Jay Gould's father-in-law is credited with introducing…

Jay Gould's father-in-law is credited with introducing the younger man to the railroad industry, when he suggested that Gould help him save his investment in the Rutland and Washington Railroad.

Gould had quickly acquired a majority of the company's bonds at 10 cents on the dollar.

Jason Gould was born in Roxbury, New York, the son of Mary More (1798–1841) and John Burr Gould (1792–1866).

His father was of British ancestry and his mother was of Scottish ancestry.

Gould's maternal grandfather Alexander T. More was a businessman, and his great-grandfather John More was a Scottish immigrant who founded the town of Moresville, New York.

Known as Jay, young Gould had studied at local schools and the Hobart Academy, where his principal was credited as getting him a job working as a bookkeeper for a blacksmith.

A year later, the blacksmith had offered him half interest in the blacksmith shop, which he had sold to his father during the early part of 1854.

Gould had devoted himself to private study, emphasizing surveying and mathematics.

In 1854, Gould had surveyed and created maps of the Ulster County, New York area.

In 1856, he had published History of Delaware County, and Border Wars of New York, which he had spent several years writing.

In 1856, Gould had entered a partnership with Zadock Pratt to create a tanning business in Pennsylvania in what would become Gouldsboro.

Eventually, he had bought out Pratt, who retired.

In 1856, Gould had entered another partnership with Charles Mortimer Leupp, a son-in-law of Gideon Lee, and one of the leading leather merchants in the United States at the time.

Leupp and Gould had been a successful partnership until the Panic of 1857.

Leupp had lost all his money, while Gould had taken advantage of the opportunity of the depreciation of property value and bought up former partnership properties for himself.

After the death of Charles Leupp, the Gouldsboro Tannery became a disputed property.

Charles Leupp's brother-in-law, David W. Lee, who was also a partner in Leupp and Gould, took armed control of the tannery, believing that Gould had cheated the Leupp and Lee families in the collapse of the business.

Eventually, Gould took physical possession, but was later forced to sell his share of the company to Lee's brother.

In 1863, he had married Helen Day Miller, with whom he will have six children.