Andrew Carnegie was the second child to Margaret and William Carnegie, being born in 1835 in Dunfermline, Scotland. Not long after his birth, in the mid-1840’s, the potato famine struck Scotland causing many families to fall on hard times. This forced the Carnegie family to leave for America in 1848, settling in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Soon after arriving, Andrew Carnegie would get his first job at age 13 as a bobbin boy at the Scottish-owned, Anchor Cotton Mill earning only $1.50 per week. He went on to work various jobs, such as with the Pennsylvania Railroad and a telegraph company, until eventually organizing the Carnegie Steel Company in 1865. His company would become extremely successful, launching the steel industry in Pittsburgh, and eventually it would get sold to JP Morgan in 1901 for $480 million.

Andrew Carnegie was a big believer in helping the needy, and had given over $350 million to charities in his lifetime. 

He attended his first Scots’ Charitable annual meeting at Hotel Somerset in late 1905 where he was a chief guest and became an honorary lifetime member. After the meeting had concluded, he would give an extremely generous donation of $30,000 to Scots’ Charitable, to be used for the relief of Scottish born people in the vicinity. The money would go toward lodging, rent, food, fuel, and sometimes fares to distant points. Carnegie was a huge help to many less fortunate people in his lifetime, believing that the rich had a moral obligation to give back. For his generosity to our organizaition, he was awarded a lifetime honorary membership, we thank him for his generosity!