Andrew Carnegie was born and raised in poverty

Andrew Carnegie was born on the 25th of November, 1835 in Dunfermline, Scotland. His family was stricken by poverty. His mother Margaret fixed shoes, while his father William weaved on a handloom. At the beginning of the industrial revolution, William refused to work in the nearby factories, further depleting the family's financial resources. When Carnegie was 12 years old, his father's handloom weaving business had hit extremely bad times, and to make matters worse, the nation was experiencing famine. His mother worked with her brother to help support the family and ran a "sweetie shop" where she sold potted meats, making her the breadwinner.

When Andrew Carnegie was a boy, he was inspired by his mother's dedication to the labor of love, which she put forth in an effort to give her children a brighter future than his father. In actuality, Margaret was the one who made the decision to immigrate to America in 1848 as a result of the widespread famine. The Carnegies, who were having financial difficulties, made the decision to borrow money from George Lauder, Sr., and go to Allegheny, Pennsylvania, in the United States in 1848 with the hope of starting again. The migration of Carnegie to America would be his second trip away from Dunfermline; the first being a visit to Edinburgh to see Queen Victoria.