John Austin Stevens (banker)
John Austin Stevens, Sr. (22 January 1795 in New York City – 19 October 1874 in New York City) was a banker.
Biography
He was a son of American Revolutionary War soldier and merchant Ebenezer Stevens. He graduated from Yale in 1813, entered mercantile life, and became a partner in his father's business in 1818. He was for many years secretary of the New York Chamber of Commerce, and one of the organizers and the first president of the Merchants' Exchange. From its first establishment in 1839 until 1866, he was president of the Bank of Commerce. He was a Whig in politics, but an earnest advocate of low tariffs.
He was chairman of the committee of bankers of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia which first met in August 1861, and decided to take $50,000,000 of the government 7.30 loan. They subsequently advanced $100,000,000 more, and the terms of the transactions were arranged chiefly by Stevens, as the head of the treasury note committee. His advice was frequently sought by the officers of the United States Department of the Treasury during the American Civil War. He was many years governor of the New York Hospital, and took an interest in other benevolent institutions.
Family
He was the father of historian John Austin Stevens.
Notes
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John, eds. (1900). "Stevens, Ebenezer". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.