An industrialist and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie was born in Dumferline, Scotland, to William and Margaret Morrison Carnegie. Economic reverses led the family to emigrate in 1848 to Allegheny, Pennsylvania, where for $1.20 per week Andrew took a job as a bobbin boy in a textile factory. Hungry for knowledge, he also became the heaviest user of Colonel J. Anderson's personal library, which was open to all Allegheny working boys. A year later, Carnegie hired on as a telegraph messenger boy, where he so distinguished himself that Thomas Scott, superintendent of the western division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, hired him as his personal telegrapher for $35 a month.

Under Scott, Carnegie learned business methods quickly, and when Scott became the general superintendent of the railroad in 1859, Carnegie took over the position of superintendent of the western division. The new salary enabled Carnegie to expand his investments, all of...