ANDREW CARNEGIE, THE MAN

Origins in Scotland

It is the ultimate success story of the nineteenth century, the quintessential tale of the immigrant who succeeds in the New World, the supreme example of humanitarianism. The life of Andrew Carnegie stretched across more than eight decades and parts of two centuries--he was born in the reign of William IV and died in that of George V--and was spent on two continents. It is a story for all time--one of privation and privilege, of lucre and largess.

Andrew Carnegie was born November 25, 1835, at Dunfermline, Scotland, in the "royal kingdom of Fife," the eldest son of William Carnegie, a handloom weaver, and Margaret Morrison, daughter of William Morrison, a tanner and shoemaker. What better place to have been born than Dunfermline, the old royal capital, older even than Edinburgh, where the king sat drinking "the bluidred wine"? It was the home of Malcolm Canmore and his bride, Queen Margaret. (She helped Christianize Scotland and was later canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.) They are buried here, along with about twenty other royals, and the ruins of the royal palace are yet to be seen. In Dunfermline Abbey, nearby, the bones of King Robert the Bruce sleep on forever beneath the high altar. Carnegie was born in a cottage a stone's throw away.

Dunfermline Abbey & Pittencrieff Glen Gardens

Dunfermline Abbey & Pittencrieff Gardens - Scotland