John Thompson (American banker)

John Thompson (November 27, 1802 – April 19, 1891) was an American banker, financial publisher, and dealer in bank notes.^[1]

John Thompson
Born	(1802-11-27)November 27, 1802 Peru, Massachusetts, US
Died	April 19, 1891(1891-04-19) (aged 88) Manhattan, New York, US
Occupations	Banker publisher
Known for	Founder of First National Bank and Chase National Bank
Spouse	Electa Ferris ​ (m. 1828)​
Children	6, including Frederick

Early life

Thompson was born in Peru, Massachusetts, near Pittsfield on November 27, 1802. He was the son of a farmer and former Revolutionary War soldier.^[2]

Career

At twenty years old, Thompson worked as a teacher in Hampshire County before becoming a lottery-ticket dealer in Poughkeepsie, New York with Yates & McIntyre (Archibald McIntyre and Henry Yates, brother of Governor Joseph C. Yates). The lottery scheme was legalized by the State Legislature for the benefit of Union College. In 1832, he left Poughkeepsie for New York City to become a dealer in bank notes.^[3]

In 1842, he founded Thompson's Bank Note Reporter.^[4] It was the most widely read and trusted of the several dozen bank note reporters in print during the free banking era—a genre of periodical which published information about the market value of the notes printed by each of the hundreds of banks spread across North America, as well as up to date descriptions of counterfeit bills in circulation. Alongside his bank note reporter, Thompson also came to publish a number of related titles, including a bank note list, a coin guide, and an "autographical counterfeit detector" (a catalogue of signatures of the presidents and cashiers of banks across North America). Thompson sold the Bank Note Reporter some time in the 1860s,^[5] around which time its character changed to be more of a "bank directory".^[4] It continued to be printed under Thompson's name until around 1884 or 1885.^[6]

In 1863, together with his sons, Samuel and Frederick, he founded First National Bank of the City of New York (a predecessor to today's Citibank) in 1863;^[7] it opened its doors on July 22 of that year.^[3] George Fisher Baker became president of the bank after the Thompsons left the bank in the hands of Harris C. Fahnestock, a former partner of railroad financier Jay Cooke in the banking firm of Jay Cooke & Company, in 1877.^[8]

He also founded Chase National Bank of the City of New York in 1877 (a predecessor to today's JPMorgan Chase Bank). The bank was named after their friend and US Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase.^[9]

Personal life

In 1828, Thompson was married to Electa Ferris (1808–1902), a daughter of Lydia Smith Ferris and Solomon Ferris.^[10] They resided in New York City at 295 Madison Avenue and summered at The Anchorage in Highland, New York. Together, Electa and John were the parents of six children, including:^[2]

• Melvina Thompson (1829–1832), who died in childhood.
• Irving Ferris Thompson (1832–1833), who died in infancy.
• Eudora Thompson (1832–1899), who married Francis G. Adams (1825–1903),^[11] a son of Herman Culyer Adams, in 1851.^[12]
• Samuel C. Thompson (1835–1884), who married Abigail E. Sherman (1841–1907), daughter of Edward T Sherman.^[13]
• Frederick Ferris Thompson (1836–1899), who married Mary Lee Clark, daughter of Governor Myron Holley Clark, in 1857.^[14]

After a severe illness that lasted four months, Thompson died on April 19, 1891, at his home in New York at 295 Madison Avenue.^[2][1] His wife died at her home in New York in September 1902 at the age of 95.^[15]

References

1. "OBITUARY. JOHN THOMPSON". The New York Times. 20 April 1891. p. 5. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
2. "OBITUARY: John Thompson". The New York Sun. 20 April 1891. p. 3. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
3. "Money of the Mind," by James Grant, Farrar Straus Giroux, 1992.
4. Dillistin, William H. (1949). Bank note reporters and counterfeit detectors. American Numismatic Society.
5. "Country Bank Leeches". New York Times. 31 July 1884.
6. Morris, Charles (1896). Men of the Century, an Historical Work: Giving Portraits and Sketches of Eminent Citizens of the United States. I. R. Hamersly & Company. p. 70.
7. Redlich, Fritz (1951). The Molding of American Banking: 1840-1910. Hafner. p. 111. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
8. Logan, Sheridan A. (1981). George F. Baker and his bank, 1840-1955: a double biography. S.A. Logan. p. 284. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
9. History of JPMorgan Chase: 1799 to present. JPMorgan Chase & Co.
10. Cochrane, Charles Henry (1887). The History of the Town of Marlborough, Ulster County, New York: From the First Settlement in 1712, by Capt. Wm. Bond, to 1887. W. F. Boshart. p. 21. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
11. "Francis G. Adams". The Los Angeles Times. 14 July 1903. p. 3. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
12. Wright, Ella Frances Reed (1909). Reed-Read lineage: Captain John Reed of Providence R.I. and Norwalk, Conn. and his descendants through his sons, John and Thomas, 1660-1909. Mattatuck Press. p. 219. ISBN 9780598414410. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
13. "FUNERAL OF SAMUEL C. THOMPSON". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 13 April 1884. p. 1. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
14. "WILL OF F.F. THOMPSON FILED.; Value of the Estate Is $3,000,000, All Left to the Widow" (PDF). The New York Times. 25 April 1899. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
15. "Mrs. Electa F. Thompson". The Los Angeles Times. 17 September 1902. p. 4. Retrieved 12 November 2019.

External links

• John Thompson at Find a Grave