John Pomeroy Townsend was an American financier of the Gilded Age

Gilded Age

In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...

. He proudly claimed descent from "old Puritan stock", tracing his ancestry to a Thomas Townsend who settled at Lynn, Massachusetts

Lynn, Massachusetts

Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...

 in 1637.

Business career

Townsend began his business career in New York City in 1850. He became Second Vice-President of the Bowery Savings Bank

Bowery Savings Bank

The Bowery Savings Bank of New York City was chartered in May 1834 and is now part of Capital One Bank.-History:Opened in 1834 on the Bowery in NYC. By 1980 it had over 35 branches located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties. When bank deregulation was enacted the bank...

 from 1875 to 1883, First Vice-President from 1883 to 1894, and President from 1894 to his death in 1898; he was also President of the Maritime Exchange from 1883 to 1888, Treasurer of the New York Produce Exchange in 1887, a member of the Chamber of Commerce

Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York

The New York Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1768 by twenty New York City merchants, was the first commercial organization of its kind in the country. Attracting the participation of a number of New York's most influential business leaders, such as John Jacob Astor, Peter Cooper, and J...

, and from 1889 President of the Knickerbocker Trust Company

Knickerbocker Trust Company

The Knickerbocker Trust, chartered in 1884 by Frederick G. Eldridge, a friend and classmate of financier J.P. Morgan, figured at one time among the largest banks in the United States and a central player in the Panic of 1907. As a trust company, its main business was serving as trustee for...

. Other positions included president of the Municipal Gas-Light Company of Rochester; director of the Long Island Railroad Company; and secretary and manager of the Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled

Hospital for Special Surgery

Hospital for Special Surgery is a hospital in New York City that specializes in orthopedic surgery and the treatment of rheumatologic conditions....

.

Writings

Townsend was also a writer on economic matters, his publications including the chapters on U.S. Savings Banks in volume 2 of A History of Banking in all the Leading Nations

A History of Banking in all the Leading Nations

A History of Banking in all the Leading Nations, first published in 1896 by The Journal of Commerce, is a four-volume history of banking in North America, Europe, China and Japan. At the time of publication it was described as "the largest and most expensive treatise on banking yet published"...

(1896), as well as writings on the Free Silver

Free Silver

Free Silver was an important United States political policy issue in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Its advocates were in favor of an inflationary monetary policy using the "free coinage of silver" as opposed to the less inflationary Gold Standard; its supporters were called...

 controversy.

Death

On 10 September 1898, Townsend died suddenly of a heart attack shortly after dinner at his summer house in Tarrytown, New York

Tarrytown, New York

Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line...

.