American financier and banker, born in Hartford, CT, on the 17th of April 1837, a son of Junius Spencer Morgan (1813–1890), who was a partner of George Peabody and the founder of the house of J. S. Morgan & Co. in London. He was educated at the English High School in Boston and at the University of Göttingen. In 1857–1860 he worked in the New York banking house of Duncan, Sherman & Co.; from 1860 to 1864 was agent and attorney in New York for George Peabody & Co. of London, and afterwards for its successor, J. S. Morgan & Co., of which he became head; in 1864–1871 was a member of the firm of Dabney, Morgan & Co.; and in 1871 he entered the firm of Drexel, Morgan & Co., in which he was associated with Anthony J. Drexel, of Philadelphia, upon whose death in 1893 he became senior partner. In 1895 the firm became J. P. Morgan & Co. Closely associated with Drexel & Co. of Philadelphia, Morgan, Harjes & Co. (successors to Drexel, Harjes & Co.) of Paris, and Morgan, Grenfell & Co. (before 1910 J. S. Morgan & Co.) of London, it became, largely owing to Mr. Morgan’s ability, one of the most powerful banking houses in the world. It carried through the formation of the United States Steel Corporation (which took over the business of Andrew Carnegie and others), harmonized the coal and railway interests of Pennsylvania, and purchased the Leyland line of steamships and other British lines in 1902, thus effecting an Atlantic shipping “combine”; and it, or the banking houses which it succeeded, reorganized the following railways: Albany & Susquehanna (1869); the Chesapeake & Ohio, and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis (1888); the Erie and the Reading (1895); the New York & New England (1896); the Northern Pacific (1897); the Baltimore & Ohio (1899), &c.; and in 1895 it supplied the United States government with $62,000,000 in gold to float a bond issue and restore the treasury surplus of $100,000,000. Mr. Pierpont Morgan was a prominent member of the Protestant Episcopal Church; an enthusiastic yachtsman, whose “Columbia” defeated the “Shamrock” in 1899 and 1901 for the “America’s” cup; a notable collector of books, pictures, and other art objects, many loaned or given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (of which he was president), and many housed in his London house and in his private library on 36th Street, near Madison Avenue, New York City; and a generous benefactor of the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harvard University (especially its medical school), the Lying-in Hospital of the city of New York and the New York trade schools.
Morgan died in Rome on the 31st of March 1913. In January 1913 he sailed from New York for Egypt, where he became seriously ill. He was carried to Italy but never recovered. His will provided that after the distribution of enumerated bequests amounting to about $17,000,000, chiefly to his family, the residue of his estate should pass to his son, John Pierpont Morgan, Jun. In 1916 the estate was finally appraised at $69,499,732. He left only some $700,000 to charities; but while living he had been a generous giver, and in his will suggested that his son continue certain accustomed annual contributions. His works of art and books were left to his son without restrictions, although in his will he said, “It has been my desire and intention to make some suitable disposition of them or of such portion of them as I might determine, which would render them permanently available for the instruction and pleasure of the American people.” In the summer of 1913 most of the art collection was placed as a loan exhibit in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Later some items, mostly replaceable, were sold. The remainder, consisting of over 3,000 pieces, was presented to the museum by the son in December 1917, and a new wing was added to the building to house them permanently (opened June 1918). This collection covers all periods and includes matchless bronzes, enamels, porcelains and tapestries. The library, retained by the son, was appraised at $7,500,000. It consisted of more than 20,000 volumes of illuminated manuscripts, early printed books, examples from famous presses and association copies.
