Charles Milford Bergstresser (June 25, 1858 – September 20, 1923) was an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and, with

Charles Dow Charles Henry Dow (; November 6, 1851 – December 4, 1902) was an American journalist who co-founded Dow Jones & Company with Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser. Dow also co-founded ''The Wall Street Journal'', which has become one of th ...

and Edward Jones, one of the founders of

Dow Jones & Company Dow Jones & Company, Inc. is an American publishing firm owned by News Corp and led by CEO Almar Latour. The company publishes ''The Wall Street Journal'', '' Barron's'', ''MarketWatch'', ''Mansion Global'', ''Financial News'' and ''Private ...

at 15

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...

in 1882.

Early life

A native of

Berrysburg, Pennsylvania Berrysburg is a borough in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 324 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Berrysburg was originally called Hellerstown. The ...

, Bergstresser was born on June 25, 1858. Bergstresser graduated from Lafayette College, where he took a scientific course and Latin, in 1881. After graduation, he took a job with the Kiernan

News Agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswir ...

, but he was not satisfied with his employment, particularly when the Agency refused to give equity interest in a

stylus A stylus (plural styli or styluses) is a writing utensil or a small tool for some other form of marking or shaping, for example, in pottery. It can also be a computer accessory that is used to assist in navigating or providing more precision ...

that he had invented which would allow information to be inscribed in 35 bulletins at once. Dow and Jones were co-workers there, and Bergstresser convinced the pair to join him in departing from Kiernan to form their own company in November 1882.

Dow Jones

Although he was the chief financier of the fledgling company, Bergstresser chose to be a silent partner of Dow and Jones, using money he had saved while in college to fund their company. He worked for the new company, which was located in the basement of 15 Wall Street, near the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...

, as a reporter. It was he who came up with the name ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''.

Later life

He retired as a journalist in 1903. He died on Thursday, September 20, 1923, survived by his daughter Mrs. Ethel B. Stewart McCoy.Ethel was born 1893, died 1980, age 87:

References

Lafayette College alumni American publishers (people) 1858 births 1923 deaths {{US-journalist-19thC-stub