John Thompson

Who was John Thompson?

John Thompson was a United States banker, financial publisher, and dealer in bank notes. The son of a Revolutionary War soldier, he was born near Pittsfield, Mass. He worked as a teacher and lottery-ticket dealer in Poughkeepsie, NY before moving to New York City in 1832 to become a dealer in bank notes. He founded "Thompson's Bank Note Reporter," the predecessor to the American Banker newspaper, in 1836. The publication was devoted to "sorting out the good banks and their notes from bad banks and their notes." Together with his sons, Samuel C. Thompson and Frederick Ferris Thompson, he founded First National Bank of the City of New York in 1863; it opened its doors on July 22 of that year. He also founded Chase National Bank in 1877, a predecessor of the Chase Manhattan Bank. He was married to Electa Ferris and summered at The Anchorage in Highland, NY