William Randolph Hearst :: essays research papers

William Randolph Hearst   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  George Hearst, William’s father was born in 1820 on a frontier plantation in Franklin, Missouri. George’s father died when he was 26. George was a very hard worker and loved his family very much. He worked odd jobs and in mines to pay off his fathers debt and to take care of his mother, sister and little brother. Mining fascinated young George and even though he could barely read he dwelled into geology books to learn more.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1848 word started to spread like wildfire about Sutter’s mill and the very precious metal that was found nearby. In 1849 George, now in his early thirties, and fifteen other anxious miners packed up their things and made the long trek towards California via the California-Oregon trail. This trek was more than 2,000 miles and took them more than 6 months in a wagon train. George became very ill not long after departing Missouri with cholera. A lesser, undetermined man would have died. George was bound and determined to start his new life with a huge fortune. George was very unsuccessful for nine whole years until he joined some friends and they all went in on the Comstock Lode. This cost them 450 dollars between them and made all of them extremely wealthy. By now George was a seasoned miner and by â€Å"reputation had a uncanny sixth sense about mines—some miners and prospectors called him the best judge of a mine in the country(p.14 W.R.H). Every thing was going so well for George until he heard his mother was ill and was needed back home. George headed back home to Missouri at the age of forty. While tending to his family he met a young woman named Phoebe Apperson. She was only eighteen years old. They married in 1862 just after the civil war broke out. George and Phoebe made their way back to California by way of boat through the Panama Canal and on April 29, 1863 they gave birth to William Randolph Hearst. Williams’s mother was very loving and attentive. She never left his side. George, willies father, was not. He was very preoccupied with his mining interest and his new business adventures. He owned property all over the western states and was a senator too. Meanwhile, when Williams mother wasn’t taking care of him at home in California, they were traveling the world. Phoebe loved to see Europe.