Can anybody guess the one with the twintails? She's the only one that has no info. Judging by the hat, she might be a railroad baron.

Had to zoom in for this one, but 3rd image on his site where he has the game board says Vanderbilt (ヴァンダービルト)

Trivia contest; Can you spot which of these businessmen were born into wealth and those who rose up the ranks? If you can't, don't worry; not a lot of people can, it seems.

I'm trying to reconcile this Andrew Carnegie with the common portrait of him balding with white hair and a beard. It doesn't quite work.

dimanoch said:

Trivia contest; Can you spot which of these businessmen were born into wealth and those who rose up the ranks? If you can't, don't worry; not a lot of people can, it seems.

Answer key:

Andrew Carnegie
Born poor. Started work as a telegrapher and by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges and oil derricks. After building Carnegie Steel Company through a vertically integrated near-monopoly and selling the company to JP Morgan in 1901 for $480 million, he became the richest American for a few years. Devoted the rest of his life to philanthropy.

Cornelius Vanderbilt
Born poor. One of the most hardworking American business magnates of his time, using his perseverance and intelligence to work into leadership in the water transport industry and invest into the rapidly growing railroad industry.

Donald Trump
Born into wealth. Was one of five children born to Fred Trump and got his start in business through his father's real estate company. Made his infamous "small loan of a million dollars", with some of his first few moves being the purchase and renovation of the Commodore Hotel to become the Grand Hyatt New York, and the purchase of 40 Wall Street. Most of his wealth lies in real estate.

Éleuthère Irénée du Pont
Born into aristocracy. Early in his life, he became particularly interested in explosives. When the du Pont family decided to move to the US in 1799, Eletheure decided to go into the gunpowder industry as a result of shoddy and expensive American-made gunpowder. He used his expertise to procure capital, tools and machinery in France and founded the E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, more commonly known as DuPont. The Du Pont family is known as one of the richest families in America, having significant influence in business, politics, and philanthropy.

Henry Ford
Born poor. Learned to dismantle and reassemble pocket watches at the young age of 15. His father expected him to take over the family farm but he despised farm work. From there, he worked a multitude of machine operation jobs until he became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company. After gaining enough wealth, he devoted attention to his personal experiments on gasoline engines. He is best known for developing the Model T, which catapulted him into wealth as the owner of the Ford Motor Company and revolutionized the American automobile industry.

J.P. Morgan
Born into wealth. The Morgan family was an influential family in banking and finance. J.P. Morgan was best known for buying the Carnegie Steel Company and merging it with other steel companies to create the US Steel Corporation, which in 1901 was the first billion-dollar company in the world.

John D. Rockefeller
Born into the middle class. One of the most infamous oil magnates of the 19th century, he is the wealthiest American of all time, and the richest in history. Following the end of the American Civil War, he founded the Standard Oil Company. Through a strategy of horizontal integration, he established a monopoly over the oil production industry -- a practice that eventually became outlawed by the Ohio state supreme court in 1892.

Thomas Edison
Born into the middle class. Was given work as a telegraph operator after he saved a child from being struck by a train. Began his career in industrial research through the construction of his laboratory in Menlo Park following the funds from selling the rights to the quadruplex telegraph. Famous for his invention of the electric light bulb among other things, holding more than a thousand patents in the US.

I suppose it was kind of fun doing some research...

EDIT: A helpful correction provided by NWSiaCB.

Mikaeri said:

John D. Rockefeller
Born into the middle class. One of the most infamous oil magnates of the 19th century, he is considered by many sources to be the wealthiest American of all time, and the richest in modern history. Following the end of the American Civil War, he founded the Standard Oil Company. Through a strategy of horizontal integration, he established a monopoly over the oil production industry -- a practice that eventually became outlawed by the Ohio state supreme court in 1892.

Correction: Richest man in history. Period, full stop.

You can see a list on Wikipedia, but a better one that compares them all, adjusted for inflation, was used in Malcom Gladwell's book Outliers to demonstrate how close to half the richest people in history were born in the early-mid 19th century of America, coming of age at the end of the American Civil War, when railroad and oil companies were still in their infancies. After that point, the Robber Barons who had grown up back then were capable of killing all newcoming competition to make economic monopolies that built personal empires that put the likes of mere historical emperors to shame. (And the only real block of competition for post-Civil War Americans are the tech billionaires like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were were born at just the right time to monopolize computers.) Rockefeller's Standard Oil essentially owned a controlling interest of the entire globe's oil supply, and was worth what would now be trillions of dollars. (It was eventually broken up via anti-trust suit into separate companies which essentially amount to every oil company you have ever heard of with the exception of BP and Gazprom.)