Albert Gallatin Edwards (October 15, 1812 – April 19, 1892) was an Assistant Secretary of the

U.S. Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

under

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

and founder of brokerage firm A. G. Edwards. Edwards was born in

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

in 1812 and named after Secretary of the Treasury

Albert Gallatin Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin (January 29, 1761 – August 12, 1849) was a Genevan-American politician, diplomat, ethnologist, and linguist. Often described as "America's Swiss Founding Father", he was a leading figure in the early years ...

. His father was Illinois Governor and U.S. Senator,

Ninian Edwards Ninian Edwards (March 17, 1775July 20, 1833) was an American political figure who was prominent in Illinois. He served as the first and only governor of the Illinois Territory from 1809 to until the territory earned statehood in 1818. He was then ...

. He graduated from

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

and was stationed near St. Louis, MO. There he met Louise Cabanne, the daughter of a prominent St. Louis Family, whom he married in 1835. Following his marriage, Edwards resigned from the military and entered the wholesale business.A.G. Edwards: A History
Edwards fought for the Union during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and was rewarded for his effort by President Lincoln who named him

United States Assistant Secretary of the Treasury United States Assistant Secretary of the Treasury is one of several positions in the United States Department of the Treasury, serving under the United States Secretary of the Treasury. History According to the U.S. statute, there are eight Assis ...

in April, 1865. Later, in 1887, at the age of 75, he founded the brokerage firm that bore his name, A. G. Edwards, which was absorbed into

Wachovia Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asset ...

in 2007. He is buried at

Bellefontaine Cemetery Bellefontaine Cemetery is a nonprofit, non-denominational cemetery and arboretum in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1849 as a rural cemetery, Bellefontaine has several architecturally significant monuments and mausoleums such as the Louis Su ...

in St. Louis.

References

1812 births 1892 deaths United States Military Academy alumni Union army soldiers United States assistant secretaries of the treasury 19th-century American businesspeople {{US-business-bio-1810s-stub