Stephen Marchesi - Who Was H. J. Heinz?

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 grew many of the same crops they had in Germany, such as cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes, turnips, and carrots. The German families usually raised some chickens, too.

Mrs. Heinz was a deeply religious woman. She made sure all her children went to church, and she taught them lessons from the Bible. The Heinz family followed the Lutheran faith, and Henry went to a school run by a Lutheran church. He learned to read and write English, and did well in math. Every day he walked over a mile each way to school and back. Like many German immigrants, Mr. and Mrs. Heinz believed in the importance of hard work. They made sure Henry learned that, too.

By the time he was eight, Henry was working in the family garden before and after school. Then he started his own little business selling vegetables to neighbors. But that wasnt his only job. At times, he led the horses that pulled boats up the Allegheny River.

In the 1850s, small boats didnt have motors so they needed horsepowerhorses walking along the riverbank, tied to the boats to pull them along. Henry also picked potatoes for a local farmer. Years later, someone asked him how he could do so much at such a young age. He said simply, We country boys work.

But selling vegetables was the job Henry liked best. His parents saw that he was good at it, so they gave him a small plot of the familys land. Henry began raising his own crops to sell. And when he was twelve, his little farm tripled in size. Henry bought a horse and cart to carry all his vegetables into town.