The National cyclopædia of American biography : being the history of the United States as illustrated in the lives of the founders, builders, and defenders of the republic, and of the men and women who are doing the work and moulding the thought of the present time, edited by distinguished biographers, selected from each state, revised and approved by the most eminent historians, scholars, and statesmen of the day . ad no sympathy for the business, being fondof reading, was a good deal of a student when hohad an opportunity of study-ing at the district schools ornight schools, and learned tore
The National cyclopædia of American biography : being the history of the United States as illustrated in the lives of the founders, builders, and defenders of the republic, and of the men and women who are doing the work and moulding the thought of the present time, edited by distinguished biographers, selected from each state, revised and approved by the most eminent historians, scholars, and statesmen of the day . ad no sympathy for the business, being fondof reading, was a good deal of a student when hohad an opportunity of study-ing at the district schools ornight schools, and learned toread and write and enough ofarithmetic to execute ordinarybusiness calculations. He wasstrengthened in his determina-tion to go out into the worldand earn his living, by read-ing a biographical work calledThe Life of William 1824, at the age of eighteen,having .|40 in money in his pos-session, he went to his father,and objecting that farm workwas not for him, asked permis-sion to go out and push his ownway in the world. His fa-ther granted the permission,• and the boy started for Troy,making the journey of thirty-six miles on foot. His first job was as a hod-carrier,at which he worked for about a month at $1 a he went to Hoosic, where he worked as amason and stone-cutter, and then was dismissedwithout any pay. He returned to Troy, where hepicked up work enough to live by, and was able to. buy a few books, which he spent his leisure timein reading and studying. In 1827 he went to Kings-ton, Ulster county, and worked on the Delaware .andHudson canal. He also did some work as a quarry-man in Pennsylvania, and afterward took a sloop-load of stone to Norfolk, where he worked on acanal. In 1838 George Law came to New York,being employed upon the Harlem canal, but the nextyear went to Pennsylvania again, and began to takecontracts for canal work, and by 1830 was worthnearly |3,000. In 1834 he married a Miss Andersonof Philadelphia, and at this time his fortune ha
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Keywords: ., bookauth, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidcu31924020334755
