William Fargo
Last updated
Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0
A piece from the San Francisco News Letter and California Advertiser dated August 27, 1881, calls Fargo a pioneer expressman and reports his death at his Buffalo residence on August 4, 1881.[1]
Life and work
In 1840, he married Anna H. Williams of Pompey.[1] On April 1, 1845, Fargo, Henry Wells, and Daniel Dunning organized the Western Express under the name Wells & Co.[1] Fargo managed the business using steamboats and wagons because no railroad facilities existed west of Buffalo.[1] In 1850, three express companies consolidated to form the American Express Company, with Wells as President and Fargo as Secretary.[1]
Fargo was elected President of the American Express Company in 1866 upon Henry Wells's resignation.[1] He also served as a director and vice-president of the New York Central Railroad Company.[1] When Fargo turned 13, he quit his education and began delivering mail for Pompey, the village where he was born.[2] Following a three-year period working for the grocers Roswell and Willett Hinman, Fargo secured a clerical position at Dunford & Co. in Syracuse.[1]
What the cited sources add
The Comstock genealogy records that Fargo's ancestor Jacent "Jason" Fargeau was born in Lyon, France in 1622.[3] According to the San Francisco News Letter and California Advertiser, Fargo served as a director of the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railroad Company and had financial stakes in the Buffalo Coal Company and the McKean and Buffalo Railroad Company.[1] That same News Letter article notes that Fargo owned shares in multiple large manufacturing firms located in Buffalo.[1] The News Letter piece states that during his personal life, Fargo provided substantial, quiet financial support to various charitable and benevolent organizations.[1]
References
- "William G. Fargo", sfmuseum.org. facts only, no text reused. sfmuseum.net
- Wikipedia, "William Fargo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wysocki, "Fargo Estate: Then & Now", wnyheritagepress.org (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "William Fargo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Comstock, "A Comstock genealogy Descendants of William Comstock of New London, Conn., who died after 1662 Ten generations", Knickerbocker Press, 1907, p. 52–56 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article William Fargo (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: William Fargo (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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