- William Fargo
William George Fargo (
May 20 ,1818 -August 3 ,1881 ), pioneer Americanexpressman , was born inPompey, New York . From the age of thirteen he had to support himself, obtaining little schooling, and for several years he was a clerk in grocery stores in Syracuse.He became a freight agent for the Auburn & Syracuse railway company at Auburn in 1841, an express messenger between Albany and Buffalo a year later, and in 1843 a resident agent in Buffalo.
In 1844 he organized, with
Henry Wells (1805-1878) and Daniel Dunning, the first express company (Wells & Co.; after 1845 Livingston & Fargo) to engage in the carrying business west of Buffalo. The lines of this company (which first operated only toDetroit , viaCleveland ) were rapidly extended toChicago , St. Louis, and other western points.In March 1850, when through a consolidation of competing lines the
American Express Company was organized, Wells became president and Fargo secretary. In 1851, with Wells and others, he organized the firm of Wells, Fargo & Company to conduct an express business between New York and San Francisco by way of theIsthmus of Panama and on the Pacific coast, where it long had a virtual monopoly.In 1861 Wells, Fargo & Co. bought and reorganized the Overland Mail Co., which had been formed in 1857 to carry the United States mails, and of which Fargo had been one of the original promoters.
From 1862 to 1866 he was
mayor of Buffalo , and from 1868 to his death in Buffalo, he was president of theAmerican Express Company , with which in 1868 theMerchants Union Express Co. was consolidated. He was a director of the New York Central and of the Northern Pacific railways.William's brother
J.C. Fargo succeeded him as President ofAmerican Express after his death.Fargo Avenue in Buffalo, and
Fargo, North Dakota are named after him.See also
*
American Express
*Wells Fargo References
*1911
External links
*
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
