIGHT OF FULTON'S MONSTER.]




"MAN, it is not thy works, which are mortal, infinitely little, and the
greatest no greater than the least, but only the _spirit thou workest
in_, that can have worth or continuance."--CARLYLE.




George Maclean,
Philadelphia, New York and Boston
Electrotyped at the Franklin Type Foundry, Cincinnati

1871




"The physical industries of this world have two relations in them: one
to the actor, and one to the public. Honest business is more really a
contribution to the public than it is to the manager of the business
himself. Although it seems to the man, and generally to the community,
that the active business man is a self-seeker, and although his motive
may be self-aggrandizement, yet, in point of fact, no man ever manages a
legitimate business in this life, that he is not doing a thousand-fold
more for other men than he is trying to do even for himself. For, in the
economy of God's providence, every right and well organized business is
a beneficence and not a selfishness. And not less is it so because the
merchant, the mechanic, the publisher, the artist, think merely of their
profit. They are in fact working more for others than they are for
themselves."

HENRY WARD BEECHER.




PREFACE.


The chief glory of America is, that it is the country in which genius
and industry find their speediest and surest reward. Fame and fortune
are here open to all who are willing to work for them. Neither class
distinctions nor social prejudices, neither differences of birth,
religion, nor ideas, can prevent the man of true merit from winning the
just reward of his labors in this favored land. We are emphatically a
nation of self-made men, and it is to the labors of this worthy class
that our marvelous national prosperity is due.

This being the case, it is but natural that there should be manifested
by our people a very decided desire to know the history of those who
have risen to the front rank of their respective callings. Men are
naturally cheered and encouraged by the success of others, and those who
are worthy of a similar reward will not fail to learn valuable lessons
from the examples of the men who have preceded them.

With the hope of gratifying this laudable desire for information, and
encouraging those who are still struggling in the lists of fame and
fortune, I offer this book to the reader. I have sought to tell simply
and truthfully the story of the trials and triumphs of our self-made
men, to show how they overcame where others failed, and to offer the
record of their lives as models worthy of the imitation of the young men
of our country. No one can hope to succeed in life merely by the force
of his own genius, any more than he can hope to live without exerting
some degree of influence for good or evil upon the community in which
his lot is cast. Success in life is not the effect of accident or of
chance: it is the result of the intelligent application of certain fixed
principles to the affairs of every day. Each man must make this
application according to the circumstances by which he is surrounded,
and he can derive no greater assistance or encouragement in this
undertaking than by informing himself how other men of acknowledged
merit have succeeded in the same departments of the world's industry.
That this is true is shown by the fact that many of the most eminent men
attribute their great achievements to the encouragement with which the
perusal of the biographies of others inspired them at critical periods
of their careers. It is believed that the narrations embraced in these
pages afford ample instruction and entertainment to the young, as well
as food for earnest reflection on the part of those who are safely
advanced upon their pathway to success, and that they will prove
interesting to all classes of intelligent readers.

Some explanation is due to the reader respecting the title that has been
chosen for the work. The term "Great Fortunes" is not used here to
designate pecuniary success exclusively. A few of the men whose lives
are herein recorded never amassed great wealth. Yet they achieved the
highest success in their vocations, and their lives are so full of
interest and instruction that this work must have been incomplete and
unsatisfactory had they been passed over in silence. The aim of the
writer has been to present the histories of those who have won the
highest fame and achieved the greatest good in their respective
callings, whether that success has brought them riches or not, and above
all, of those whose labors have not only opened the way to fortune for
themselves, but also for others, and have thus conferred lasting
benefits upon their country.

In short, I have sought to make this work the story of the _Genius of
America_, believing as I do that he whose achievements have contributed
to the increase of the national wealth, the development of the national
resources, and the elevation of the national character, though he
himself be poor in purse, has indeed won a great fortune, of which no
reverse can ever deprive him.

J.D. McC., JR.

NEW YORK, _24th October, 1870_.


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

CONSTERNATION AT SIGHT OF FULTON'S MONSTER (Frontispiece)
GIRARD COLLEGE
GIRARD'S HEROISM
ASTOR'S FIRST TRIP FOR FURS
"MY MEN SHALL NOT SUFFER"
PORTRAIT OF GEORGE PEABODY
PEABODY PAYING FOR A NIGHT'S LODGING
PORTRAIT OF CORNELIUS VANDERBILT
VANDERBILT EARNING HIS FIRST HUNDRED DOLLARS
VANDERBILT CARRYING OFF THE SHERIFF
FOUNDING A GREAT FORTUNE
PORTRAIT OF ROBERT FULTON
AN AMAZING REVELATION
"THE MADHOUSE IS THE PROPER PLACE FOR HIM"
WHITNEY WATCHING THE FIRST COTTON-GIN
PORTRAIT OF ELIAS HOWE, JR.
HOWE'S FIRST IDEA OF THE SEWING-MACHINE
THE BOY COLT INVENTING THE REVOLVER
PORTRAIT OF SAMUEL F.B. MORSE
HOW THE NEW YORK HERALD BEGAN
MARSHALL'S DEFENCE OF CHRISTIANITY
PORTRAIT OF JAMES T. BRADY
"THEY ARE GOING TO HANG MY BROTHER; YOU CAN SAVE HIM!"
THE TRUANT'S SECRET DISCOVERED
PORTRAIT OF HIRAM POWERS
POWERS' DISTRUST OF THE HUNTERS
FILIAL DEVOTION SHAPES A GREAT CAREER
CARTWRIGHT CALLING UP THE DEVIL
PORTRAIT OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
JEFFERSON, AS RIP VAN WINKLE
PRESCRIBING AT THE BREAKFAST-TABLE
"PRESIDENT LINCOLN HAS BEEN MURDERED!"


CONTENTS.

I. MERCHANTS.


CHAPTER I.

STEPHEN GIRARD.

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 unhappy childhood--Goes to sea--Is
licensed to command--Becomes a trader in Philadelphia--Marries Mary
Lum--Unfortunate issue of the marriage--Capture of Philadelphia by the
British--Early commercial life of Stephen Girard--How he earned his
first money, and the use he made of it--Aid from St. Domingo--His rigid
attention to business--Thoroughness of his knowledge--One of his letters
of instructions--His subordinates required to obey orders though they
ruin him--Anecdote of Girard and one of his captains--His promptness and
fidelity in business--He never breaks his word--How he lost five hundred
dollars--Buys the old Bank of the United States and becomes a
banker--Cuts down the salaries of his clerks--Refuses his watchman an
overcoat--Indifference to his employés--Contrast between his personal
and business habits--His liberality in financial operations--He
subscribes for the entire Government loan in 1814, and enables the
United States to carry on the war--His generosity toward the
Government--The suspension of specie payments--Financial troubles--How
Girard saved his own notes--His public spirit--How he made half a
million of dollars on a captured ship--Personal characteristics--Why he
valued money--His ambition--His infidelity--Causes of the defects of his
character--A favorable view--Heroic conduct of Stephen Girard during
the prevalence of the yellow fever in Philadelphia--The Good
Samaritan--He practices medicine, and congratulates himself that he has
killed none of his patients--His industry--Visit of Mr. Baring to Mr.
Girard--A curious reception--Failing health and death of Stephen
Girard--His will--His noble bequests--Establishment of Girard College.



CHAPTER II.

JOHN JACOB ASTOR.

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--Young Astor's repugnance to his
father's trade--Unhappy at home--Loses his mother--His desire to
emigrate to the "New Land"--Leaves home--His voyage down the
Rhine--Reaches London and enters the service of his brother--His efforts
to prepare for emigration--Learns to speak English--Peace between the
United States and Great Britain--The road to the "New Land" open--Astor
sets out for America--His first ventures in commerce--The voyage--How he
proposed to save his Sunday clothes--Arrival in the Chesapeake--The
ice-blockade--Astor makes a friend--The fur trader's story--Astor sees
the way to fortune--Reaches New York--His first situation--Learning the
business--His method of proceeding--An example to young men--His capacity
for business operations--He is promoted--His journeys to Canada, and
their results--Sets up in business for himself--The fur trade of North
America--A survey of the field of Astor's operations--His capital--His
tramps into the wilderness in search of furs--Predictions as to the
future settlement of the country--His first consignment to England--His
marriage--A good wife--Improvement in his prospects--Buys his first
ship--The secret of his success--Close attention to business--His
economical habits--His indorsement disputed by a bank clerk--Statements
of the profits on furs--He engages in the Chinese trade--How the
Government aided the early China traders--Amount made by Astor in his
legitimate business--His real estate operations--His foresight and
courage--How eight thousand dollars yielded eighty thousand--His real
estate in the City of New York--Purchases the half of Putnam County--The
Roger and Mary Morris estate controversy--Astor wins his suit, and makes
half a million of dollars--Astor's scheme of colonization--A grand
enterprise--Settlement of Astoria--Betrayed by his agents, and the
scheme brought to failure--Astor withdraws from active business--His
boyhood's vow and its fulfillment--Builds the Astor House--His voyage to
Europe--The return--The troubles of a millionaire--The great man
seasick--A curious draft--The last years of his life--His fondness for
literary men--His death and burial--His will--Opposite views of his
character--How his refusal to buy a chronometer cost him seventy
thousand dollars--He remembers an old friend--His gift of a lease--His
humor--"William has a rich father."


CHAPTER III.

ALEXANDER T. STEWART.

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 merchant--Receives a legacy--His first
importation--How he began business--An energetic trader--His sample lots
and their history--Success of his enterprise--He begins by encouraging
honesty in trade--Wins a name for reliability--The system of selling at
one price--Inaugurates the "selling off at cost" feature--His courage in
business--How he raised the money to meet his note--Improvement in his
business--He enlarges his store--As an inducement to the ladies, employs
for clerks handsome young men--The crisis of 1837--Stewart comes out of
it a rich man--How he did so--Builds his lower store--Predictions of
failure--The result--Compels the Government to purchase goods from
him--His foresight and liberality--Charged with superstition--Lucky and
unlucky persons--Story of the old apple woman--Remarks at the opening of
the St. Nicholas Hotel--Reasons of Stewart's success--A hard worker--How
he receives visitors--Running the gauntlet--How he gets rid of
troublesome persons--Estimate of Mr. Stewart's real estate in New
York--His new residence--His benevolence--Aid for Ireland, and free
passages to America--Home for women--Political sentiments--Mr. Stewart's
appointment as Secretary of the Treasury--Feeling of the country--The
retail store of A.T. Stewart & Co.--A palace of glass and iron--Internal
arrangements--The managers and salesmen--List of sales--Wages
given--Visitors--The principal salesroom--The parcel department--The
wagons and stables--Extravagant purchases--Mr. Stewart's supervision of
the upper store--The system of buying--The foreign agencies--Statement
of the duties paid each day--Personal appearance of Mr. Stewart.


CHAPTER IV.

AMOS LAWRENCE.

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 amateur doctor--Importance of
Groton in "old times"--Responsibility of young Lawrence--Is put in
charge of the business--High character--Drunkenness the curse of New
England--Lawrence resolves to abstain from liquors and tobacco--His
self-command--Completes his apprenticeship--Visits Boston--An unexpected
offer--Enters into business in Boston--Is offered a partnership, but
declines it--His sagacity justified--Begins business for
himself--Commercial importance of Boston--Aid from his father--A narrow
escape--lesson for life--Amos Lawrence's method of doing business---An
example for young men--His business habits--He leaves nothing unfinished
over Sunday--Avoids speculation--His views upon the subject--Introduces
double entry in book-keeping into Boston--His liberality to his
debtors--Does not allow his business to master him--Property gained by
some kinds of sacrifices not worth having--Forms a partnership with his
brother Abbott--Business of the firm--They engage in manufactures--Safe
business principles--A noble letter--Political opinions--His
charities--Statement of his donations--Requests that no public
acknowledgment of his gifts be made--Character as a merchant and a
man--Advice to his son--His religious character--Loss of his health--His
patience and resignation--The model American merchant.


CHAPTER V.

ANDREW V. STOUT.

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 difficulties--Is made principal of
a public school--His first business ventures--Engages in the building of
houses--His platform of integrity--His success--A great mistake--He
indorses a note--The consequence of a false step--Liberal action of the
bank--Mr. Stout resolves to accept no accommodation--Pays the notes, and
loses twenty-three thousand dollars--Establishes himself as a wholesale
boot and shoe dealer--Enters the dry goods trade--Close attention to
business--His system and its success--Organization of the Shoe and
Leather Bank of New York--Mr. Stout is made Vice President, and
subsequently President--Character as a citizen--Is made City
Chamberlain--Generosity to the police force--Interest in church
affairs--Kindness to the poor--Encouragement which his career affords
others.


CHAPTER VI.

JONAS CHICKERING.

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 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 a partnership with George Law, and establishes
the Stonington line--Opening of the Hudson River Railway--Drew's
foresight--Room enough for the locomotive and the steamboat--Buys out
the Champlain Company--Causes of his success as a steamboat
manager--Becomes a banker--His success in Wall Street--Indorses the
acceptances of the Erie Railway Company--His courage and calmness in the
panic of 1857--He saves "Erie" from ruin--Elected a director of the Erie
Road--Is made Treasurer--His interest in the road--His operations in
Wall Street--His farm in Putnam County--Joins the Methodist Church--His
liberality--Builds a church in New York--Founds the Drew Theological
Seminary--Estimate of his wealth--His family--Personal appearance.


CHAPTER XI.

JAMES B. EADS.

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. Louis--Sells apples
on the streets--Finds employment and a friend--Efforts to
improve--Becomes a clerk on a Mississippi steamer--Undertakes the
recovery of wrecked steamboats--Success of his undertaking--Offers to
remove the obstacles to the navigation of the Mississippi--Failure of
his health--Retires from business--Breaking out of the war--Summoned to
Washington--His plan for the defense of the western rivers--Associated
with Captain Rodgers in the purchase of gunboats--His first contract
with the Government--Undertakes to build seven ironclads in sixty-five
days--Magnitude of the undertaking--His promptness--Builds other
gunboats during the war--The gunboat fleet at Forts Henry and Donelson
the private property of Mr. Eads--Excellence of the vessels built by
him--A model contractor--Residence in St. Louis.


CHAPTER XII.

CYRUS W. FIELD.

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--Retires from
business--Travels in South America--Meets Mr. Gisborne--Plan of the
Newfoundland Telegraph Company--Mr. Field declines to embark in
it--Conceives the idea of a telegraph across the Atlantic
Ocean--Correspondence with Lieut. Maury and Prof. Morse--The scheme
pronounced practicable--Mr. Field secures the co-operation of four New
York capitalists--Organization of the New York, Newfoundland, and London
Telegraph Company--Building of the line from New York to St. John's--A
herculean task--The Governmental ocean surveys of the United States and
England--Efforts to secure aid in England--Liberal action of the
Government--Organization of the Atlantic Telegraph Company--A hard-won
success in America--Passage of the bill by Congress--The first attempt
to lay the cable--The expedition of 1857--The telegraph fleet--Scenes on
board--Loss of the cable--Failure of the expedition--Difficulties
remedied--The new "paying-out" machinery--The expedition of 1858--The
second attempt to lay the cable--Dangerous storm--Failures--Loss of the
cable--The third attempt--The cable laid successfully--Messages across
the Atlantic--Celebrations in England and the United States--The signals
cease--The cable a failure--Discouraging state of affairs--Courage of
Mr. Field--Generous offer of the British Government--Fresh
soundings--Investigations of the Telegraph Board--Efforts of Mr. Field
to raise new capital--Purchase of the Great Eastern--The fourth attempt
to lay the cable--Expedition of 1865--Voyage of the Great Eastern--Loss
of the cable--Efforts to recover it unsuccessful--What the expedition
demonstrated--Efforts to raise more capital--They are pronounced
illegal--The new company--The fifth attempt to lay the cable--Voyage of
the Great Eastern--The cable laid at last--Fishing up and splicing the
cable of 1865--The final triumph--Credit due to Mr. Field.


III. INVENTORS.


CHAPTER XIII.

ROBERT FULTON.

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 fireworks--"Nothing is
impossible"--"Quicksilver Bob"--The fishing excursion--The first
paddle-wheel boat--Fulton's success as an artist--His gift to his
mother--His removal to England--Intimacy with Benjamin West--Goes to
Devonshire--Acquaintance with the Duke of Bridgewater--His interest in
canal navigation--His first inventions--Goes to Paris--Residence with
Mr. Barlow--Studies in engineering--Invents the diving boat--The
infernal machine--His patriotic reply to the British ministry--His
marriage--Returns to America--The General Government declines to
purchase his torpedo--Brief history of the first experiments in steam
navigation--Fulton's connection with Livingston--The trial boat on the
Seine--Determines to build a boat on the Hudson--Fulton and Livingston
are given the sole right to navigate the waters of New York by
steam--Popular ridicule--Disbelief of scientific men--Launch of the
"Clermont"--The trial trip--The first voyage up the Hudson--Fulton's
triumph--Scenes along the river--Efforts to sink the
steamer--Establishment of steam navigation on the Hudson River--The
first New York ferry-boats--The floating docks--Boats for the West--New
York threatened by the British fleet in 1814--Fulton's plan for a steam
frigate--The "Fulton the First"--The steamboat war--Illness of
Fulton--His death and burial--His last will--True character of his
invention.


CHAPTER XIV.

CHARLES GOODYEAR.

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--Brief success of the India-rubber
companies--Their sudden failure--Visit of Mr. Goodyear to New York--He
invents an improvement in the life preserver--Early history of Charles
Goodyear--His failure as a merchant--Offers his invention to the Roxbury
Company--The agent's disclosures--Mr. Goodyear finds his mission--His
first efforts--A failure--Discouraging state of his affairs--Renews his
efforts--Experiments in India-rubber--Coldness of his friends--His
courage and perseverance--Goes to New York--Accidental discovery of the
aqua fortis process--Partial success--Ruined--Life on Staten
Island--Removes to Boston--Delusive prosperity--The mail bag
contract--His friends urge him to abandon his efforts--He refuses--On
the verge of success--Discovers the usefulness of sulphur--The
inventor's hope--The revelation--Discovers the secret of
vulcanization--Down in the depths--Kept back by poverty--A beggar--A
test of his honesty--Starvation at hand--The timely loan--Removal to New
York--Difficulties in the way--Death of his youngest child--Finds
friends in New York--His experiments in vulcanization--Final
success--His heart in his work--Fails to secure patents in Europe--His
losses from dishonest rivals--Declaration of the Commissioner of
Patents--Death of Mr. Goodyear--Congress refuses to extend his
patent--His true reward.


CHAPTER XV.

ELI WHITNEY.

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 invitation--Visit of the
planters--State of the cotton culture in 1792--A despondent
planter--Mrs. Greene advises them to try Whitney--Origin of the cotton
gin--Whitney's first efforts--His workshop--The secret labors--How he
provided himself with materials--Finds a partner--Betrayal of his
secret--He is robbed of his model--He recovers it and completes it--The
first cotton gin--Statement of the revolution produced by the invention
in the cotton culture of the South--Opinion of Judge Johnson--The story
of an inventor's wrongs--Whitney is cheated and robbed of his
rights--The worthlessness of a patent--A long and disheartening
struggle--Honorable action of North Carolina--Congress refuses to extend
the patent--Whitney abandons the cotton gin--Engages in the manufacture
of firearms--His improvements in them--Establishes an armory in
Connecticut, and makes a fortune--Death.


CHAPTER XVI.

CHAUNCEY JEROME.

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--Becomes a farmer's boy--Is
anxious to become a clock-maker--An over-wise guardian--Hardships of an
apprentice--How Jerome became a carpenter--Hires his winters from his
master--Becomes a dial-maker--The clock-making expedition--Jerome's
first savings--Takes a wife--A master carpenter--Poor pay and hard
work--Buys a house--A dull winter--Enters Mr. Terry's factory--The
wooden clock business--Sets up in business for himself--Industry and
energy rewarded--His first order--Sends his clocks South--Enlarges his
business--Improvements in his clocks--Losses on southern shipments from
dampness--Depression of business--Jerome's anxiety--A wakeful
night--Invention of the brass--A new era in the clock trade--Beneficial
effects of Jerome's invention--Magnitude of the Connecticut clock trade
at present--Growth of Jerome's business--Makes a fortune--Organization
of the "Jerome Clock-making Company"--Practical withdrawal of Mr.
Jerome--Difficulties of the company--Jerome a ruined man--Honest
independence--Finds employment--Becomes the manager of the Chicago
Company.


CHAPTER XVII.

ELIAS HOWE, JR.

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 fortune--Thrown out of
employment--Removes to Cambridge--Works in a machine shop with N.P.
Banks--Marries--A rash step--Growing troubles--A hard lot--Conceives the
idea of a sewing-machine--His first experiments unsuccessful--Invents
the lock stitch and perfects the sewing-machine--Hindered by his
poverty--A hard struggle--Finds a partner--His winter's task--His attic
work-shop--Completion of the model--Perfection of Howe's
invention--Efforts to dispose of the invention--Disappointed
hopes--Popular incredulity--Becomes an engine driver--Amasa Howe goes to
England with the sewing-machine--Bargain with the London
merchant--Elias removes to London--Loses his situation--The rigors of
poverty--Returns to America--Death of his wife--Fate's last blow--The
sewing-machine becomes better known--Adoption by the public--A tardy
recognition--Elias Howe sets up in business for himself--Buys out his
partner's interest--The sewing-machine war--Rapid growth of the
sewing-machine interest--Earnings of the inventor--A royal
income--Honors conferred upon him--Enlists in the United States Army--A
liberal private--Last illness and death.


CHAPTER XVIII.

RICHARD M. HOE.

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 steam printing presses--He
retires from business--Richard M. Hoe is brought up in the business--The
mechanical genius of the house--The new firm--Richard Hoe's first
invention--Obtains a patent for it--Visits England--Invents the
double-cylinder press--Demand for increased facilities for printing--Mr.
Hoe's experiments with his press--His failures--How the "Lightning
Press" was invented--A good night's work--Patents his invention--The
first "Lightning Press"--Demand for it--Rapid growth of the business of
the firm--Statement of the operations of the house--Personal
characteristics of Richard M. Hoe--The "Lightning Press" at work.


CHAPTER XIX.