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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery · The Grim: Haunted Cemeteries & Graveyard Tales

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Good morning and welcome to the grim.
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I'm your host, Kristin, on today's episode, we'll be opening the gate and entering sleepy hollow cemetery located in sleepy hollow, New York.
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So grab your favorite mug cozy up and let's take a take into history.
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As the legend goes in a church yard in the small town of sleepy hollow, each crisp autumn night, a HESI and trooper arises from his grave in search for his missing head.
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Decapitated by a cannon ball during the revolutionary war, he seeks those unfortunate souls in his paths head.
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Just in case they might be his own.
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The only saving grace is if you find yourself in his path, Is to race to the wooden crossing bridge, where he is barred from crossing to safety.
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For hundreds of years, the legend of sleepy hollow taken from other European legends of similar fates is retold each autumn season.
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Fans of Washington Irving story, every Halloween headed than town of Tarrytown in New York, where they can now find sleepy hollow.
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First known as north Tarrytown, the quaint suburban New York sods renaming in 1996 to reconnect with his legendary tale.
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The cemetery where the famous short story takes place might not truly have a headless, HESI and trooper on the prowl for his head each evening.
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You have the beautiful grounds and famous and turd residents make it a showstopping visit.
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Oddly sleepy hollow cemetery.
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Isn't the quaint cemetery.
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We all think it is from the storybook legend.
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Comprised of 90 acres of land established in 1849 with around 45,000 souls lay to rest.
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It's quite massive.
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If it's acreage, isn't quite impressive.
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It's resident should be.
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Washington Irving who Penn, the headless Horseman's tale is one of its famous interred.
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Irving was an American short story writer who wrote red van Winkle, historical biographies and history on 15th century, Spain.
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He was born and raised in Manhattan, but temporarily moved to England in 1815 for family business.
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After publishing his first works in 1802.
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He continuously published works for the rest of his life.
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Just eight months prior to his death, he completed a five volume biography on George Washington at the age of 76.
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What made Irving's such a different American writer in his time was he was the first to find a claim in Europe.
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During his time living abroad in England, Irving published the sketchbook of Joffrey Crandon.
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It was a collection of short stories in to where the legend of sleepy hollow and rip van Winkle that would become his most famous works.
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After returning to America, he pen the novel.
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Uh, history of New York from the beginning of the world to the end of the Dutch dynasty by Dietrich Nick.
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And Bachar his first major novel prior to its publication.
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He began a hoax using the New York evening post sinking information on Dietrich, Nick and Bachar.
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Readers became intrigued and its popularity even led to the New York city officials offering a war for any information on Knickerbocker.
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When he finally published the novel, it quickly became a bestseller.
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New York residents also took to the name and it became a nickname for Manhattan residents, eventually leading to the New York Knickerbockers basketball team.
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Adopting the name.
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Irving stories did something many others didn't they featured towns or settings from America, often retelling European folk tales in a new fashion, his fame and admiration from other European writers also helped encourage other American writers, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth, Longfellow, Herman, Melvin, and even add ghrelin PO.
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Ironically polo thought he should be given credit for being an innovative writer, but lacks sophistication.
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Washington Irving passed away on November 28th and 1859.
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But his legend of sleepy howl lives on an infamy and is a favorite among many during Halloween.
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Unknown to many by her real name.
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Elizabeth and Graham is a famous resident of sleepy hollow.
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Well, Graham's fame is from an entirely different era than Irving.
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She's quite important.
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Many know the Canadian American business woman as an Elizabeth Arden, the founder of Elizabeth Arden incorporated cosmetic empire in America.
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Born in a farm in Canada, Elizabeth family did something a little odd in the 1870s where they immigrated a back to England where many were fleeing from it.
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Duro rich and willing to assist her and her siblings by paying for their education.
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Elizabeth would eventually drop out of nursing school to become a bookkeeper for her elder brother and Matt Hatton.
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At ER, Squibb a pharmaceutical company, which would forever change her life.
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She then would spend hours in their lab learning about skincare and working as a beauty culturalist or treatment girl for elder dare setting the foundations for a company to save money on a salon sign.
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She just used her first name Elizabeth, and then took the name Arden from a nearby farm.
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Thus bringing Elizabeth Arden into existence in 1910.
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Two years later, she then traveled to France to further her knowledge in beauty.
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Upon returning to America, she had a collection of ridges and tinted powders that she had created herself.
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She then sought to expand her empire, further opening salons across the world.
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Elizabeth Bram would be responsible for changing how society and women perceived makeup, transforming it from its original Tati associations with a lower class and the women of the night, it then became necessary for a ladylike image of a proper and appropriate woman.
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She had, she didn't stop there.
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Her salons would not only sell products, but taught women how to apply and which products to purchase.
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She would pioneer the concepts of color theory and makeup scientific formulas of cosmetics Buni make-overs and stress.
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The harmony of colors.
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She was awarded by the French government in 1962, the Legion Tania to her contributions in and to the cosmetic industry.
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Elizabeth was also interested in horse racing, owning her own stable, main chance farm that did very well for itself.
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With stake winners, one being the 1947 kentucky Derby winner, jet pilot.
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It's her transformation of cosmetics for women that became the industry we see today that really marks her place in history.
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Elizabeth passed away on October 18th in 1966, she is buried in the grand plot in sleepy hollow cemetery.
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It's no wonder that due to sleepy hollows, close location to New York city, that some of its high society might find its way there into the cemetery.
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Prominent at one time, one of the most wealthy families in America to the Astor's can be found within broken Vincent Astor are permanent residents.
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And sadly the last of the Aster family.
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Vincent was the eldest son of John Jacob Astor.
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The fourth, his father was thought to be the richest man in the world at one time.
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And also one of the most prominent American passengers aboard the RMS Titanic, where Vincent's father met his grin fate, going down with the ship.
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This then of course, led to Vincent inheriting the entire Ashton portion.
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Benza would go on and be involved in similar interests, like his father, belonging to New York society of colonial wars and joining the us Naval reserve.
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Whoever is more remembered for as Lola anthropy, which inheriting a massive fortune at the age of 20 you'd assume Vincent would be a spoiled and careless child with his money, but he wasn't at all.
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He decided that with his father's passing to drop out of Harvard university and change his family's image.
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Instead of being the loof miserable slum landlord, he sold any shady businesses and invested in reputable ones.
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He then also took time to help others less fortunate as well as building playgrounds and better housing.
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Vincent was also a member of the us Naval reserve and did serve during world war one.
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He was assigned to help guard the bridges and aqueducts of New York city.
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Then again, being called up in world war two.
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He served with a rank of commander and was given assignment as the area controller for New York.
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Prior to the war in 1938, Vincent went on a secret civilian mission for president Roosevelt.
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Sailing his personal yet that your Maha to Japan, he helped gather intelligence around the Marshall Islands about the Japanese Naval operations.
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Eventually handing over his yacht in 1940 to help the coast guard.
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To help guard America.
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The ship is sadly no longer in existence after it was decommissioned in 1946.
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Then solve for scrap in 1964.
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Although not a lustrous Naval career.
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Vincent helped provide information on the USSR account balances throughout the war.
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This was due to his own access in a chase bank and reporting weekly updates to the us treasury from the beginning of the war till.
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At least 1945.
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He was also the one suggest in 1942 to equip fishing boats with radios to report you boat sightings.
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Yet Vincent's personal life.
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Wasn't one of fairytales on the day of his wedding.
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In 1914 to his first wife, he had taken ill with a mumps that would leave him sterile, perhaps a sign.
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It wasn't meant to be.
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They divorced the 1940.
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He then went on in the same year to marry his second wife.
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But then again, headed to divorce in 1953.
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Oddly though, before agreeing to divorce has only conditions for a second, Weiss was to find her a placement.
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Perhaps a third, time's a charm.
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He married Roberta, Brooke Russell, whom he would remain married to for the rest of his life.
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And he was buried with him within sleepy hollow.
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He and Brooke established the Vincent Astor foundation that was created to help give back to New York city.
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On February 3rd, 1959, Vincent passed away from a heart attack.
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He then left his entire fortune to the Vincent Astor foundation and his wife broke.
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She carried on with this philanthropy fork until her death in 2007, when she passed away at 105 years old.
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Another resident of sleepy hell that you might not know by name, but who affects your everyday life is Leo Backlund.
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Back home was the father of the plastics industry and the inventor of the Velux photographic paper in 1893 and bake light in 1907.
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Bakelite as a versatile plastic that is non-flammable and inexpensive his creation mark, the beginning of a modern plastics industry.
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As we know it today.
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Beguelin story is also one for the American storybooks being born in Belgium to the son of a cobbler and housemaid.
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He will then go on to study chemistry and acquiring a PhD, Mexican, lotta from the gate university at just the age of 21.
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Then he and his wife went on a travel scholarship in 1889.
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And when traveled to England than America, where he would meet professor Charles F.
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Chandler of Columbia university and Richard Anthony of the ENH T Anthony photographic company.
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Taylor during their meeting, convince Backlund to come permanently to the United States to work for Anthony.
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After working for Anthony for few years, the scientists decided to part ways.
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This was then when he developed Velux photographic paper, which he then sold to a man named George Eastman burst some of$1 million.
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Eastman's named by not sound familiar to many, but his company, the Eastman Kodak company should be bacon's paper would forever changed photography and bring into existence camera film.
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As we know it today and Kodak film.
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Discovery.
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A backlight Bagley was based on a chemical combination of fentanyl and formaldehyde two compounds that were derived from coal tar and wood alcohol.
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In his era, his discovery would change the world.
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Replacing shall I can hard rubber parts in electric power industry.
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At first, then in the 1920s, it was used for knobs, dials, circuitry panels, cabinets for radios and electrical systems of automobiles.
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After a few years in the 1930s pack, like made its way into fashion being use for costume jewelry and other novelties backends backlight was used everywhere in various fashions and he of course patented his discovery.
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And then he found out the general backlight company in 1910.
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With Anquan to serve as the president of the American chemical society in 1924.
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And when various awards for backlight.
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In his later years, Bakalin grew eccentric and had family disagreements with his son over the air salary.
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In 1939 After hundreds of patents and historical breakthroughs in science, he sold the general backlight company.
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For union carbine from the advice of his son.
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He then sadly became a recluse and passed away on February 23rd, 1944.
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During the rise of the second industrial revolution.
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The promise land of America, so many attempting to make better lives.
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Uh, brooding their lives from Europe and starting a new.
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Many rags to riches story is exist, but in the realm of legendary stories, one rightfully near the top is Andrew Carnegie.
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Who also happens to be interred within sleepy hollow.
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Carnegie's life in contribution to history.
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Isn't just a stuffy red shirt, but more along the lines of the American dream.
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Originally, born and raised in Scotland, his family didn't move to the states till he was around 12, his upbringing in Scotland was what truly shaped Carnegie for his success in America.
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His uncle who is more like a surrogate father to him than his own living father was Scottish political leader.
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George Lauder, Sr.
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He introduced him to historical Scottish heroes, such as Robert, the Bruce William Wallace and Rob Roy all while giving him parental guidance.
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He also lended the Carnegie family money to help them move to America, hoping for a better life, which was young Andrews Turney boy, turn fortune.
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This was during the times when Scotland was in starvation and America was held as the promised land for opportunity food and a new life, many families like Carnegie's were struggling to make ends meet.
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Going where they believed work was plentiful.
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The ended up at Allegheny, Pennsylvania in 1848.
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Andrew and his father is struggling.
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Took jobs at the anchor cotton mills, a Scottish owned facility.
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This is where Carnegie's first job was a bobbin boy changing spools of thread in a cotton mill, 12 hours a day, six days a week for a dollar 20 per week.
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Soon.
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He captured the attention of John hay, a Scottish manufacturer, a bobbins who offered him a job for$2 per week, but the work was even worse.
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He was employed to run a small steam engine and to fire the boiler in the cellar of a bobbin factory.
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Yeah, it was his next job that really started to change.
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Carnegie's luck.
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He became a Telegraph messenger boy for the Pittsburgh office of the Ohio Telegraph company due to a recommendation from his uncle using the job.
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He built connections, meeting, many of Pittsburgh's businessmen.
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He was promoted within a year to operator and saw others doors opening.
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Also the friending Colonel James Anderson.
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He was given the use of his personal library of over 400 volumes.
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Every Saturday night.
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This helped Carney become the self-made man in both his economic development and intellectual, and then also cultural.
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This experience was imprinted on Carnegie and made him forever grateful to the Colonel Anderson.
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And he was quoted saying resolved if ever wealth came to me to see to it that other poor boys might receive opportunities similar to those which we were indebted to the nobleman.
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He then went to work for Pennsylvania railroad where Carnegie would see his fortunes change.
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Even more.
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He started as a secretary Telegraph operator at a salary of$4 per week and built his way up from there by 1859, he was just 24 years old and became the superintendent of the Western division.
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He then during the civil war became the superintendent of the military railways.
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And the union's government Telegraph lines in the east.
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He helped open new rail lines into Washington DC.
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After the war, he then decided to leave the railway business and move on to the iron works and founded the Keystone bridge company.
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And built his first deal plan.
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He would go on to create a steel empire controlling.
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Most of the extensive integrated iron and steel operations ever owned by an individual in the United States.
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Carnegie also purchased at a low cost, the most valuable of the iron ore fields around lake superior, setting himself up for more success even later on, he also invested in other businesses during the years, such as Columbia oil company, where they would help build his wealth beyond his steel empire.
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During his business adventures, he started giving back to the community, constructing swimming pools for the people of his hometown in Dunfermline Scotland in 1879.
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And the following year Carnegie gave 8,000 pounds for the establishment of a dumb Ferlin Carnegie library in Scotland.
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At 1884, he gave 50,000 to Bellevue hospital medical college.
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Now part of the New York university medical center to create a historical laboratory.
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Now call the Carnegie laboratory he established libraries all over the world aid for spelling, gray forum and other numerous causes.
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It's absolutely pointless for me to attempt to sum up Andrew Carnegie's life's accomplishments, donations, and work.
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The list goes on and on and it's worth digging into on your own.
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If you have time, his legacy, built off hard work and being a shrewd businessman.
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Made him just as legendary as the cemetery, he resides in andrew Carnegie passed away on August 11th in 1919.
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In Lenox, Massachusetts at his shadow Broca state of Brockville ammonia.
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At the time of his passing, he had been estimated to give him way$350 million, roughly almost$6 billion today.
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After his death and astounding 30 million he left over was given to foundations charities and pensioners.
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When you've got the asters and the Andrew Carnegie, it's gotta be hard to top these prominent families at a cemetery.
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Right.
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For a sleepy hollow.
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It's not residing also within is William Rockefeller Jr.
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Co-founder of the standard oil company with his brother, John Davis and Rockefeller, and one of the richest men in America at one time.
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Rockefeller Jr.
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Had an interesting star to life being the middle child of a large family and his father was a con artist.
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Yet in the air of the self-made man, he and his older brother were definitely not short on ambition.
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He first started as a clerk for a Miller in Cleveland, Ohio, and then joined his brother's produce commissions business.
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And then everything took off being very adept in business matters.
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He took charge of the company's export business.
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Eventually the company would become the standard oil company.
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Being the son of a con man Rockefeller Jr.
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Had a few schemes up his sleeve.
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In 1899, he and another principal from the standard oil company and the Anaconda copper company, founder Marcus dally formed the acclimated copper mining company.
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Their intent was to control the copper industry and devise a get rich quick scheme for$39 million.
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You see the alga minted copper mining company.
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It was nothing but a paper company complete with dummy directors that were in fact, their own clerks from the standard oil company.
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Using the bank system against itself, they first purchased the Anaconda properties from dally for 39 million for themselves.
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With a check that was to be deposited to the bank and remained there for some time two of them being friends with the bank owners, they then went on to claim their paper company was worth$75 million using a certain amount for good reason.
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They were then able to borrow 39 million from the bank using the acclimated copper company as collateral do the company's worth being so high and then quickly bought the Anaconda copper.
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Our company as the acclimated copper company inflating the price as the company themselves, but how could they pay back valley with just the paper company?
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Not truly worth$75 million.
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Ingeniously, they then sold 75 million worth of stock and the acclimated copper company to the public.
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The scheme made them a total profit of$36 million in cash.
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In 1912 to the large profits, Rockefeller Jr.
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Was investigated by the committee for allegedly earning 30 million in profit through coring the copper market.
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And.
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Synchronizing with artificially enforced activity in the ALK amended copper stock.
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In the New York stock exchange.
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Yet he wasn't the only businessman to create such schemes and coring the market.
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Due to under individuals like JP Morgan, George F.
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Baker.
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And James Stillman, the committee known as the Peugeot committee open the public sites as such schemes.
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Of course, because there were no laws actually broken.
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They couldn't do a thing about their past actions, but the findings did inspire the public to support, to ratify the 16th amendment.
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In 1913, that authorized federal income tax, a passage of the federal reserve act and add the Clayton antitrust act in 1914, preventing such schemes.
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William rockerfeller Jr.
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Passed away on June 24th in 1922, due to a coldy caught on a road trip with his brother, John and nephew, John Jr.
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In New York.
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Here's a state left to his descendants was a gross total of$102 million.
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The Rockerfeller's obviously left their mark in New York city with not only schemes, but opulent wealth.
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That will be remembered by all.
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Last thing, legacy seems to be a common occurrence of sleepy hollow residents, but do any linger within as goats?
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Besides the headless horseman, sleepy.
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How also has the legend of the bronze lady?
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Within the grounds is a Mongolian Percival bore general Samuel Thomas.
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Whom also amassed a great fortune from coal and the railroads after the war.
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Yet when he passed in 1903, his widow Anne thought her late husband needed more than a mazal Liam to mark his blot in sleepy hollow cemetery.
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Seeking out a top sculpture of her time.
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She commissioned andrew O'Connor Jr.
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To create a masterpiece for her husband's grave, creating a larger than life bronze woman seated across from his mazal Liam.
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The sculptor was gigantic.
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But Anne hated his creation saying it was too depressing and she was hoping for something happier.
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O'Connor Jr.
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Then CRE created a happier head for the bronze lady and showed his latest work to the widow who now loved the second version, but full of arrogance, he took the redesigned head and smashed it to the floor.
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Telling and he would never add it to his sculpture.
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True to his word.
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He never did.
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Years later when Anne was finally buried with her husband, O'Connor's original work was on display for all mourners to see.
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Perhaps this led to the bronze lady, legends several in existence.
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One claims that if you's climb onto her lap, then jumped down and spin around three times.
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Then look at her, you'll be cursed forever.
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The second is that if you hop into her lap and then attempt to peek into the mozza lamb, you'll see a ghost within.
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The final tale is that if you touch her face, you invite a curse.
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Or if you insult her, you risk bad luck.
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Many seeking the headless horseman on his Ben Knight run might be disappointed by the elusive ghost of sleepy hollow.
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Learning.
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He's just a figment of Irving's imagination.
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That doesn't stop the visitors, each autumn from making the journey to sleepy hollow.
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And I don't blame them.
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The graves of John Dustin Archibald, Viola Allen, Don barber, Thomas beer, Henry Iiblis.
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Hollybrook blin.
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Alice Brady, Edward major Bowes.
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Walter Chrysler Francis Varcellas church.
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Henry Helmsley and even more prominent figures can be found within sleepy hollow that are filled with tales themselves.
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A town known for its headless has seen horseman certainly has so much more to offer.
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And if you do find yourself face to face with a headless horseman, remember to race across the bridge, or you might be haunting, sleepy hollow cemetery next.
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The grave grind.
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Firstly, be hollow.
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Cemetery was a pumpkin spice latte from coffee labs, roasters incorporated complete with an adorable pumpkin foam art for the fall festivities for now, we're closing the gate on sleepy hollow cemetery.
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We hope you enjoyed our dig into history.
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If you did leave us a review wherever we're haunting your podcast, queue, or subscribe today to join us next time when we opened the gate.
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On the grim.