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Famous German Immigrants From Pittsburgh


 * Charles M. Schwab **

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Charles Michael Schwab was born on February 18, 1862 in Williamsburg, Pennsylvania. Both his maternal and paternal grandparents were German Catholic immigrants. He joined the steel enterprise of Andrew Carnegie in 1882 as a manual worker but was promoted to assistant manager after six months. In only five years he was appointed superintendent of Carnegie’s Homestead Works earning much respect from Andrew Carnegie. In 1901, Schwab gained control of the Bethlehem Steel Company, making the company a top competitor by 1905. During the First World War, his company was a significant producer of war material. Schwab was a very successful businessman until the Crash of 1929 hit his company hard. Charles Schwab died on September 18, 1939, a bankrupt man from Pittsburgh.


 * Honus Wagner **

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Honus Wagner was born on February 24, 18744 in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. Wagner is one of the most famous baseball players in American history. He played for the Louisville Colonels in the minor leagues from 1897 to 1899. He then moved up to play with the Pittsburgh Pirates for seventeen years, from 1900 to 1917. Honus Wagner had a very successful career while playing with the Pirates, leading them to their victory at the first World Series and retiring with the record for the most three-base hits in the National League. He was nicknamed “Flying Dutchman” for his incredible speed and prominent German Heritage. He later went on to manage the Pirates and became the Pirates’ coach from 1933 to 1951. Honus Wagner was one of the first five men to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936. He died on December 6, 1955 in Carnegie.


 * Henry J. Heinz **

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Henry J. Heinz was born on October 11, 1844 in Birmingham, located in the South Side. His parents were both German immigrants who moved to Birmingham in the early nineteenth century. Heinz was raised in Sharpsburg with his seven younger siblings. At the age of twenty-one Heinz started his own business producing horseradish; however, when the company went bankrupt in 1877. Although his company was going bankrupt, Heinz still paid his suppliers and employees causing him to go even further into debt. Heinz later began another company in which he became the president of in 1888. The H.J. Heinz Company quickly became known for its unique product, ketchup, allowing Heinz to build a new factory in his hometown, Pittsburgh. Heinz is widely known for his kind and fair treatment of his hardworking employees and sanitary working conditions. Henry James Heinz died on May 14, 1919 in Pittsburgh.

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