J.P. Morgan

John Pierpont Morgan is considered one of the founding fathers of the modern United States economy. He was an industrial genius that is accredited with the founding of many companies including General Electric and AT&T. However, Pierpont is looked upon as a saint and demon the same. He received a honorary degree from Harvard university that read: "Public citizen, patron of literature and art, prince among merchants, who by his skill, wisdom and courage, has twice in times of stress repelled a national danger of financial panic." But Robert LaFollette, the Wisconsin progressive, saw him as "a beefy, red-faced thick-necked financial bully, drunk with wealth and power." Despite conflicting opinion on his persona, his influence and character shaped the business world more so than any other person at the turn of the century. Morgan was a banker, railroad czar, industrialist, financier, philanthropist, yachtsman, and ladies' man. He was king to a handful of millionaire barons who controlled the country's wealth in an era of little government regulation.

The wealth of the Morgan family did not begin with Pierpont but with his grandfather Joseph Morgan. Joseph prospered as a hotelkeeper in Hartford, Connecticut. He helped to organize a canal company, steamboat lines and the new railroad that connected Hartford with Springfield. Finally he became one of the founders of the Aetna Fire Insurance Company. Joseph's first son was Junius Spencer Morgan, also destined for the life of a businessman. He spent a number of years as a dry-goods merchant before moving to Boston and into the foreign trade business. Junius was invited to join the firm of George Peabody & Co. in 1854. In 1864 Junius took over the Peabody Company and changed the name to J.S. Morgan & Co.

John Pierpont Morgan was born on April 17, 1837 in Hartford, Connecticut. He was nicknamed "Pip" by his childhood friends. The family prospered in Hartford until Junius moved the family to Boston