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About Who Was
Product Description Who HQ has way more than 57 reasons why you'll want to read the amazing story of H. J. Heinz--the American entrepreneur who brought tomato ketchup to the masses. Learn how this son of German immigrants from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, turned his small food-packaging company into a booming business known for its fair treatment of workers and pioneering safe food preparation standards. This American success story follows Heinz from his early days as a pickle and vinegar merchant in the 1800s to the name behind the nation's number-one brand of ketchup. The name that's on everyone's lips is now part of the Who Was? series. About the Author Michael Burgan has written more than two dozen biographies for young readers, including Who Is Richard Branson?, Who Was Henry Ford?, and Who Was Theodore Roosevelt?. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Who Was H. J. Heinz? In the summer of 1853, the people of Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, often saw young Henry John Heinz strolling the village streets. He carried a basket in each hand filled with vegetables from his family’s garden. Henry picked vegetables in the garden before and after he went to school. He would take whatever produce his family didn’t need and sell it to his neighbors. Henry enjoyed bringing fresh food to the village, and he was good at selling. By the time he was ten, he needed a wheelbarrow to carry all the vegetables he offered for sale. Two years later, his little business had grown so much that Henry used a horse to pull a cart filled with food. From the beginning, he sold the freshest, best-tasting products. Henry wanted his customers to know that any food he delivered was worth the money they spent for it. And people grew to trust the Heinz name. From that simple start, Henry built one of the largest food companies in the world. He moved his growing company to Pittsburgh. There, he built factories that used the most modern methods possible to process and package food. He also thought up new ways to attract customers’ attention. One was to come up with a slogan—a phrase that described his company and its products. Henry put the slogan “57 Varieties” on all his labels. It let people know that Henry sold a wide range of products, from pickles to baked beans. Selling food might seem like an easy thing to do. Everyone has to eat, and many people don’t have time to raise crops and prepare their own foods. But H. J. Heinz made better-quality food and sold more of it than anyone else of his day. His hard work and smart ideas proved one of his favorite sayings: “To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success.” Chapter 1: The Young Salesman Beginning in the 1680s, many German immigrants took the long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to Pennsylvania. John Heinz made that trip in 1840, settling just outside of Pittsburgh in the village of Birmingham. The village sat along the Monongahela (say: muh-nah-guh-HEE-lah) River. The area was known for its bustling factories that made glass, iron, and bricks. The sky was often thick with smoke from the coal that was burned to power all the factory machines. John Heinz found a job making bricks, and three years after his arrival in Birmingham, he met and married Anna Schmitt. Like her husband, she had come to Pennsylvania from Germany. On October 11, 1844, the Heinzes had their first child, a boy they named Henry John but sometimes called Harry. The Heinz family would grow to include nine children: four boys and five girls. One of their daughters, however, died when she was only a baby. The Heinzes lived in Birmingham until Henry was five years old, and then they moved to the nearby village of Sharpsburg. The town was on the banks of the Allegheny River and was famous for its brickyards. Mr. Heinz decided to go into the brickmaking business for himself. Mrs. Heinz and the other German women in their community made most of their own food. They
