Norman B. Ream : forgotten master of markets / Paul Ryscavage.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Norman Bruce Ream was born in southwestern Pennsylvania in 1844, the son of a farmer. He exhibited a commercial sense, but the Civil War interrupted his ambitions. Wounded twice, he returned home a hero. After some unsuccessful business ventures out west, he went to Chicago in 1871 and became a commission merchant in the Union Stockyards. A few years later, he moved uptown and traded grains and provisions in the pits of the Board of Trade. Money poured inches Indeed, by 1886 he was a millionaire (also married and the father of several children). He started investing in real estate, urban transit companies, railroad stock-and began consolidating and financing enterprises. At century's end, he was traveling to New York City, impressing financiers like J. Pierpont Morgan. Indeed, he helped Morgan put together the U.S. Steel Corporation and the International Harvester Company, served on many boards, and even advised Morgan during the panic of 1907. But life grew turbulent. Public sentiment soured towards Wall Street and the wealthy. This, along with the presumed indiscretions of some of his children, kept his name in the press. He died in 1915 and, gradually, his life was forgotten.

1 The Ambitious Farm Boy, 1844 to 1861 1 -- The Early Reams and the Jersey Settlement 1 -- Levi and Hily 3 -- Educating a Different Farm Boy 4 -- The Reams and the Prelude to War 7 -- The Lame Duck 9 -- Notes 10 -- 2 The Bloody Lessons of War, 1861 to 1864 13 -- Months of Drill 13 -- Up the Peninsula to First Blood and Calumny! 14 -- Regrouping, Recovering, and Rising in the Ranks 17 -- The Charleston Expedition 19 -- First Wounding and Death 21 -- Second Wounding and Discharge 23 -- Notes 24 -- 3 The Budding Entrepreneur Heads West, 1864 to 1871 27 -- From First Lieutenant to Store Clerk 27 -- From a Possibility to a Plan? 30 -- From Store Clerk to Store Owner 31 -- From One Disaster to Another 32 -- The Decision 35 -- Notes 36 -- 4 Chicago: The Blossoming of N.B. Ream, 1871 to 1878 39 -- The Arrival and Inferno, or the Inferno and Arrival? 40 -- The Livestock Commission Merchant 41 -- Moving Uptown 45 -- Normal Takes a Wife 47 -- The Business of the Board 49 -- The Rebirth of a City-and the Birth of a Family 51 -- Notes 53 -- 5 The Fever on 'Change, 1878 to 1886 55 -- "P.D." 56 -- Mr. Ream and Speculation 57 -- P.D. Armour's Pork Corner 59 -- A Financial Coup, But ... 61 -- So, Onward-to the Start! 64 -- Living Off the Lord of Lard 68 -- The Ultimate Sanctuary 70 -- Notes 71 -- 6 Mr. Ream Pivots, 1886 to 1888 75 -- Big Man on the Board 76 -- The Haymarket Episode 77 -- The Pivot Begins: Real Estate ... 79 -- And New York Stock Exchange 81 -- And Railroads ... 83 -- And More Real Estate 83 -- The Incredible Mrs. Caroline Thompson Putnam Ream 85 -- Feasting on Cincinnati Wheat and Bowing to the Pit King (Almost) 87 -- "Mr. Ream, Meet Mr. Doane" 93 -- Notes 97 -- 7 Reaching for the Top, 1888 to 1895 101 -- The Guiding Light of Mr. Doane 103 -- Calling It Quits in the Pit and the Exchange? 106 -- Prelude to the Fair 109 -- Ream and the World's Columbian Exposition-and Aftermath 114 -- A Return to the Real World 116 -- Dark Clouds 118 -- A Taste for Trusts 120 -- Notes 122 -- 8 Burglaries and Deaths, 1895 to 1897 127 -- The Porch Climbers of Prairie Avenue 129 -- Good-Bye Dear Nat 131 -- And Another Reminder 132 -- A Titan Dies 133 -- Notes 135 -- 9 Thinking East, Drifting East, 1897 to 1900 137 -- The Urge to Merge 141 -- An Early Gesture of Thanks 143 -- The Glucose Consolidation 144 -- The Baking Consolidation 146 -- Moving toward Morgan: The B & O and Federal Steel Deals 149 -- Taking Stock and Counting One's Blessings 153 -- Thompson Hill 157 -- Leaving the Nineteenth Century and Entering the Twentieth 158 -- Notes 160 -- 10 Making Money, circa 1900 165 -- Methods and Motivation 166 -- Assessing Value, Evaluating Risk 169 -- Notes 170 -- 11 Endings and Beginnings, 1900 to 1904 171 -- P.D. and J.W.-Gone 173 -- Ream and the Steel Trust 176 -- Ream and the Steel Directorate 181 -- Ream's Changing World 185 -- A Changing Country 190 -- Notes 193 -- 12 Fame, Fortune-and Reality, 1904 to 1907 197 -- The Spotlight 199 -- The Directorates 203 -- Marshall Field, Dead! 206 -- But the Tax Man Cometh 208 -- Reality at "Home" 209 -- The Corn Products Affair 212 -- A Juggling Act 215 -- Notes 218 -- 13 Turbulence, 1907 to 1912 221 -- The Panic of 1907-and the Wedding 222 -- Unsetting Events 226 -- Law Suits and Pujo 231 -- Other Breaks in the Turbulence 236 -- Notes 237 -- 14 Approaching the Clearinghouse, 1912 to 1915 241 -- A Time to Judge 242 -- The Titan of Titans Falls 243 -- Hounds Always Bark 244 -- A Glimpse of the Future 248 -- Final Words 251 -- Notes 253 -- The Titan of Titans Falls 243 -- Hounds Always Bark 244 -- A Glimpse of the Future 248 -- Final Words 251 -- Notes 253.