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.

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

In 1864, Morgan became a partner in the firm of Dabney, Morgan & Company, which served as the New York representative of Junius Morgan’s London banking firm, J.S. Morgan & Company. In 1871, the younger Morgan partnered with prominent Philadelphia banker Anthony Drexel (1826-93) to form Drexel, Morgan & Company. In 1895, two years after Anthony Drexel’s death, the business was renamed J.P. Morgan & Company.

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.

By the start of the 20th century, Morgan’s focus had shifted from railroads to other industries. In 1901, he bought the Carnegie Steel Company from Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) for some $480 million then merged it with a group of other steel companies to create U.S. Steel, the world’s first billion-dollar corporation. Morgan also helped engineer the deals that established General Electric, International Harvester, American Telephone & Telegraph and other industrial giants. In 1902, he was instrumental in the formation of International Mercantile Marine (IMM), a conglomeration of transatlantic shipping companies. A decade later, the 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.

J.P. Morgan: Congressional Investigation

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 passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914.

J.P. Morgan: Art Collection and Final Years

Morgan funneled a substantial portion of his wealth into his vast art collection. He began amassing the collection in earnest in the 1890s, and by the time of his death had spent an estimated $60 million on art (the equivalent of around $900 million in present-day dollars), according to the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City, which today houses his collection of rare manuscripts. In addition to art, Morgan owned a series of large yachts, all named Corsair. (During the Spanish-American War of 1898, the U.S. Navy conscripted the Corsair II for use as a gunboat.)

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.