Frederick Trump worked in a profession.
Frederick Trump ( born Friedrich Trump ; March 14 , 1869 -- May 27 , 1918 ) was a German American businessman . Born in Kallstadt , in the Kingdom of Bavaria ( now in Rhineland-Palatinate , Germany ) , he emigrated to the United States at the age of 16 and started working as a barber . He made his fortune operating boom-town restaurants and boarding houses in Seattle and a mining town to the north , and in the Klondike Gold Rush . He worked as a barber and hotel manager , and began to acquire real estate in Queens .