James Congdell Strong Fargo (May 5, 1829 – February 8, 1915) was a president of the

American Express Company American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...

for 30 years, and the brother of

and

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

co-founder,

William Fargo William George Fargo (May 20, 1818August 3, 1881) was a pioneer American expressman who helped found the modern-day financial firms of American Express Company and Wells Fargo with his business partner, Henry Wells. He was also the 27th Mayor ...

Early life

Fargo was born on May 5, 1829 in Watervale, New York, an unincorporated hamlet in Onondaga County, northeast of

Pompey, New York Pompey is a town in the southeast part of Onondaga County, New York. The population was 7,080 at the time of the 2010 census. The town was named after the Roman general and political leader Pompey by a late 18th-century clerk interested in the Clas ...

. He was the seventh of eleven children born to William Congdell Fargo (1791–1878), of

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...

, and Stacy Chappel Strong (1799–1869). His older brother, the eldest child of William and Stacy, was

(1818–1881).

Career

In 1845, when he was fifteen, he moved to

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

to work for his brother William, who was running express lines between Buffalo,

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

and

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

. Originally a clerk, Fargo was eventually tasked with the delivery of money packages. In 1847, Fargo was granted control of operations in Detroit. Four years later, when the company was organized as Wells Fargo & Company, Fargo was named Superintendent of Virginia operations. In 1855, Fargo was appointed agent of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

for the American Express Company, the successor to Wells, Fargo & Co. He was then promoted to General Superintendent of the Northwest Division for the company. He left for

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1867 to assume the position of General Manager of the American Express Company. He became the third president of American Express after William's death in 1881, with former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

Theodore M. Pomeroy remaining vice-president. James was also a co-founder, along with William Fargo, of American Express. He was succeeded as president in 1914 by George Chadbourne Taylor.

Traveler's Cheque

Sometime between 1888 and 1890, J. C. Fargo took a trip to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and returned frustrated and infuriated. Despite the fact that he was president of American Express and that he carried with him traditional

letters of credit A letter of credit (LC), also known as a documentary credit or bankers commercial credit, or letter of undertaking (LoU), is a payment mechanism used in international trade to provide an economic guarantee from a creditworthy bank to an exp ...

, he found it difficult to obtain cash anywhere, except in major cities. Fargo went to

Marcellus Flemming Berry Marcellus Flemming Berry was an American inventor who devised the traveller's cheque A traveller's cheque is a medium of exchange that can be used in place of hard currency. They can be denominated in one of a number of major world currenc ...

and asked him to create a better solution than the traditional letter of credit. Berry, who had invented the express money order in 1882, created the American Express

Traveler's Cheque A traveller's cheque is a medium of exchange that can be used in place of hard currency. They can be denominated in one of a number of major world currencies and are preprinted, fixed-amount cheques designed to allow the person signing it to ma ...

, which was launched in 1891 in denominations of $10, $20, $50, and $100.

Personal life

On December 15, 1863, Fargo was married Frances Parsons "Fannie" Stuart (1833–1896). Fannie was the daughter of Col. John Stuart of

Battle Creek, Michigan Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, Michigan, Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo River, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek River, Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle C ...

. Together, they were the parents of four children, including: * William Congdell Fargo (1856–1941) who married Mary Stockwell Preston (1857–1912). * James Francis Fargo (1857–1937), who married Jane Lindley King. * Annie Stuart Fargo (1858–1884), who married William Duncan Preston (1859–1920) Two of his children worked at the American, National, and Westcott Express Companies. His son William was the

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

and his son James was the

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

. Fargo died at his residence, 56

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...

in New York City, on February 8, 1915. After a funeral at St. Barnabas Church, he was buried at

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, is the final resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent burying ground at the Old Dutch C ...

Sleepy Hollow, New York Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States. The village is located on the east bank of the Hudson River, about north of New York City, and is served by the Philipse Manor stop on ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fargo, J.C. 1829 births 1915 deaths American financial businesspeople American Express people People from Pompey, New York 19th-century American businesspeople Burials at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery