In this post: a steel-magnate (Elbert Henry Gary), an inventor (Alexander Graham Bell), a clothier and philanthropist (Julius Rosenwald), a lawyer, lecturer and writer (Stuart Austin Wier) and an author of a million-seller (Napoleon Hill and “Think and Grow Rich”)

Elbert Henry Gary

ELBERT HENRY GARY (* October 8, 1846 in Wheaton, Illinois; † August 15, 1927 in New York City) was an American lawyer, county judge and businessman. He was key founder and chief organizer of the U.S. Steel Corporation. Elbert H. Gary was an authority on corporate law and became president of Federal Steel Co., Chicago, in 1898. By 1901, Federal Steel Co. merged with other companies to become America’s first billion-dollar corporation, U.S. Steel Corp.. Elbert H. Gary became chairman of the board of directors and remained in this position for 26 years until his death at the age of 82. Even though he was a strict opponent of unions, he promoted profit sharing, higher wages and better working conditions.

Elbert H. Gary is being mentioned four times by Napoleon Hill in “Think and Grow Rich”. This is an interesting text-passage: “So Carnegie had his millions, and the Morgan syndicate had $62,000,000 for all its `trouble,’ and all the `boys,’ from Gates to Gary, had their millions.”

Alexander Graham Bell

ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL (March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland; † August 2, 1922 in Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia, Canada) was an Scottish-American inventor, engineer and scientist. He invented the first practical telephone and founded the Bell Telephone Company. Bell had a very personal relation to elocution and speech, since his grandfather, father and brother worked in that field and both his wife and his mother were deaf. Alexander Graham Bell made several inventions, among them an audiometer, a metal detector and the hydrofoil boat. Alexander Graham Bell became part oft the eugenics movement when his research showed that congenitally deaf parents were more likely to produce deaf children. Bel (B), a unit of ratio used in acoustics and electronics (mostly used as the derived decibel (dB) = 0.1 B) is named in honor of telecommunication pioneer Alexander Graham Bell.

Dr. Alexander Graham Bell is being mentioned two times in “Think and Grow Rich”. Napoleon Hill puts him on the list in the author’s preface and mentions him in chapter 13 “The Brain”.

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”
Alexander Graham Bell

Julius Rosenwald

JULIUS ROSENWALD (* August 12, 1862 in Springfield, Illinois; † January 6, 1932 in Highland Park, Illinois) was a German-American clothier, manufacturer and philanthropist. Since 1895, he was part-owner and president (1908) of Sears, Roebuck and Company, an American chain of department stores, which merged with Kmart to form Sears Holdings Corporation in 2005. Julius Rosenwald also was a major philanthropist. In 1917, he and his family established the Rosenwald Fund for “the well-being of mankind”. The Rosenwald Fund donated over $70 million to public schools, colleges, universities, museums, Jewish charities and black institutions until 1948, when the Julius Rosenwald Fund was completely depleted.

Julius Rosenwald is part Napoleon Hill’s list of 47 wealthy men in “Think and Grow Rich”.

“Early in my business career I learned the folly of worrying about anything. I have always worked as hard as I could, but when a thing went wrong and could not be righted, I dismissed it from my mind.”
Julius Rosenwald

Stuart Austin Wier

STUART AUSTIN WIER (* August 21, 1894 in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana; † April 23, 1959 in Dallas, Texas) was an American lawyer, lecturer and writer. What does Napoleon Hill write about Stuart Austin Wier in “Think and Grow Rich”?
“The secret was passed on to Stuart Austin Wier, of Dallas, Texas. He was ready for it–so ready that he gave up his profession and studied law. Did he succeed? That story is told too.” (Author’s Preface). Later, in Chapter 5, Napoleon Hill writes: “Stuart Austin Wier prepared himself as a Construction Engineer and followed this line of work until the depression limited his market to where it did not give him the income he required. He took inventory of himself, decided to change his profession to law, went back to school and took special courses by which he prepared himself as a corporation lawyer. despite the fact the depression had not ended, he completed his training, passed the Bar Examination, and quickly built a lucrative law practice, in Dallas, Texas; in fact he is turning away clients. Just to keep the record straight, and to anticipate the alibis of those who will say, “I couldn’t go to school because I have a family to support,” or “I’m too old,” I will add the information that Mr. Wier was past forty, and married when he went back to school. Moreover, by carefully selecting highly specialized courses, in colleges best prepared to teach the subjects chosen, Mr. Wier completed in two years the work for which the majority of law students require four years. IT PAYS TO
KNOW HOW TO PURCHASE KNOWLEDGE!”

Napoleon Hill mentions Stuart Austin Wier half a dozen times in “Think and Grow Rich” (see above for some quotes).

“Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill is not only a guide to become wealthy. It is also a guide to American economic history of the 19th/20th century. Don’t miss to grab yourself a free copy in the sidebar

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"Think And Grow Rich" / F. W. Woolworth / Frank A. Vanderlip / John D. Rockefeller / Napoleon Hill / The Millionaires of "Think And Grow Rich" / Thomas Edison — 8 Comments
20
Oct 10

Who’s Who in “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill (Part 5)

Who are the four men in this article? An oil-magnate (John D. Rockefeller), the world’s greatest inventor (Thomas A. Edison), a banker (Frank A. Vanderlip), the “world’s worst salesman” (F. W. Woolworth) and, of course, the author of “Think and Grow Rich” (Napoleon Hill) – check the sidebar for your free ebook.

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In the author’s preface of “Think and Grow Rich”, Napoleon Hill lists almost 50 entrepreneurs, politicians, self-made millionaires who knew and applied the eternal laws of success. This is the fifth part of the series Who’s Who in “Think and Grow Rich”.

John D. Rockefeller, 1885

JOHN DAVISON ROCKEFELLER (* July 8, 1839 in Richford, New York; † May 23, 1937 in Ormond Beach, Florida) was an American entrepreneur, oil-magnate and major philanthropist. He was co-founder of an oil refinery, predecessor of the Standard Oil Company that was founded in 1870. Standard Oil Company was one of the world’s largest oil refiner. It also was one of the world’s first and largest multinational corporations. By 1911 the trust was broken up by the United States Supreme Court and split into 34 companies. John D. Rockefeller was the richest man of his time and perhaps the richest man in history. His net worth in 2007 numbers was 663.4 billion US$. John D. Rockefeller was a major philanthropist. He mainly used his vast fortune to establish several foundations (“to promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world”), colleges, universities (University of Chicago, Rockefeller Universitiy), museums, hospitals and to support national parks, educational institutes and churches.

Napoleon Hill mentions John D. Rockefeller two times in “Think and Grow Rich”. In the list and in chapter 9 “Persistence”.

“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”
John D. Rockefeller

Thomas Alva Edison

THOMAS ALVA EDISON (* February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio; † October 1931 in West Orange, New Jersey) was an American inventor and businessman. He can be considered as the greatest inventor in human history. His inventions have influenced life around the world in many aspects. Thomas A. Edison has made several groundbreaking inventions in the fields of electricity, electrical engineering, telecommunications and audio-visual media. Among Edison’s multitudinous inventions (1.093 patents in his name in the United States alone) were the phonograph, a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb, a stock ticker, a mechanical vote recorder, a battery for an electric car, electrical power, recorded music and motion pictures and the motion picture camera. Edison and his companies Edison Electric Light Co and Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York (By 1901: New York Edison Company) managed the electrification of New York City. He also was co-founder of the General Electric Company.

Thomas A. Edison is being mentioned several times in “Think and Grow Rich”. One amazing passage in the text is: “Mr. Edison tried out more than 10,000 different combinations of ideas through the synthetic faculty of his imagination before he “tuned in” through the creative faculty, and got the answer which perfected the incandescent light.”

“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.”
Thomas A. Edison

Frank A. Vanderlip

FRANK ARTHUR VANDERLIP (* November 17, 1864 in Aurora, Illinois; † June 30, 1937) was an American financier. From 1897 to1901 he was Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury in President McKinley’s administration. Frank A. Vanderlip was director, trustee, founder or player of the following corporations or institutions: National City Bank (vice president and president), Nation Bank of Commerce, Farmers’ Loan & Trust Company of New York, Riggs National Bank of Washington, Union Pacific Railroad, United States Realty and Improvement Co., Consolidated Gas Company, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Trustee). Frank A. Vanderlip was is active in the work of the Chamber of Commerce, The Merchants Association, the Economic Club and the Academy of Political Science. He was the president of the Sleepy Hollow Country Club at Scarborough and was a member of the Metropolitan, The Century, the City and Union League clubs of New York, and other organizations in New York, Washington, and Chicago.

Frank A. Vanderlip is part of the list of wealthy men in the author’s preface of Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”.

“I want no men around me who have not the knack of making friends.”
Frank A. Vanderlip

F. W. Woolworth

FRANK WINFIELD WOOLWORTH (* April 13, 1852 in Rodman, New York; April 8, 1919 in Glen Cove, New York) was an American entrepreneur and founder of F. W. Woolworth Company (now Foot Locker). At the age of 21, F. W. Woolworth started working as a merchant. By 1879, Woolworth founded his first five-cent store in Utica, New York with US$ 300.- he had borrowed. The shop was no success and failed within weeks. But F. W. Woolworth did not give up and established his second store only two months later, which was a great success. During the next years F. W. Woolworth and his brother Charles Sumner Woolworth established hundreds of five-and-ten-cent stores all over the country. In 1911, 586 Woolworth stores were united in the F. W. Woolworth Company. When Frank W. Woolworth died 8 years later in 1919, the F. W. Woolworth Company owned more than 1,000 stores in the United States and other countries.

F.W. Woolworth is being mentioned three times by Napoleon Hill in “Think and Grow Rich”. For example: “Woolworth’s Five and Ten Cent Store idea, for example, had far less merit, but it piled up a fortune for its creator.” (in chapter 5 – Specialized Knowledge)

“I am the world’s worst salesman, therefore, I must make it easy for people to buy.”
F. W. Woolworth

Napoleon Hill has interviewed over 500 men like the ones above for his books “The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons” and “Think and Grow Rich”. Read “Think and Grow Rich” now and get your free ebook edition in the sidebar on the right.

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"Think And Grow Rich" / Cyrus H. K. Curtis / E. M. Statler / George Eastman / Henry L. Doherty / The Millionaires of "Think And Grow Rich" / Theodore Roosevelt — 12 Comments
16
Sep 10

Who’s Who in Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”? (Part 2)

You will meet Mr. Statler, Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Eastman and the other gentlemen in “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. Grab your free copy on the right.

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Have you ever wanted to know, who the 47 millionaires on Napoleon Hill’s list are? Here is Part 2 of the list.

E. M. Statler

ELLSWORTH MILTON STATLER (* October 26, 1863, † Somerset County, Pennsylvania; † April 16, 1928 in New York City) was an American hotel owner. He laid ground for the Statler chain in 1907, when he built his first major hotel in Buffalo, New York. Different from the standards at that time, every room had a private bath or shower and running water. The famous slogan “The Guest is Always Right” can be traced back to E.M. Statler.

E.M. Statler is being mentioned in the author’s preface list of Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” only.

“There are three things that make a hotel famous – location, location, location.”

E.M. Statler

Henry Latham Doherty

HENRY LATHAM DOHERTY (* May 15, 1870 in Columbus, Ohio; † December 26, 1939 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American oilman and utilities expert. Henry L. Doherty was 12 years old when he left school to work for the Columbus Gas Company. A homemade self-education program and his continuing diligence let him become chief engineer only 8 years later. In 1910, he founded the Cities Service Company, a New York-based holding company which ultimately controlled more than 200 utility firms. After a major company restructuring in 1983 Cities Service Co. was re-branded as CITGO.

Henry L. Doherty is being mentioned in the list of the author’s preface in Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” only.

“Those who do the most for the world’s advancement are the ones who demand the least.”

Henry L. Doherty

Cyrus H. K. Curtis

CYRUS HERMAN KOTZSCHMAR CURTIS (* June 18, 1850 in Portland, Maine ; † June 7, 1933 in Wyncote, Pennsylvania) was an American publisher and major philanthropist. In 1866, his family home had burned down in the Great Fire of Portland and C. H. K. Curtis had to leave high school after the first year. For 6 years, he worked for several Portland and Boston newspapers. In 1872 he established his first publication. His first big success was “The Ladies Home Journal and Practical Housekeeper”, developed and edited by his first wife Louisa Knapp and later renamed as “The Ladies Home Journal”. Late on, Curtis also published several other newspapers and magazines such as “The Saturday Evening Post”, “The Philadelphia Enquirer” and “The New York Evening Post”. C. H. K. Curtis donated millions of dollars to hospitals, museums, universities and schools.

Napoleon Hill mentions Cyrus H. K. Curtis in his prefaces’ list of “Think and Grow Rich”.

“There are two kinds of people who never amount to much: those who cannot do what they are told, and those who can do nothing else.”

Cyrus Herman Kotzschmar Curtis

George Eastman

GEORGE EASTMAN (* July 12, 1854 in Waterville, New York; † March 14, 1932 in Rochester, New York) was an American inventor, founder of the Eastman Kodak Company and a major philanthropist. George Eastman invented roll film, which soon replaced conventional photo plates. Roll film, in combination with (Kodak) cameras, designed for non-expert use, laid ground for photography as an affordable hobby for the average person. George Eastman was a major philanthropist and donated to universities, institutes, museums and schools on a regular basis throughout his lifetime.

In “Think and Grow Rich”, George Eastman is being mentioned by Napoleon Hill in the list of wealthy men who used the Carnegie secret.

“What we do during our working hours determines what we have; what we do in our leisure hours determines what we are.”

George Eastman

Theodore Roosevelt, 1902

THEODORE ROOSEVELT (* October 27, 1858 in New York City; † January 6, 1919 in Oyster Bay, New York) was the 26th president of the United States. Unlike most of the other men on this list, he was born to a wealthy family. He graduated from Harvard in 1880 and attended law school before he decided to enter public life. Theodore Roosevelt was an outstanding personality and achieved his goals in life. Instead of listing his numerous merits, Napoleon Hill shall be quoted. In his book “The Law of Success in 16 Lessons”, the predecessor of “Think and Grow Rich” he wrote:

“Theodore Roosevelt engraved his name on the tablets of time by one single act during his tenure of office as President of the United States, and after all else that he did while in that office will have been forgotten this one transaction will record him in history as a man of imagination. He started the steam shovels to work on the Panama Canal. Every President, from Washington on up to Roosevelt, could have started the canal and it would have been completed, but it seemed such a colossal undertaking that it required not only imagination but daring courage as well. Roosevelt had both, and the people of the United States have the canal.”

Napoleon Hill mentions Theodore Roosevelt in the list and writes in Chapter 1 – Introduction: “The business depression started in 1929, and continued on to an all time record of destruction, until sometime after President Roosevelt entered office.”

“Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.”

Theodore Roosevelt

If you would like to see the entire list of 27 wealthy men as Napoleon Hill lists them in “Think and Grow Rich”, please look top right and get your free copy now.

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"Think And Grow Rich" / Elmer Gates / The Millionaires of "Think And Grow Rich" — 2 Comments
12
Mar 10

Elmer R. Gates

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Dr. Elmer R. Gates (*1859 +1923) was an American scientist, inventor and psychologist. He created more than 200 useful patents. At the beginning of the 20th century he run a laboratory in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was the largest private non-commercial laboratory in the United States. Dr. Gates is being mentioned several times in Napoleon Hill’s book “Think and Grow Rich”. He is on the list of 47 self-made millionaires in Napoleon Hill’s preface of “Think and Grow Rich” and in Chapter 11.

Among his numerous inventions were:

the foam fire extinguisher
a climate-controlling air conditioner
an electronic music synthesizer
an improved electric iron
an electric tuning fork
different devices to separate gold from sand
“Box and Block”, an educational toy. (Its descendants can be found in numerous children’s rooms down to the present day. It’s the toy where you put blocks of different shapes into corresponding holes.)
an improved electric loom

Elmer Gates believed that “scientific method is mental method” and he developed “Psychurgy”, an Art of Mind Using. He also was among the 500+ “Hill’s Men”. Napoleon Hill had interviewed and analyzed them to find a formula of getting rich. It is delineated in Hill’s books “The Law of Success in 16 Lessons” and “Think And Grow Rich”. In the latter Hill writes:

“In his laboratory, he had what he called his “personal communication room.” It was practically sound proof, and so arranged that all light could be shut out. It was equipped with a small table, on which he kept a pad of writing paper.

In front of the table, on the wall, was an electric pushbutton, which controlled the lights. When Dr. Gates desired to draw upon the forces available to him through his Creative Imagination, he would go into this room, seat himself at the table, shut off the lights, and CONCENTRATE upon the KNOWN factors of the invention on which he was working, remaining in that position until ideas began to “flash” into his mind in connection with the UNKNOWN factors of the invention.

On one occasion, ideas came through so fast that he was forced to write for almost three hours. When the thoughts stopped flowing, and he examined his notes, he found they contained a minute description of principles which bad not a parallel among the known data of the scientific world.”

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