Junius Spencer Morgan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junius_Spencer_Morgan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junius_Spencer_Morgan

Junius Spencer Morgan (April 14, 1813 — April 8, 1890) was an American banker and financier, born at West Springfield (now Holyoke), Massachusetts, USA.

Career

He began his business career in 1829 by entering the employ of Alfred Welles of Boston.

In 1836, he married John Pierpont Morgan's mother, Juliet. From about 1836 to 1853, he was in the dry-goods business. He contributed money to Trinity College, Hartford. At his death, in 1890, he left a fortune estimated at about $10,000,000.

From 1854, he was partner, with George Peabody, in the English banking house of George Peabody & Co. Ten years later, he succeeded Peabody as head of the firm and changed its name to J. S. Morgan & Co.

MORGAN, Junius Spencer, banker, born in West Springfield (now Holyoke), Massachusetts, 14 April, 1813. He began his business career in 1829 by entering the employ of Alfred Welles, of Boston, with whom he continued until he became of age.--In July, 1834, he joined the banking-house of Morgan, Ketchum and Co., of New York, but he returned to Hartford about eighteen months later. He then became junior partner in the drygoods house of Howe, Mather and Co., which in 1850 became Mather, Morgan and Co. A year later he was invited by James M. Beebe to form a co-partnership in Boston, which, under the style of J. 3I. Beebe, Morgan and Co., became one of the largest dry-goods establishments in the United States. Mr. Morgan visited England in 1853, and was offered a partnership in the firm of George Peabody and Co., which he accepted on 1 October, 1854, and ten years later, on the retirement of Mr. Peabody, the firm became J. S. Morgan and Co. Under this name the house has grown in strength and influence until at present it ranks among the great banking-houses of the world. During his residence in Hartford, Mr. Morgan was active in the affairs of the Protestant Episcopal church, and also in various charitable enterprises. He has been a liberal donor to Trinity college, and in 1886 presented to the Hartford orphan asylum a generous contribution, known as the Sarah Morgan fund, in memory of his mother, Mrs. Sarah Spencer Morgan. In 1887 he gave a large and valuable painting, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, which he had purchased for that purpose, to the Metropolitan museum of art in New York city. He married in 1836 Juliet, daughter of John Pierpont, the poet (q. v.).--His son, John Pierpont, banker, born in Hartford, Connecticut, 17 April, 1837, was educated at the English high-school in Boston, and then studied at the University of Gottingen, Germany. He returned to the United States in 1857, and entered the banking-firm of Duncan, Sherman and Co., of New York. In 1860 he became agent and attorney in the United States for George Peabody and Co., of London, which relation he has since held with that firm and its successor. He became the junior partner of the banking-firm of Dabney, Morgan and Co. in 1864, and that of Drexel, Morgan and Co. in 1871. This house is among the chief negotiators of railroad bonds, and was active in the reorganization of the West Shore railroad and its absorption by the New York Central railroad. In 1887 it was conspicuous in the reorganization of the Philadelphia and Reading railroad, which a syndicate Of capitalists formed by Mr. Morgan placed on a sound basis.

source: Virtual American Biographies