John d. larkin biography

John Durrant Larkin (September 29, 1845 - February 15, 1926) was an American business magnate who pioneered the mail-order business model, developed (with business partner and brother-in-law Elbert Hubbard) the marketing strategy of offering premiums to customers, introduced revolutionary employment innovations, and.
John Durrant Larkin, was born in Buffalo in 1845 at 13 Clinton Street, where the Lafayette Hotel now stands.
The story of John D. Larkin is Buffalo's own “American dream” success story—of a young man born in Buffalo in 1848, who started a business from scratch.

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John D. Larkin

John Durrant Larkin (September 29, 1845 - February 15, 1926)^[1] was an American business magnate who pioneered the mail-order business model, developed (with business partner and brother-in-law Elbert Hubbard^[2]) the marketing strategy of offering premiums to customers,^[3] introduced revolutionary employment innovations,^[4] and commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright's first major public work, the Larkin Administration Building.^[5]

Early life

Larkin was born in Buffalo, New York to Levi Henry Larkin and his wife Mary Ann Durrant. Levi emigrated from England to Buffalo in 1834;^[6] and Mary Ann from England to Ontario, Canada in 1831.^[7] John attended public schools in Buffalo during his childhood and began working at the age of 12 at Western Union as a telegraph messenger.^[8] In 1862, he began work in the soap manufactory of Justus F. Weller,^[8] his sister Mary's husband. For the next eight years he worked for Weller in Buffalo, learning the business. From courses at Brya

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LARKIN, JOHN, Roman Catholic priest, Sulpician, and educator; b. 2 Feb. 1801 in Ravensworth, England, second son of John Larkin, an innkeeper, and Elizabeth Jones; d. 11 Dec. 1858 in New York City.

John Larkin came from a family of Irish origin; he grew up at Newcastle upon Tyne and seems to have been taught first by a Protestant minister at Whickham. In 1808 he and his elder brother Charles Fox, who became a doctor and a champion of the Roman Catholics in England, entered St Cuthbert’s College at Ushaw. The college had been started that year by teachers from the English college at Douai, France, who had been driven out by the French revolution. John had as his master John Lingard, a well-known English historian of the early 19th century, and one of his fellow students was Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman, later the archbishop of Westminster and a cardinal. Larkin was reasonably successful, and in 1815 finished sixth in a class of 14. He believed he was called to the priesthood, but the college authorities dissuaded him, judging that he di

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Lafayette HotelJohn Durrant was the middle child of Levi and Mary Ann Durrant Larkin's seven children. He was only seven when his father died. .

One of Mr. Larkin's first recollections is of the burning of the old Eagle tavern, November 14, 1849, when he was but four years old. This hostelry stood on Main street, on the ground afterward occupied by the American hotel, where occurred the disastrous fire of 1865. At the time of the earlier fire the work of fighting the destroying element was entrusted to the volunteer fire department, of which Mr. Larkin's father was a member; and the apparatus at their disposal was extremely limited. When it was discovered, therefore, that brands from the burning tavern had lodged in the belfry of the old court house on Washington street, the building seemed doomed to destruction, as no water could reach the spot. But Mr. Larkin's father succeeded in climbing the slippery shingles and smothering the fire with his coat, thus saving the building, which was then deemed a most important one.

In 1852, Mr. Larkin's father, Levi, cont