Photo Courtesy of The Ringling John Ringling was born Johann Nicholas Rüngeling on May 31, 1866, in McGregor, Iowa, into a family that understood work long before it understood wealth. John Ringling His father, August, was a harness maker, and the family later settled in Baraboo, Wisconsin, where the Ringling children grew up in a household shaped by labor, necessity, and persistence. There was no indication in those early years that one of them would one day control the larg

Alexander Turney Stewart October 12, 1803 – April 10, 1876 Alexander Turney Stewart was born on October 12, 1803, in Lisburn, Ireland, to Scottish Protestant parents. His father died only weeks after his birth, and soon after, his mother left for America with her new husband. Stewart remained behind, raised by his grandfather, who intended for him to enter the ministry. His early education was strict and deliberate, but his path changed after his grandfather’s death. He was t

Caroline Lee Bouvier was born on March 3, 1933, in Manhattan, New York County, New York. She was the younger daughter of John Vernou Bouvier III, a Wall Street stockbroker, and Janet Norton Lee. She was born into a socially prominent New York family and spent her early childhood in Manhattan and East Hampton, New York. Following her parents' separation and divorce during her childhood, she was raised primarily by her mother. Black Jack & Janet Bouvier She was educated in New

Margaret Wright Bedford, known to her friends simply as "Peggy," lived a life that could have been scripted for the society pages. Born in 1932 to Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Henry Bedford, Jr., she was heir to the Standard Oil fortune through her father, who served as a director of the powerful company. Her childhood alternated between the Bedford estate in Greens Farms, Connecticut, and the family's apartment in New York's Pierre Hotel, an existence that was hardly "ordinary," t