Henry M. Flagler

Henry Flagler
Portrait of Henry Flagler
Born	Henry Morrison Flagler (1830-01-02)January 2, 1830 Hopewell, New York, U.S.
Died	May 20, 1913(1913-05-20) (aged 83) Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.
Net worth	USD $60 million at the time of his death (about 1/651st of US GNP)
Children	Jennie Louise (Mar 18, 1855-Mar 25, 1889) Carrie Harkness (1858-1861) Harry Harkness (1870-1952)

Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 – May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founder of what became the Florida East Coast Railway. He is known as the father of both Miami and Palm Beach, Florida.

Flagler was born in Hopewell, New York, the son of Isaac Flagler, a Presbyterian minister, and Elizabeth Caldwell Morrison Harkness Flagler. Henry had a step-brother: future tycoon Stephen V. Harkness, who had become Elizabeth's stepson when she married David Harkness of Milan, Ohio; and a half-brother, Daniel M. Harkness, Elizabeth's own son with David. Widowed by David's death, Elizabeth had brought her family back to upstate New York and there married Isaac Flagler.

Flagler received an eighth-grade education before Daniel convinced him to leave school at 14 to work at Daniel's uncle's store, Lamon G. Harkness and Company, in Republic, Ohio, at a salary of US$5 per month plus room and board. By 1849, Flagler was promoted to the sales staff at a salary of $40 per month. He later joined Daniel in a grain business started with Lamon in Bellevue, Ohio. In 1862, Flagler and his brother-in-law Barney York founded the Flagler and York Salt Company, a salt mining and production business in Saginaw, Michigan. He found that salt mining required a fair bit of technical knowledge and struggled in the industry during the war. The company collapsed when the American Civil War undercut demand for salt, and Flagler returned to Bellevue having lost his initial $50,000 investment and an additional $50,000 he had borrowed from his father-in-law and Daniel. Flagler felt he had learned a valuable lesson: invest in a business only after thorough investigation.