J. C. Fargo

Fargo was born on May 5, 1829, in Watervale, New York, an unincorporated hamlet in Onondaga County, northeast of Pompey.{{Cite journal |url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkgenealog00mayngoog/page/214/mode/1up |title=James Congdell Fargo |first=William Congdell |last=Fargo |journal=The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record |volume=XL |number=3 |page=214 |date=July 1909 |access-date=2023-08-21 |via=Internet Archive}} He was the seventh of eleven children born to William Congdell Fargo, of New London, Connecticut, and Stacy Chappel Strong. His older brother, the eldest child of William and Stacy, was William Fargo.{{cite web|last1=Wysocki|first1=Jacek A.|title=Fargo Estate: Then & Now|url=http://wnyheritagepress.org/photos_week_2007/fargo_estate/fargo_estate.htm|website=wnyheritagepress.org|accessdate=25 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829165747/http://wnyheritagepress.org/photos_week_2007/fargo_estate/fargo_estate.htm|archive-date=29 August 2012|url-status=dead}}

In 1845, when he was fifteen, he moved to Buffalo, New York, to work for his brother William, who was running express lines between Buffalo, Detroit, Michigan, and Albany, New York. 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.Grossman, Peter Z., American Express: The Unofficial History of the People Who Built the Great Financial Empire, New York: Crown, 1987.

In 1855, Fargo was appointed agent of Chicago, Illinois, 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 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 Theodore M. Pomeroy remaining vice-president.{{cite news |title=A Successor to W. G. Fargo.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1881/08/19/98917093.pdf |accessdate=2023-08-21 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 19, 1881 |page=8}} James was also a co-founder, along with William Fargo, of American Express. He was succeeded as president in 1914 by George Chadbourne Taylor.{{cite news|title=Jas. C. Fargo Dies; Express Pioneer: Ex-President of American, National and, Westcott Companies Expires at 86.: Retired Only Last June: Began His Career as Expressman at Age of 15, and Was With American Co. for 70 Years|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/02/09/100680706.pdf |accessdate=2023-08-21 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 9, 1915 |page=9}}

Sometime between 1888 and 1890, J. C. Fargo took a trip to Europe 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, he found it difficult to obtain cash anywhere, except in major cities. Fargo went to Marcellus Flemming Berry 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, which was launched in 1891 in denominations of $10, $20, $50, and $100.{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,866900-7,00.htm |title=Host With The Most |magazine=Time |date=1956-04-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070303084423/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,866900-7,00.html |archive-date=2007-03-03 |url-status=dead |access-date=2023-08-21}}

On December 15, 1863, Fargo was married to Frances Parsons "Fannie" Stuart.{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Henry Crittenden |title=The History of the First National Bank of Chicago: Preceded by Some Account of Early Banking in the United States, Especially in the West and at Chicago ... |date=1902 |publisher=R. R. Donnelley & sons Company |page=161 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YPFCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA161 |accessdate=28 February 2019 |language=en}} Fannie was the daughter of Col. John Stuart of Battle Creek, Michigan.{{cite book |last1=Greene |first1=Richard Henry |last2=Stiles |first2=Henry Reed |last3=Morrison |first3=George Austin |last4=Mott |first4=Hopper Striker |last5=Totten |first5=John Reynolds |last6=Forest |first6=Louis Effingham De |last7=Ditmas |first7=Charles Andrew |title=The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record |date=1922 |publisher=New York Genealogical and Biographical Society |page=[https://archive.org/details/newyorkgenealogiv53gree/page/108 108] |url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkgenealogiv53gree |accessdate=28 February 2019 |language=en}} Together, they were the parents of four children, including:

• William Congdell Fargo (1856–1941){{cite news |title=Fargo |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1941/02/04/85210366.pdf |accessdate=22 August 2016 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 4, 1941 |page=21 |url-access=subscription}} who married Mary Stockwell Preston (1857–1912).
• James Francis Fargo (1857–1937), who married Jane Lindley King.{{cite news |title=James F. Fargo, 80, Financier, is Dead: Son of a Founder of Express Organizations Introduced the Modern Express Checks |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/06/20/118975330.pdf |accessdate=22 August 2016 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 20, 1937 |page=7 |url-access=subscription}}{{cite web|last1=Miller|first1=Tom|title=Daytonian in Manhattan: The 1892 James F. Fargo House -- No. 120 East 37th Street|url=http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-1892-james-f-fargo-house-no-120.html|website=Daytonian in Manhattan|accessdate=22 August 2016|date=14 June 2014}}
• 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 and his son James was the Treasurer.

His wife Fannie died on August 31, 1896.{{Cite journal |url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkgenealog00mayngoog/page/216/mode/1up |title=James Congdell Fargo |first=William Congdell |last=Fargo |journal=The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record |volume=XL |number=3 |page=216 |date=July 1909 |access-date=2023-08-21 |via=Internet Archive}}

J. C. Fargo died at his residence, 56 Park Avenue in New York City,{{cite news |title=Silent Tribune to J. C. Fargo |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/02/10/100138418.pdf |accessdate=2023-08-21 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 10, 1915 |page=11}} on February 8, 1915. After a funeral at St. Barnabas Church, he was buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York.

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Category:1829 births

Category:1915 deaths

Category:American financial businesspeople

Category:American Express people

Category:People from Pompey, New York

Category:19th-century American businesspeople

Category:Burials at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery