One of the most powerful bankers of his era, J.P. (John Pierpont) Morgan (1837-1913) financed railroads and helped organize U.S. Steel, General Electric and other major corporations. The Connecticut native followed his wealthy father into the banking business in the late 1850s, and in 1871 formed a partnership with Philadelphia banker Anthony Drexel. In 1895, their firm was reorganized as J.P. Morgan & Company, a predecessor of the modern-day financial giant JPMorgan Chase. Morgan used his influence to help stabilize American financial markets during several economic crises, including the panic of 1907. However, he faced criticism that he had too much power and was accused of manipulating the nation’s financial system for his own gain. The Gilded Age titan spent a significant portion of his wealth amassing a vast art collection.
J.P. Morgan: Early Years and Family
John Pierpont Morgan was born into a distinguished New England family on April 17, 1837, in Hartford, Connecticut. One of his maternal relatives, James Pierpont (1659-1714), was a founder of Yale University; his paternal grandfather was a founder of the Aetna Insurance Company; and his father, Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), ran a successful Hartford dry-goods company before becoming a partner in a London-based merchant banking firm. After graduating from high school in Boston in 1854, Pierpont, as he was known, studied in Europe, where he learned French and German, then returned to New York in 1857 to begin his finance career.
Did you know? "Jingle Bells" was written by James L. Pierpont, the uncle of famed financier J.P. Morgan. The song, originally titled "The One Horse Open Sleigh," was actually written about Thanksgiving, and was considered a failure when first published in 1857.
In 1861, Morgan married Amelia Sturges, the daughter of a wealthy New York businessman. Amelia Morgan died of tuberculosis four months after the couple’s wedding. In 1865, Morgan married Frances Louisa Tracy (1842-1924), the daughter of a New York lawyer, and the pair eventually had four children.
J.P. Morgan: Banking Titan
During the late 19th century, a period when the U.S. railroad industry experienced rapid overexpansion and heated competition (the nation’s first transcontinental rail line was completed in 1869), Morgan was heavily involved in reorganizing and consolidating a number of financially troubled railroads. In the process, he gained control of significant portions of these railroads’ stock and eventually controlled an estimated one-sixth of America’s rail lines.
Titanic, owned by one of the IMM companies, White Star, sank on its maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg. Morgan, who attended the ship’s christening in 1911, was booked on the ill-fated April 1912 voyage but had to cancel.
During Morgan’s era, the United States had no central bank so he used his influence to help save the nation from disaster during several economic crises. In 1895, Morgan assisted in rescuing America’s gold standard when he headed a banking syndicate that loaned the federal government more than $60 million. In another instance, the financial panic of 1907, Morgan held a meeting of the country’s top financiers at his New York City home and convinced them to bail out various faltering financial institutions in order to stabilize the markets.
Morgan initially was widely commended for leading Wall Street out of the 1907 financial crisis; however, in the ensuing years, the portly banker with the handlebar mustache and gruff manner faced increasing criticism from muckraking journalists, progressive politicians and others that he had too much power and could manipulate the financial system for his own gain. In 1912, Morgan was called to testify before a congressional committee chaired by U.S. Representative Arsene Pujo (1861-1939) of Louisiana that was investigating the existence of a “money trust,” a small cabal of elite Wall Street financiers, including Morgan, who allegedly colluded to control American banking and industry. The Pujo Committee hearings helped bring about the creation of the Federal Reserve System in December 1913 and spurred the passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914.
J.P. Morgan: Art Collection and Final Years
The famous financier died at age 75 on March 31, 1913, in Rome, Italy. On April 14, the day of his funeral, the New York Stock Exchange closed in his honor until noon. He was buried in the Morgan family mausoleum at a Hartford cemetery.
In 1907, as several major American financial institutions faced imminent failure that could jeopardize the entire nation, Morgan held a meeting of the nation's leading bankers and financiers. He persuaded them to bail out the failing companies for the sake of the country as a whole.
JPMorgan estimated that between 1831 and 1865, the two banks accepted approximately 13,000 slaves as collateral and ended up owning about 1,250 slaves. An apology was made in compliance with a rule requiring companies to detail past dealings with the slave trade when doing business with the city of Chicago.
The Morgan family fortune was diminished during the Great Depression, and philanthropy further reduced its breadth. As a result, the family's wealth has thinned out among the approximately 200 descendants, Mr. Pennoyer says.
J.P. Morgan (born April 17, 1837, Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.—died March 31, 1913, Rome, Italy) was an American financier and industrial organizer, one of the world's foremost financial figures during the two pre-World War I decades.
Through the end of the century, Morgan wields enormous power in the American railroad industry, reorganizing failing lines, orchestrating mergers, restructuring debt, eliminating competition and cutting costs to return the companies to profitability – a process dubbed “Morganization” by the press.
JPMorgan allegedly notified the government of $1 billion in suspicious transactions by Epstein. “Epstein's entire business with JPMorgan and JPMorgan's entire business with Jeffrey Epstein was human trafficking,” a lawyer for the U.S. Virgin Islands said.
He suffered from the chronic skin disease rosacea that gave him a hideously bulbous purple nose and a disinclination to be photographed. A man with an almost superhuman constitution, Morgan smoked dozens of Havanas earning his favourite cigars the nickname 'Hercules's Clubs'.
Morgan used his influence to help stabilize American financial markets during several economic crises, including the panic of 1907. However, he faced criticism that he had too much power and was accused of manipulating the nation's financial system for his own gain.
He made a fortune in railroads. In 1898, Morgan formed the Federal Steel Company. Again he merged with other steel companies, forming the huge United States Steel Corporation. He made another fortune in steel.
JPMorgan provides financial services to consumers, small businesses, large corporations, governments, and other clients. The company's Consumer & Community Banking segment is the largest source of revenue. JPMorgan Chase is the largest U.S. bank by assets.
Approximately 55.32% of the company's stock is owned by Institutional Investors, 2.99% is owned by Insiders and 41.69% is owned by Public Companies and Individual Investors.
Jack, J.P. Morgan's son, was chairman of J.P. Morgan & Co. when he died in 1943. Grandson Harry Morgan founded the investment bank Morgan Stanley and Co., which today is Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co . However, no descendants have been active in JP Morgan since the mid-1970s.
Wall Street banker J. P. Morgan was a devoted Episcopalian. He was an officer of his local church. He served on a national committee charged with revising the Book of Common Prayer (much of which he knew by heart).
But his goal was to replace cutthroat competition with economic stability. Morgan was instrumental in helping to create the modern American economy. After the Panic of 1893, he reorganized many bankrupt railroads and industrial companies.
Morganization refers to the strategy employed by J.P. Morgan in the 19th century to create industrial monopolies. He identified weak or small players in a particular sector, such as railroads or steelmaking, and effected a series of mergers, ultimately crafting powerful monopolies.
Morgan was very good at making failing companies into profitable companies. After the 1893 financial panic, he helped the railroad industry recover. He merged railroad companies and became a stockholder in every one of them.
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