Which 1900s factory bosses were lodge members, and were they richer than today's richest?
Research question: Which early 1900s industrial tycoons were named in a newspaper as lodge members, and how did their fortunes compare with today's richest people?
The verified facts do not show any early 1900s tycoon named in a newspaper as a lodge member. Karl Kellner, an Austrian chemist and industrialist, was admitted as a Freemason in the Humanitas lodge in 1873 1, but no newspaper is cited for this. Newspapers name Andrew Carnegie as a millionaire iron and steel manufacturer 4 and Fred Whitin's father as a millionaire cotton and thread manufacturer 5, but neither is named as a lodge member. None of the facts compare these fortunes with today's richest people. The newest fact is from September 1906, about 120 years before October 2026 5.
Sources
"Am 29. Juni 1873 wurde Karl Kellner in der Loge Humanitas in Neudörfl a. d. Leitha (einer sogenannten „Grenzloge“ für die Wiener Mitglieder) als Freimaurer aufgenommen"Karl Kellner (Chemiker)
"Der O.T.O. wurde im Geheimen am 1. September 1901 von dem Wiener Industriellen Carl Kellner , dem deutschen Theosophen und Freimaurer Franz Hartmann und von Henry Klein gegründet."Ordo Templi Orientis
"österreichischer Chemiker , Industrieller , Erfinder , Freimaurer und Okkultist"Karl Kellner (Chemiker)
"Andrew Carnegie, the millionaire iron and steel manufacturer."Image 6 of Daily Kennebec journal (Augusta, Me.), November 12, 1898
"one of the two heirs of the millionaire manufacturer of cotton and thread of Whitinsville, Mass."Image 8 of The Pacific commercial advertiser (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands), September 12, 1906