John Mackay was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1831. At the age of 9, the Mackay family immigrated to the US, living in the notorious Five Points in lower Manhattan, which was known as the worst slum in the United States. 

John was lucky in that his parents scraped together enough money to send him to school, only him. His schooling only lasted for two years, when his father suddenly died, and John, at age 11 had to quit school to work to support the family. He was somewhat lucky in those two years because he learned how to read and write. This was the only formal education he would ever receive in his life. He would work selling newspapers for the next four years and then became an apprentice at a ship builder for another four years. ..

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