James Erwin Yeatman (August 27, 1818 – 1901) was a bank founder and philanthropist in St. Louis, Missouri. He was the founder and president of the Western Sanitary Commission and Washington University in St. Louis. Yeatman was born in

Bedford County, Tennessee Bedford County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 50,237. Its county seat is Shelbyville. Bedford County comprises the Shelbyville, TN Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also inc ...

August 27, 1818 near Wartrace. His father,

Thomas Yeatman Thomas T. Yeatman Sr. (1787–1833) was the owner of an iron foundry and was a prominent cotton trader, banker, steamboat owner, and commission business partner in Nashville, Tennessee. His son James E. Yeatman James Erwin Yeatman (August 2 ...

, was a banker and iron foundry owner in Nashville, Tennessee. His mother was Jane Patton Erwin who, after Thomas Yeatman's death, married politician John Bell. Yeatman attended private school and New Haven Commercial School then toured Europe. After working for his father in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee he moved to St. Louis in 1842. He founded Merchant Bank and the Mercantile Library (1846) on Fourth and Locust streets. He also served as the library’s first president and founded the Missouri Institute for the Education of the Blind after being inspired by teacher Eli W. Whelan. With Dr. William Greenleaf Eliot he founded Washington University in St. Louis in 1853. He was also a founder and president of the St. Louis Philharmonic Society, founded the Provident Association organize St. Louis charities and was a founder of the Western Sanitary Commission. In 1872 Yeatman donated property to the Catholic Church for an orphanage to serve those left behind after a

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

epidemic. The Christian Brothers began operating the orphanage in 1876 and it eventually became the La Salle Institute. Yeatman was also involved in advocating for and running a railroad, Pacific Railroad (which became Missouri Pacific Railroad). Yeatman met with Abraham Lincoln in Washington D.C. to help counsel his dealings with Nebraska and Nathaniel Lyon. Yeatman served on the first board of the St. Louis Children’s Hospital and of Bellefontaine Cemetery. He died in 1901 and is buried there. The American writer

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

based a character in one of his novel '' The Crisis'' on Yeatman. Yeatman married twice and had five children. He was given the nickname Old Sanitary for his work in the field helping soldiers for the Western Sanitary Commission.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeatman, James E. American bankers People from Missouri 1818 births 1901 deaths People from Bedford County, Tennessee 19th-century American philanthropists 19th-century American businesspeople Washington University in St. Louis people