George Eastman was born on July 12, 1854.  George’s father died when George was little.  The family started to lose money.  The family was so poor that they would eat oatmeal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  To make money, the family took in borders.  The family made very little money from doing this.  So George promised his mother he would do well in school, get a job and, someday he would fill his mother’s house with flowers.

By the time George was 13, the family had no money.  Sometimes George’s family would go a day without even eating a cracker.  George’s mother didn’t want him to quit school, but he had to so he could keep food on the table.  George got his first job as a messenger boy for an insurance company and made three dollars a week, enough to keep food on the table.  Because he was such a good worker, his boss moved him up to an office job.  George was now making nine dollars a week.  He could pay his bills and save some money, too.

When George was 20, he used his math organizational skills to become a bookkeeper in a bank.  He worked so hard that his boss told him to relax and find a hobby.  That is when he found photography.

George learned all he could about cameras and taking pictures.  He decided he wanted to buy photography equipment and take pictures.  Much to his surprise, the cameras weighed 50 pounds.  Cameras today are much smaller than in the 1850’s. George had to use a wheelbarrow when he would go into the countryside to take pictures.  Back then, they didn’t use film.  They used glass plates.

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