Alexander Turney Stewart

Alexander Turney Stewart (October 12, 1803 – April 10, 1876) was a successful Irish entrepreneur who made his multimillion-dollar fortune in what was at the time the most extensive and lucrative dry goods business in the world.

Stewart was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, and abandoned his original aspirations of becoming a minister to go to New York City in the summer of 1823. He spent a short time teaching before returning to Ireland to receive the money his grandfather had left him, purchase some Belfast linens and laces, and return to New York to open a store.

Stewart had extraordinary skill in business, and by 1848 he had built a large marble-fronted store on Broadway between Chambers Street and Reade Street, which was devoted to the wholesale branch of his business, and the largest retail store in the world at that time. Stewart also had branches of his company in different parts of the world and owned several mills and factories. Stewart had an annual income of US$1,843,637 in 1863. His business success is estimated to have made him one of the twenty wealthiest people in history, with a fortune equivalent to approximately 90 billion 2012 US dollars.

Alexander Turney Stewart was born in Lisburn, Ireland, to Scottish Protestant parents on October 12, 1803. Three weeks after his birth, Stewart's farmer father died of tuberculosis. About two years later Stewart's mother remarried and followed her new husband to America, leaving Stewart behind to be raised by his grandfather, John Torney.

Torney wanted his only grandson to become a minister in the Church of Ireland. At age seven Stewart was sent to a village school, and in 1814 entered Mr. Neely's English Academy. When Stewart's grandfather died in 1816 he was brought into the home of Thomas Lamb, an Irish Quaker.

Upon completing his formal education at Belfast Academical Institution he wrote to his mother in New York City. While incubating a desire to move there the fifteen-year-old Stewart was prevailed upon by Lamb to gain some business experience by earning money as a grocer in Belfast. Quickly wearying of the work, Stewart packed his bags in the spring of 1818 and left for New York with the $500 he had earned as a bag boy.

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