Description
Book SynopsisNorman Bruce Ream was born in southwestern Pennsylvania in 1844, the son of a farmer. He exhibited a commercial sense, but the Civil War interrupted his ambitions. Wounded twice, he returned home a hero. After some unsuccessful business ventures out west, he went to Chicago in 1871 and became a commission merchant in the Union Stockyards. A few years later, he moved uptown and traded grains and provisions in the pits of the Board of Trade. Money poured in. Indeed, by 1886 he was a millionaire (also married and the father of several children). He started investing in real estate, urban transit companies, railroad stock—and began consolidating and financing enterprises. At century’s end, he was traveling to New York City, impressing financiers like J. Pierpont Morgan. Indeed, he helped Morgan put together the U.S. Steel Corporation and the International Harvester Company, served on many boards, and even advised Morgan during the panic of 1907. But life grew turbulent. Public sentiment soured towards Wall Street and the wealthy. This, along with the presumed indiscretions of some of his children, kept his name in the press. He died in 1915, and gradually, his life was forgotten.
Table of ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTS FOREWORD Introduction: If Mr. Ream Recollected Chapter 1. The Ambitious Farm Boy, 1844 to 1861 Chapter 2. The Bloody Lessons of War, 1861 to 1864 Chapter 3. The Budding Entrepreneur Heads West, 1864 to 1871 Chapter 4. Chicago: The Blossoming of N.B. Ream, 1871 to 1878 Chapter 5. The Fever On ‘Change, 1878 to 1886 Chapter 6. Mr. Ream Pivots, 1886 to 1888 Chapter 7. Reaching for the Top, 1888 to 1895 Chapter 8. Burglaries and Deaths, 1895 to 1897 PHOTOGRAPHS/PLATES, Between Chapters 8 and 9 Chapter 9. Thinking East…Drifting East, 1897 to 1900 Chapter 10. Making Money, Circa 1900 Chapter 11. Endings and Beginnings, 1900 to 1904 Chapter 12. Fame, Fortune, and…Reality, 1904 to 1907 Chapter 13. Turbulence, 1907 to 1912 Chapter 14. Approaching the Clearinghouse, 1912 to 1915 Conclusion: A Life Forgotten AFTERWORD BIBLIOGRAPHY
