John Jay Knox Jr.
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John Jay Knox Jr. (March 19, 1828 – February 9, 1892) was an American
financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of in ...
and government official. He is best remembered as a primary author of the
Coinage Act of 1873 The Coinage Act of 1873 or Mint Act of 1873 was a general revision of laws relating to the Mint of the United States. By ending the right of holders of silver bullion to have it coined into standard silver dollars, while allowing holders of g ...
, which discontinued the use of the silver dollar. Knox was Comptroller of the Currency from 1872 to 1884. An advocate of uniform currency for the national banks of the country, his portrait was featured on the obverse of the $100 United States
national bank note National Bank Notes were United States currency banknotes issued by national banks chartered by the United States Government. The notes were usually backed by United States bonds the bank deposited with the United States Treasury. In addition, ...
s of the Series of 1902.


Early life

John Jay Knox Jr. was born March 19, 1828, in Knoxboro,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
, today a part of the town of Augusta. He was a son of Sarah Ann (
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Curtis) Knox (1794–1875) and John J. Knox Sr. (1791–1876), a prominent merchant and bank president and was himself the namesake of Knoxboro."John Jay Knox," ''National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Volume 3.'' New York: James T. White & Co., 1893; pg. 15. The younger Knox was well educated and attended
Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...
in
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, from which he graduated in 1849.


Career

Upon graduation he went to work for his father in his bank, working there as a teller for two years before moving to a bank in
Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...
, where he worked for four more years. Knox gained experience and authority in a series of further jobs in the banking industry which followed, including stops in
Binghamton, New York Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the c ...
,
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.


Private banker

In 1857, shortly before
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was admitted to the United States, Knox and his brother, Henry M. Knox, launched their own banking house, J. Jay Knox & Co., in the city of
St. Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...
with the financial backing of their father. In October 1859, they purchased the Central Bank of New Ulm, Minnesota, a note-issuing bank organized under the free banking law of Minnesota, but continued their office in St. Paul. By June 1861, pressures of the Civil War contributed to a devastating depreciation in the bonds used to secure notes of the Central Bank, and the Knox brothers allowed the bank to fail. Note holders were eventually paid 30 cents on the dollar for Central Bank notes. This experience significantly shaped Knox's opinion on banking. Knox became an advocate of the system of national banks proposed by
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
Salmon P. Chase Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth chief justice of the United States from 1864 to his death in 1873. Chase served as the 23rd governor of Ohio from 1856 to 1860, r ...
and contributed ideas to the national bank debate, advocating safe and convertible notes of a uniform type for all national banks, backed by the guarantee of government bonds.George G. Evans (ed.), ''Illustrated History of the United States Mint, with a Complete Description of American Coinage...'' Philadelphia: George G. Evans, 1888; pg. 95. He authored two influential articles on the matter, published in ''Hunt's Merchants' Magazine'' in 1861 and 1862, which gained the notice of Secretary Chase. Chase would bring Knox into the service of the Treasury Department in 1863.


Government career

Working in the Treasury Department throughout the closing years of 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 ...
, in 1866 Knox was put in charge of the Mint and Coinage Correspondence for that department. He authored a report on the
San Francisco Mint The San Francisco Mint is a branch of the United States Mint. Opened in 1854 to serve the gold mines of the California gold rush, in twenty years its operations exceeded the capacity of the first building. It moved into a new one in 1874, now kn ...
in 1866 and later in that same year discovered a $1.1 million misappropriation of funds in a similar report on the activities of the
New Orleans Mint The New Orleans Mint () operated in New Orleans, Louisiana, as a branch mint (facility), mint of the United States Mint from 1838 to 1861 and from 1879 to 1909. During its years of operation, it produced over 427 million gold and silver coins ...
— the largest such misappropriation in US government history up to that time. Knox was made Deputy Comptroller of the Currency in 1867. In that capacity in April 1870, Knox prepared a 100-page report codifying the mint and coinage laws of the United States. This was followed in June 1870 with another report of similar length, collecting the views of mint employees and financial experts and providing for legislation to eliminate the silver dollar from circulation. Knox's proposal was passed into law after a few amendments as the
Coinage Act of 1873 The Coinage Act of 1873 or Mint Act of 1873 was a general revision of laws relating to the Mint of the United States. By ending the right of holders of silver bullion to have it coined into standard silver dollars, while allowing holders of g ...
— an event which triggered a rapid fall in the price of silver and which ushered in an era of bitter currency debate which dominated the political landscape for the better part of three decades. President Ulysses S. Grant promoted Knox to
Comptroller of the Currency The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is an independent bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury that was established by the National Currency Act of 1863 and serves to corporate charter, charter, bank regulation ...
in 1872."John Jay Knox," ''National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Vol. 3,'' pg. 16. He was reappointed to a second 5-year term by President
Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was the 19th president of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881. Hayes served as Cincinnati's city solicitor from 1858 to 1861. He was a staunch Abolitionism in the Un ...
in 1877, and to a third term by President
Chester A. Arthur Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was the 21st president of the United States, serving from 1881 to 1885. He was a Republican from New York who previously served as the 20th vice president under President James A. ...
in 1882. On May 1, 1884, Knox resigned his post in order to become president of the National Bank of the Republic in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. At the time of his resignation he had served 17 years in the Comptroller's office as part of almost 22 years in the Treasury Department, making him the longest serving officer in that department.


Personal life

Knox was married to Caroline Elizabeth Todd (1847–1922), a daughter of Elizabeth Irving (née Gilliss) Todd and William Balch Todd, a director of the
Bank of the Metropolis The Bank of the Metropolis was a bank in New York City that operated between 1871 and 1918. The bank was originally located at several addresses around Union Square in Manhattan before finally moving to 31 Union Square West, a 16-story Renaiss ...
. Together, they were the parents of: * John Jay Knox (1874–1875), who died in infancy. * John Jay Knox III (1877–1913), who died in
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. * Irving Gilliss Knox (1879–1921), a Yale
University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
graduate who became a member of L.F. Rothschild & Co. in New York. * Herman Warren Knox (1882–1931), the former secretary of the Texas and Pacific Oil Company. Knox died at his home in New York City on February 9, 1892. He was 63 years old at the time of his death and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington. His widow died in 1922 while she was President of the Women's Board of the Babies Hospital.


Works


''The Surplus and the Public Debt: Address of the Hon. John Jay Knox...at the Annual Convention of the American Bankers' Association at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 12, 1887.''
New York: Bankers' Publishing Association, 1887.
''Interview of John Jay Knox...Before the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the House of Representatives upon the Coinage Act of 1873 and the Silver Question, Saturday, February 21, 1891.''
Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1891.
''United States Notes: A History of the Various Issues of Paper Money by the Government of the United States.''
Revised Third Edition. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1892.
''History of Banking in the United States.''
By late John Jay Knox, assisted by Corps of Financial Writers, Revised and Brought Up to Date by Bradford Rhodes and Elmer H. Youngman, New York: Bradford Rhodes & Company, 1900.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knox, John Jay Jr. 1828 births 1892 deaths American bankers American economics writers American male non-fiction writers Comptrollers of the United States Treasury Hamilton College (New York) alumni Comptrollers in the United States United States comptrollers of the currency New York (state) Republicans People from Augusta, New York Grant administration personnel Hayes administration personnel Arthur administration personnel Burials at Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)