Biographies, 1770s-1850s
Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, 1785–1879
Land Speculator
Bonaparte became one of the richest women in early America. French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was displeased when his brother married an American, Elizabeth Patterson. He had the marriage annulled and gave her a small pension. On her own, Bonaparte invested shrewdly in stocks and American property and died wealthy.
Portrait by Firmin Massot, 1823, courtesy of Maryland Historical Society
Samuel Slater, 1768–1835
Immigrant Entrepreneur
Samuel Slater committed industrial espionage, memorizing designs for machine-powered textile production as an indentured apprentice in England. He brought these designs with him to the United States in the 1790s. With financing from Rhode Island merchants, he established the first textile mill in Americas.
Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Paul Revere, 1734–1818
Master Craftsman
Revere learned the art of silver and goldsmithing from his father, Apollos Rivoire, a French Huguenot immigrant. Master of his craft shop, Revere created work that his contemporaries admired. To supplement his income as an artisan, Revere also worked as a copper plate engraver and a dentist.
Portrait by John Singleton Copley, 1768, courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; gift of Joseph W. Revere, William B. Revere, and Edward H.R. Revere
Patrick Lyon, 1779–1829
Proud Blacksmith
Immigrant blacksmith Patrick Lyon was falsely convicted of robbing a bank and won a substantial restitution. After becoming a wealthy and successful businessman, he commissioned this portrait, saying: “I do not desire to be represented in the picture as a gentleman … I want you to paint me at work at my anvil, with my sleeves rolled up and a leather apron on.”
Patrick Lyon at the Forge, by John Neagle, 1826–27, courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
DeWitt Clinton, 1769–1828
Risk-taker
Critics called it “DeWitt’s Ditch,” but the Erie Canal that Clinton fought for as governor turned out to be a stroke of economic genius. It lowered the cost of shipping from Lake Erie to New York City, cementing the city’s position as America’s financial capital.
Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis
Stephen Burroughs, 1765–1840
Counterfeiter
Stephen Burroughs capitalized on the lack of a standard U.S. currency by counterfeiting paper money, which at the time was issued by local banks and had many different designs. Several times imprisoned, he fascinated early 19th-century audiences with his memoirs of his notorious life.
John Jacob Astor, 1763–1848
Profit Seeker
Though he never set a trap for beavers, Astor became America’s richest man by selling their fur. A business pioneer, he later opened markets in China, diversified into finance, and speculated in real estate. By the 1820s, his American Fur Company dominated the market from the Great Lakes to the Northwest.
Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Susan Mary Alsop
Jose Antonio Navarro, 1795–1871
Tejano Statesman
Navarro pursued business and politics in 1830s Texas, a crossroads of commerce. Merchant, rancher, lawyer, slave-owner, and statesman, he imported and sold goods on the northern frontier of Mexico. He later increased his economic opportunities by promoting Texas independence and then statehood.
Courtesy of University of Texas, San Antonio
Isaac Bernheim, 1848–1945
Peddler
Young Bernheim peddled thread, pins, needles, and socks from door to door with a heavy pack throughout Pennsylvania. Claiming this taught him self-reliance and independence, he later opened his own liquor distillery in Kentucky. Becoming prosperous, he gave generously to his Louisville community, funding libraries, hospitals, and a nature preserve.
Courtesy of University of Kentucky Library
Jemmy, about 1825-unknown
Enslaved Entrepreneur
Jemmy learned basket-making from his elders while enslaved in South Carolina. Most of his sweetgrass baskets were used on the plantation, but he secretly paddled the low country waterways to take others to market.
Sarah Winnemucca, 1844–1891
Translator
The daughter of a Paiute chief, Winnemucca played an important role in the national debates over Native lands. Initially an interpreter for the U.S. Army, she became a nationally recognized advocate for Paiute rights.
Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Elizabeth Keckley, 1818–1907
Dressmaker
After earning her own freedom, Elizabeth Keckley became a dressmaker and companion to Mary Todd Lincoln. Keckley made this christening dress for her goddaughter. With money from dressmaking, Keckley founded the Contraband Relief Association to assist newly freed slaves.
Courtesy of The Lincoln Museum, Fort Wayne, Indiana
James DeWolf, 1764–1837
Slave Trader
A notorious slave trader and a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, DeWolf defied government laws restricting the slave trade by evading customs inspections and using Cuba as his slave depot. His commerce in slaves, along with his cotton manufacturing interests, brought him great wealth and political prominence.
Courtesy of Rhode Island Historical Society (neg. #RHiX4213)
Eli Whitney, 1765–1825
Frustrated Inventor
New Englander Whitney traveled to the South to work as a teacher. In 1794, he patented a cotton gin, a new machine for taking seeds out of cotton. Whitney earned fame but not money from his invention and spent many fruitless years in court defending himself against patent thieves.
Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1794–1877
Transportation Tycoon
Vanderbilt built his immense fortune in shipping and in railroads. At age 16, he started his career running ferries and freight barges across the Hudson River. By the 1850s, he had expanded his fortune by employing a cutthroat approach to the competition while investing in the booming railroad business.
Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Afong Moy, about 1817–Unknown
Exploited Attraction
In 1834, China trade merchants brought the young Chinese woman Afong Moy to New York to promote Chinese products and help expand the market to the middling class. As the first Chinese woman to visit America, Moy’s coerced travel gave Americans a vivid impression of Chinese ways.
Courtesy of Print Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations
