Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919)

Born 25 Nov 1835 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Ancestors

Husband of Louise (Whitfield) Carnegie — married 22 Apr 1887 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

Descendants

Died 11 Aug 1919 at age 83 in Lenox, Berkshire, Massachusetts, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Ed Burke [send private message]

Biography

Andrew Carnegie is Notable.

Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century. He was also one of the highest profile philanthropists of his era and had given away almost 90 percent – amounting to, in 1919, $350 million- of his fortune to charities and foundations by the time of his death. His 1889 article proclaiming "The Gospel of Wealth" called on the rich to use their wealth to improve society, and stimulated a wave of philanthropy.^[1]

Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland November 25, 1835, and emigrated to the United States with his very poor parents William Carnegie and Margaret Morrison in 1848.

Carnegie started as a telegrapher and by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges, and oil derricks. He accumulated further wealth as a bond salesman raising money for American enterprise in Europe. He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J.P. Morgan in 1901 for $480 million, creating the U.S. Steel Corporation.

Carnegie devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, education, and scientific research. With the fortune he made from business, he built Carnegie Hall, and founded the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, among others. "Carnegie funded some 3,000 libraries, located in 47 U.S. states, and also in Canada, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies, and Fiji." ^[1] His life has often been referred to as a true "rags to riches" story.

He passed away 11 August 1919 in Lenox, Berkshire, Massachusetts, United States and was buried in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Wikipedia contributors, "Andrew Carnegie," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Carnegie&oldid=1125712313 (accessed December 12, 2022).
2. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 16 January 2021), memorial page for Andrew Carnegie (25 Nov 1835–11 Aug 1919), Find A Grave: Memorial #173, citing Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, Westchester County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave.

• Article: Andrew Carnegie: Library philanthropist - New Zealand History https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/andrew-carnegie, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 27-May-2014[1]
• Jordan, John W. Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (Lewis Historical Pub. Co., New York, 1915, Vol. 3, p. 1452-1457)
• Find A Grave: Memorial #173
• Article: Andrew Carnegie The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, New York, January 1920, Vol., 51, No. 1, pp 1-7

From behind the ancestry.com subscription wall:

• New York State Census, 1905 (Manhattan, NY)
• New York, State Census, 1915 via Ancestry.com
• New York, New York, Marriage Index 1866-1937 via Ancestry.com