Early Life
He was born in Manchester, England on May 26, 1851 to John Flinn and Mary Hamilton Flinn, both Irish immigrants. The family emigrated later that year to the United States and settled in Pittsburgh's Sixth Ward, famous for its hard-scrabble politics, where his father established a small contracting business.
Educated in the Pittsburgh Public Schools, Flinn dropped out at age 9 to deliver newspapers, shine shoes, and later apprentice in the gas and steam fitting trades.
Read more about this topic: William Flinn
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“In early times every sort of advantage tends to become a military advantage; such is the best way, then, to keep it alive. But the Jewish advantage never did so; beginning in religion, contrary to a thousand analogies, it remained religious. For that we care for them; from that have issued endless consequences.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life itself. It may be translated into every language, and not only be read but actually breathed from all human lips;Mnot be represented on canvas or in marble only, but be carved out of the breath of life itself. The symbol of an ancient man’s thought becomes a modern man’s speech.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)