Peabody, Morgan and Co. now takes the…
May 1864 CE
Peabody, Morgan and Co. now takes the name J.S. Morgan & Co. and is appointed the financial representatives in England of the United States government during the American Civil War.
The former UK merchant bank Morgan Grenfell (now part of Deutsche Bank), international universal bank JPMorgan Chase and investment bank Morgan Stanley can all trace their roots to Peabody's bankJunius Spencer Morgan was born on April 14, 1813 in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
The Morgan name is traced to Carmarthen, Wales, and the first known Morgan family ancestral is Bleddri, third son of Demetae chieftain Cadivor-fawr and his wife Elen.
Miles Morgan, ancestor to the Morgan family in America, had emigrated from Bristol, England to Boston in 1636.
Morgan had begun his business career in 1829 by entering the employ of Alfred Welles of Boston.
He had inherited wealth from his father, Joseph Morgan, and showed great business ability.
He was soon invited to become a partner in the house of J. M. Beebe & Co., one of the largest retail stores in Boston and one of the largest dry goods importing and jobbing house in the country.
In 1836, Morgan had married Juliet Pierpont (1816–1884).
He had contributed money to his church and to Trinity College, Hartford.
He was in the dry goods business from about 1836 to 1853.
After some years, he had met George Peabody.
Shortly after the meeting, in 1854, Morgan had entered Peabody's prosperous firm, George Peabody & Co. as a partner.
During the run on the banks of 1857, Peabody had had to ask the Bank of England for a loan of eight hundred thousand pounds: although rivals had tried to force the bank out of business, it had managed to emerge with its credit intact.
Following this crisis, Peabody began to retire from active business, and in 1864 retires fully (taking with him much of his capital, amounting to over ten million dollars, or two million pounds).