J. P. Morgan

J.P. Morgan died in his sleep on March 31, 1913, at the Grand Hotel in Rome, Italy. He was interred in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.

John Pierpont Morgan was born on April 17, 1837, in Hartford, Connecticut, to Junius Spencer Morgan, a wealthy financier, and his wife Juliet Pierpont.

Morgan received his elementary education from several public schools such as Hartford Public School and Episcopal Academy in Cheshire. Then, he attended the Boston's English High School, and later got enrolled in Germany's prestigious University of Gottingen.

After improving his German and obtaining a degree in art history from Gottingen, Morgan returned to begin his career in finance. In 1857, he started working at the London branch of Peabody, Morgan & Co., a merchant banking firm.

In 1858, J.P. Morgan moved to New York and joined as an accountant for Duncan, Sherman & Co., the American representatives of George Peabody and Company. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Morgan joined his father's firm, J. Pierpont Morgan & Company, where he worked until 1864.

From 1864 to 1872, he served as an influential member of the firm of Dabney, Morgan, and Co. In 1871, he entered in a partnership to form the New York firm of Drexel, Morgan & Co.

With the help of newly founded private banking firm, Morgan continued to make investments and acquisitions. He backed Thomas Edison projects and laid the financial foundation for Edison Electric Company.

Meanwhile, when many small companies and railroads faced hard times after the Civil War, Morgan acquired and restructured many of them, bringing his own standards to the rail industry. Some of his rail holdings were the New York Central, New Haven and Hartford, Pennsylvania, Southern, and the Northern Pacific systems.

In 1892, Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric. During the depression following the panic of 1893, Morgan provided financial support to the U.S. government in order to prevent a Treasury crisis.

In 1871, Morgan started his own private banking company and later restructured it as J.P. Morgan & Co. The firm acquired, financed and expanded many businesses, subsequently emerging as one of the most powerful banking houses in the world. It also provided financial support to the U.S. government during the economic depression following the panic of 1893.

Morgan helped in consolidation of the railroad industry in the East and helped achieve railroad rate stability by gaining control of much of the railroads. In 1901, he arranged the merger of several steel and iron companies, and formed the United States Steel Corporation, which gradually became the world's largest steel manufacturer.