Andrew Carnegie - Financial
Facts 1. Fortunately, for the
Carnegies, they were able to live with Andrew's
mom's sister rent free when they first arrived in America.
2. In 1848 it would have cost about $6.25 to feed a family of four, but
the 4 member
Carnegie family often did not earn that much in a week.
3.Andrew
Carnegie's first job in America was operating a spindle that wound
thread. It paid $1.20 per week.
4. When Andrew was 12 years old he got his second paying job in America.
He earned $2 per week operating a steam engine. His mother earned $4 per
week making shoes for sale from their home.
5. In 1849
Andrew Carnegie was offered a job as a messenger boy for a telegraph
office and was paid $2.50 per week.
6. If he had to travel beyond a particular distance when delivering a
telegraph he was paid an extra dime for the trip.
7. Carnegie's third job was working as a telegraph operator for the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company. It paid $35.00 per month.
8. While working for the telegraph office he took on a part
time job that
paid him an extra $1 per week. He would document shipping and European
news that came through the telegraph office and sell it to a newspaper
reporter.
9. Andrew
Carnegie once lost (but later found) the package (filled with the
railroad's payroll!) he was assigned to bring from the payroll office in
Altoona back to Pittsburgh.
10. While working for the railroad
Carnegie was outraged when a private (and
the only) library close to him wanted to charge him a $2 membership fee.
His letter to the local newspaper resulted in the fee being waived.
11. In 1855 Carnegie's boss and mentor encouraged him to buy 10 shares of
Adams Express Company for $500. Carnegie later wrote, "Mr. Scott asked
me if I had five hundred dollars. If so, he said, he wished to make an
investment for me. Five hundred cents was much nearer my capital. I
certainly did not have fifty dollars saved for investment, but I was not
going to miss the chance of becoming financially connected with my
leader and a great man.”
12. Andrew
Carnegie had to get the money from his mother who got a
mortgage for $500 on the family's $700 home.
13. Carnegie's first dividend check was for $10.00. He stated, "I shall
remember that check as long as I live…it gave me the first penny of
revenue from capital – something that I had not worked for with the
sweat of my brow."
14. In 1855 Carnegie bought a property valued at $700, but paid $550 (over
2 years) because it needed repaired due to flooding.
15. In 1863 Carnegie listed his assets and the total came to $47,860.67. It
was income from his oil and railroad investments.
16. In 1864 his income was $38,750.00. In 1865 it was $20,940.00.
17. In 1864
Carnegie avoided military service during the Civil War by
utilizing a draft broker and paying a recent Irish immigrant $850 to
take his place.
18. In 1865 Carnegie took a world cruise with two friends...each paid $132
for first class tickets.
19. In his autobiography Andrew Carnegie noted that Indians used to collect
oil from the ground with their blankets. They sold it to merchants in
Pittsburgh who put it in vials and sold it as medicine for $1 per vial!
20. Moments before
they were married, Andrew and Louise Carnegie signed a prenuptial
agreement that guaranteed Louise $20,000 a year in exchange for her
giving up any claims to Andrew's estate. Page 297
Source
21. Carnegie loved
his horses so much that he arranged to have them travel with him on
summer vacation. The bill for transporting the horses read, "four
horses, 16,000 lbs @43 cents per hundred: $68.80...and transportation
fee for one man. Two carriages on flat car, 20,000 lbs @23 cents pr 100:
$46".
22. Andrew
Carnegie
once made a $5,000 donation to Ohio Congressman
William McKinley
(eventually to become President). Another time, Carnegie gave $25,000 to
Speaker of the House David B. Henderson to erect a library on the campus
of Upper Iowa University in his name. Page 376
Source
