Guggenheim Family, 1910, 2011

Meyer Guggenheim (1828-?) came to Philadelphia from Lagnau, Switzerland when he was nine years old. Meyer married his wife Barbara and began working as a peddler, but soon left the streets and opened a store. The couple had eleven children. Guggenheim went west to Leadville, Colorado, in the late 1850s to take care of the A.Y. Mine, which he had received as payment from a buyer. After mining proved to be less profitable than he had expected, Meyer went into the business of smelting. With Edward R. Holden, Guggenheim founded the Philadelphia Smelting and Refining Company. Meyer's seven sons became involved in the business as well, and the family's single smelter withstood the ore shortages of the 1890s.