Editing Allan Pinkerton (section)

==Early life==
Allan Pinkerton was born in the [[Gorbals]], a working-class area of [[Glasgow]], on August 21, 1819,<ref name="people">{{cite web |title=1819 Pinkerton, Allan (Old Parish Registers Births 644/ 2 Gorbals) Page 107 of 113  |url=https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/image-viewer/opr_births/opr_records-3831366?search_token=912917326658a69fcd6295 |website=Scotland's People |publisher=[[National Records of Scotland]] and the [[Court of the Lord Lyon]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref> the second surviving son<ref name=birth /> of William Pinkerton, a retired policeman, and Isobel McQueen;<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/461110/Allan-Pinkerton |title=Allan Pinkerton |author=((The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica)) |date=July 20, 1998 |access-date=November 28, 2021 |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]]}}</ref> he was baptized on August 25, 1819, which many sources incorrectly give as his birthdate.<ref name=birth /> He left school at the age of 10 after his father's death. Pinkerton read voraciously and was largely self-educated.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/347552047 |title=Allan Pinkerton: America's first private eye (1819–1884) |last=Hunt |first=Russell A. |year=2009 |journal=The Forensic Examiner |pages=42–46 |issue=4 |volume=18  |access-date=November 28, 2021|id={{ProQuest|347552047}} }}</ref> A [[cooper (profession)|cooper]] by trade,<ref>Seiple (2015), pp. 10–11</ref> he was active in the Scottish [[Chartism|Chartist]] movement as a young man.<ref>Seiple (2015), pp. 11–13</ref> He was not raised in a religious upbringing, and was a lifelong [[atheism|atheist]].<ref>{{cite ODNB |quote=Although christened by a Baptist minister in the Gorbals (August 25, 1819), he had a churchless upbringing and was a lifelong atheist |first=Richard |last=Davenport-Hines |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/49497 |title=Pinkerton, Allan (1819–1884) |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/49497 |access-date=May 2, 2008}}</ref>

Pinkerton emigrated to the United States in 1842. In 1843, he heard of [[Dundee Township, Kane County, Illinois|Dundee Township, Illinois]], fifty miles northwest of Chicago on the [[Fox River (Illinois River tributary)|Fox River]].<ref name=Horan13>Horan (1969), [https://archive.org/details/pinkertonsdetec00hora/page/13 p. 13]</ref> He built a cabin and started a [[Cooper (profession)|cooperage]], sending for his wife in Chicago when their cabin was complete.<ref name=Horan13/>  As early as 1844, Pinkerton worked for the Chicago abolitionist leaders, and his Dundee home was a stop on the [[Underground Railroad]].<ref>Horan (1969), [https://archive.org/details/pinkertonsdetec00hora/page/19 p. 19]</ref>