Cooke, Jay

Jay (1821-1905), an American financier. He was a native of Sandusky, Ohio. In 1858 he founded the banking house of Jay Cooke and Company, of Philadelphia. When the Civil War broke out, and Lincoln called for troops and money, Cooke went about among his friends and raised $2,000,000 for immediate use. He was to the Civil War what Robert Morris was to the Revolution. He was entrusted with placing the immense loans needed by the government, and succeeded in raising the amount of $2,000,000,000, a feat unequaled in the history of finance. His charges for the work were moderate. At the close of the war his firm undertook to furnish the means to build the Northern Pacific railroad. Jay Cooke was president of the road. His firm failed in the hard times of 1873, precipitating a panic. Cooke afterward made himself comfortable by wise investments in Western land, but he made no effort to reestablish himself as a leader in finance. His reputation is that of a genial, upright, patriotic man-one whom his neighbors liked to see prosper.