Andrew Carnegie Bio

Andrew Carnegie: An American Captain of Industry

By far the most profitable businessman during his age, Andrew Carnegie left his mark on industry, and profoundly impacted the expansion of business enterprise in America. Essentially, Carnegie rose from poverty to become one of the most influential, industrial tycoon’s in history by single-handedly building the American steel industry. During his time, Carnegie was known as being a prolific writer, but is most remembered for the entrepreneurial, and philanthropic career he created himself. By initiating numerous opportunities, consistently working hard, and being a fast learner, Carnegie was able to successfully build an empire of wealth not only for himself, but to greatly benefit America’s leading business industry we recognize today.

On November 25th in 1835, Andrew Carnegie was born into poverty in Dunfermline, Scotland. His father, William Carnegie, was a linen weaver, and a local leader of the Chartists, who sought out to improve the conditions of the working-class life in Great Britain. His mother, Margaret Carnegie, was a shoemaker, as well as a political, and social reformer.

In 1848, the Carnegie family decided to immigrate to the United States, and ended up settling in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. There, Andrew began his career as a bobbin boy in a cotton factory at the young age of thirteen. An avid reader, Carnegie spent most of his spare time in the homes of wealthy citizens who were generous enough to allow him access to their private libraries. Carnegie took full advantage of these opportunities, which provided a large majority of his education. His impressive intellectual talents quickly shown through when he received a promotion to the bookkeeping side of the business, and went from being a Western Union messenger boy to a telegraph operator. This monumental leap in business at such a young age led Carnegie to fulfill a series of prominent positions in his career, one of which being the...