Morgan, Junius Spencer (1813 -1890)

Junius Spencer Morgan, American financier, was born at Holyoke, Massachussets., the son of Joseph Morgan, and Sarah Spencer. On 2 May 1836 he married Juliet Pierpont, daughter of the Rev. John Pierpont, of Boston. They had five children. After some years in the dry-goods business he became, in 1854, a partner in the English firm of George Peabody & Co. Ten years later he succeeded Peabody as head of the firm, and changed its name to J. S. Morgan & Co. Under his direction it became one of the leading banking houses of the world. Morgan left a fortune of nearly $10 million. While spending more than half of his life abroad, he was still well connected with New York and Connecticut. His company sided with the Union during the Civil War, and secured an important $50 million loan for France during the Franco-Prussian conflict of 1870. Among his philanthropies, he founded a free library in Hartford. He was father of John Pierpont Morgan, the founder of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York.