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Notable people · Finance · Business

Jay Cooke

Born in Sandusky, Cooke became America's first major investment banker. He sold the Union more than a billion dollars of Civil War bonds, then lost his firm in the Panic of 1873. He kept a summer home on Gibraltar Island in Lake Erie.

Jay Cooke
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At a glance

Born
1821-08-10
Died
1905-02-16
Known as
Finance, Business
Organizations
Jay Cooke & Company

Life story

Jay Cooke was born August 10, 1821, in Sandusky, the son of Eleutheros Cooke, an Ohio lawyer and congressman. He married Dorothea Allen in 1844 and they had eight children.

In the Civil War he led huge bond drives for the Union, selling $500 million in five-twenty bonds and another $830 million in Treasury notes between 1862 and 1865. Historians call him the first major investment banker in the country, and his firm set up the first wire house.

He then bet on the Northern Pacific Railway and moved to Duluth, Minnesota. His firm failed in the Panic of 1873 when the railroad investments overreached, but he made another fortune in Utah silver by 1880.

A devout Episcopalian, he gave a tenth of his income to churches and schools. He kept a summer mansion on Gibraltar Island at Put-in-Bay, and died in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, on February 16, 1905.

Timeline

  • 1821-08-10: Born (Sandusky, OH) source
  • 1844: Marries Dorothea Allen source
  • 1862: Begins selling Union Civil War bonds (to 1865) source
  • 1873: Firm collapses in the Panic of 1873 source
  • 1880: Recovers wealth through Horn Silver Mine investments (Utah) source
  • 1905-02-16: Dies (Elkins Park, PA) source

What Jay is known for

  • Sold $500 million in five-twenty bonds and $830 million in Treasury notes for the Union, 1862-1865
  • Considered the first major US investment banker
  • Jay Cooke & Company; Northern Pacific financing

Honors and things named for them

  • Jay Cooke State Park, Minnesota
  • Cooke City, Montana

Family

  • father: Eleutheros Cooke
  • wife: Dorothea Elizabeth Allen (d. 1871)

Ohio places

Where Jay Cooke was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Further reading

Sources

Confidence. High: the main facts were confirmed in sources we opened.

  • Wikipedia: Jay Cooke dates, family, Civil War bonds, Northern Pacific, Panic of 1873, Gibraltar Island

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