Rare smile.

I, John D Rockefeller, had been raised in the strictest Baptist faith, in the paternal farm near Cleveland, Ohio.

I used to buy candies wholesale to resell them to my siblings at a profit. After mandatory school, I worked at 16 as an accountant for a grocer in Cleveland, I was the kind of accountant that saw everything and forgot nothing.

I was a very religious man, and I thought that God would reward the chosen ones. I hated waste, disorder and middlemen.

I never smiled, except for an exceptionally profitable deals.

In 1863 with and associate and a chemist, I built his first refinery in Cleveland, producing naphtha and kerosene. Reinvesting constantly the profits and keeping costs and wages as low as possible, I quickly grew my business.

Billions.

http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/soc/wealthy-chart.html

The Commodore.

I lived a fast paced, adventure and danger filled life.

Looking back 197 years, I can say that I did some pretty amazing things.

I was the First Captain of Modern Industry, a self-made millionaire by 1840 by beginning my own steamship business. I was born into a poor family and did not take my first vacation until I was 59 years old.

In my lifetime, I have been a steamship and railroad builder, an executive, a financier, and a promoter.

My boundless energy and acute business sense enabled me to go above and beyond my rivals. I could sense the next biggest business venture and caught on quickly. People often described me as cruel and cold-hearted, but I was only doing what it took to be the best. Even after I became a millionaire and proved myself, much of New York's elite did not accept me; they said I was rich, but crude.

People like me transformed America. We Captains of Industry redefined economics and completely changed the way business is run. Without us, America would not have industrialized as it did and become as great as it is today.

I eventually left behind an estate of almost $100 million dollars, $94 million of which I left to my son, William. I am proud to say that he inherited my cut-throat business attitude and made his own fortune.

"I have been insane on the subject of moneymaking all my life." --

the New York Daily Tribune, March 23, 1878.

Vanderbilt Mansion - Hyde Park http://www.stfrancis.edu/content/ba/ghkickul/stuwebs/bbios/biograph/vanderbi.htm

A man of many lifetimes.

There are many sides to Andrew Carnegie.

There was the son of the Scottish peasant, who had been forced off the land to America when the landlords wanted to replace peasant farmers with grazing sheep and when the coming of the power loom to Britain had destroyed the livelihood of the perhaps 4% of the British population who wove thread into cloth by hand in their cottages--the so-called "handloom weavers."

There was the extremely energetic and intelligent young-man-in-a-hurry in the U.S. telegraph and railroad industries, trying to impress his supervisor Thomas Scott, a high Pennsylvania Railroad executive, with his diligence and foresight.

There was the iron master who had the best grasp in America of what the best technologies for making iron and steel were going to be--and who had the (rare) sensibility to recognize where potential economies of scale were so large that the best business strategy was to build up capacity well ahead of demand and then use it by underselling all your competitors.

There was the union-buster who unleashed his lieutenant Henry Clay Frick to destroy the Amalgamated Iron and Steel Workers union's control over the Homestead, Pennsylvania steel plant: one of the bloodiest episodes in the already-bloody nineteenth century history of American labor relations.

There was the senior industrialist who threatened the financial capitalist J.P. Morgan with an extended price war that would cost Carnegie perhaps $100 million (a large sum, at that time: think of it as the equivalent of perhaps $8 billion today) but that would in all likelihood bankrupt the sprawling, less-efficient steel firms that Morgan had assembled--who threatened Morgan with this unless Morgan were to raise the money on Wall Street to buy Carnegie out.

Morgan did so, and claimed that he had made Carnegie the richest man in the world.

And there was the philanthropist trying to figure out what to do with all his money--and deciding that the thing to do was to establish the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and to subsidize the building of libraries all across the United States. He was a man of great powers, of great flaws, of great benevolence, and great ruthlessness.

I am Andrew Carnegie.

http://econ161.berkeley.edu/Econ_Articles/carnegie/DeLong_Moscow_paper2.html

A Man of Many Endeavors

I am Andrew Mellon (1855-1937). When I was only 19, I joined my father and brother in managing the family bank, T. Mellon and Sons. In just eight years, I became the owner of the bank and eventually created a huge financial-industrial empire in western Pennsylvania. I supplied many Pittsburgh-based companies to expand in fields like aluminum, steel, oil, coke, and coal, gaining me a significant income.

I also founded several companies of my own including, the Aluminum Company of America, the Gulf Oil Company, and the Union Steel Company. All of these became highly successful and were major companies in the United States. However, my most significant financial instrument was the Union Trust Company, which I helped create with Henry Frick. The Union Trust Company eventually acquired my family’s bank and was what helped me become the third-richest man in the United States by the early 1920’s.

Eventually, my knowledge in these financial matters earned me the job of Secretary of Treasury for President Warren G. Harding in 1921. I tried my best to bring business practices into the government. By cutting taxes significantly and strictly enforcing Prohibition, I brought upon a period of unprecedented financial prosperity. However, the Great Depression struck and effectively ruined my career as Secretary of Treasury, and I was forced to resign in 1932.

However, this did not ruin my legacy. I was also known as a great philanthropist and I gave away nearly $10 million in my life. Most importantly, I donated money and pictures to establish the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. as art was one of my passions. This assured that my legacy will continue to live on for years after my death.

http://www.mellon.org/about_foundation/history/andrew-w-mellon
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/374012/Andrew-W-Mellon

Rising from the ashes.

I am Henry Flagler. I lived a life of ups and downs but in the end I was able to make the right moves to become a successful individual.

I started my career by cofounding the Flagler and York Salt Company in 1862 with my brother-in-law. However, the end of the Civil War drastically reduced the demand for salt and the business collapsed. I had lost my initial $50,000 investment and the $50,000 I had borrowed from my father-in-law.

Even after this disastrous failure, I did not give up. In 1870 I used my acquaintanceship with John D. Rockefeller to partner with him and Samuel Andrews to form Standard Oil. We became the number one company in the country for oil refining and I had finally become the successful business man I had dreamed of being.

Still, I wanted to do even greater things. Eventually, I left Standard Oil to move to Florida, realizing its potential to attract many visitors. However, I realized that the hotel facilities and transportation systems were inadequate. I took advantage of this and built several large hotels that became instant successes. I also built the Florida East Coast Railway which provided transportation throughout the entire east coast of Florida. I changed the state of Florida forever, making it a huge tourist attraction. My ability to take advantage of auspicious ventures was what made me an American tycoon.

http://www.flaglermuseum.us/html/flagler_biography.html

Titan of Industry.

I am John Pierpont Morgan.

My career began in 1857 as an accountant, and then I worked for several New York banking firms until I became a partner in Drexel, Morgan and Company in 1871, which was later reorganized as J.P. Morgan and Company in 1895.

I began reorganizing railroads in 1885, and I became a board member and gained control of large amounts of stock of many of the rail companies I helped restructure.

In 1896, I embarked on consolidations in the electric, steel (creating U.S. Steel, the world's first billion-dollar corporation, in 1901), and agricultural equipment manufacturing industries.

By the early 1900s, I was the main force behind the Trusts, controlling virtually all the basic American industries.

I then looked to the financial and insurance industries, in which my banking firm also achieved a concentration of control. I was also among the foremost collectors of art and books of my day; my book collection and the building that housed it in New York City are now The Pierpont Morgan Library.

Luxurious Living

Rockefeller Mansion

Flagler Mansion Ballroom

Carnegie Mansion

Vanderbilt Mansion