-
Birth
John Pierpont (JP) Morgan was born on April 17, 1837 in Hartford, Connecticut to
parents Junius Spencer Morgan and Juliet Pierpont Morgan.
Morgan was born into a life of luxury, his banker father built JM Beebe, Morgan and Co., the largest
dry goods exporter in Boston. Junius taught his son how to speak, act, and think like a banker
throughout his childhood. -
Enters Banking World
In 1857, after going to college in Europe, JP Morgan returned to the US and he got a job working for the private banking house Duncan, Sherman and Company. -
George Peabody & Co
In 1860 he was appointed as the American agent and attorney for George Peabody & Company in which his father was a partner. -
Morgan's First Marriage
In 1861, he married Amelia Sturges, a.k.a. Mimi. She was said to be JP Morgan's only true love, but she died shortly into the married from tuberculosis. -
Second Marriage
Morgan married Frances Louisa Tracy, known as Fanny on May 31, 1865. They had four children: Louisa Pierpont Morgan (1866–1946), John Pierpont Morgan (1867–1943), Juliet Pierpont Morgan (1870–1952) & Anne Tracy Morgan (1873–1952). -
Drexel, Morgan & Co
Morgan’s real breakthrough as an unstoppable financial force came in 1871, when he struck a deal with Anthony Drexel to open Drexel, Morgan and Co. (after Drexel’s death, it was shortened to Morgan and Co.). Within the year, the firm had moved to 23 Wall Street, which they had purchased for $1 million, making it the most expensive piece of real estate in the world at that time -
Helped Refinance Civil War Debt
1873, two years after the opening of Drexel, Morgan, he underwrote federal bonds worth $1400 million to help refinance the Civil War debt -
Helped Fund the Military
When Congress adjourned without having adopted a budget to pay for the army, Morgan provided the War Department with $550,000 per month, which was to be disbursed throughout twelve centers around the nation, adding up to a total of about $2.5 million contributed to the army payroll – all of which was eventually paid back. -
Electricity
In 1889, Morgan had underwritten the creation of an electrical energy and equipment company that was the merging of Thomas Edison’s original company and six others; it was known as Edison General Electric Co.
His house on Madison Avenue was the first electrically lit private residence in New York. -
Helps Government with Gold Backing
In 1895, at the depths of the Panic of 1893, the Federal Treasury was nearly out of gold. President Grover Cleveland accepted Morgan's offer to join with the Rothschilds and supply the U.S. Treasury with 3.5 million ounces of gold to restore the treasury surplus in exchange for a 30-year bond issue. The episode saved the Treasury -
Railroad Industry
By the year 1900, Morgan controlled over one-sixth of the nation’s railroad industry, and he had consolidated the nation’s railroad network into six enormous systems that ran from New York City. -
Steel
The peak of Morgan’s business consolidation was in 1901, with the formation of United States Steel, the world’s first billion-dollar corporation.
At one time, U.S. Steel was the largest steel producer and largest In its first full year of operation, U.S. Steel made 67 percent of all the steel produced in the United States.
The federal government attempted to use federal antitrust laws to break up U.S. Steel in 1911, but that effort ultimately failed. -
Death
Morgan died traveling abroad on March 31, 1913, just shy of his 76th birthday. He died in his sleep at the Grand Hotel in Rome, Italy. Flags on Wall Street flew at half-staff; the stock market closed for two hours when his body passed through
His remains were interred in the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut. His son, J. P. Morgan, Jr., inherited the banking business.