Republic of Money: George Fisher Baker

[Hannah Bell]

George Fisher Baker (1840-1931), financier, co-founder of the First National Bank of New York, which merged with the Astor/Stillman Rockefeller-dominated National City Bank in 1955 to become First National City Bank, then Citicorp.

He was often found supporting JP Morgan's business moves, & was a director & holder of controlling interest in dozens of corporations during his career; for example, he was the largest stockholder in AT&T in the 20s.

Baker was also the original donor for the Harvard Business School, & died a multi-millionaire.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,718210,00.html

Most people probably haven't heard of him, but his relatives are still on the scene.

Baker's sister Elizabeth married Grant Barney Schley, financier.

Schley's business interests included Chase Bank (later the Rockefellers' Chase-Manhattan, now JPMorgan-Chase) & his associates included Oliver Hazard Payne, Standard Oil partner, & Thomas Fortune Ryan, tobacco & transport magnate.

Ryan's grandson would later marry one of George F. Baker's great-grandchildren:

George F. Baker + Florence Tucker Baker = Evelyn Baker
+ Sir Howard Bligh St. George, 9th baronet = George Baker Bligh St George
+ Katherine Delano Price Collier, US Representative & 1st cousin of FDR = Miss St. George
+ (1) Alan Ryan (grandson of Thomas, financier & chief of Stutz-Bearcat - bankrupted trying to cover shorts)
+ (2) Angier Biddle Duke, Duke Tobacco (a family associated with the Ryan tobacco empire).

Alan Ryan's first wife was Janet Newbold (publishing heiress). She divorced him & for her third husband chose James S. Bush, brother of Prescott Bush.

Grant Schley's nephew Reeve Schley married Kate Prentice. Their grandchild = Christy Todd Whitman.
Kate Prentice's second cousin Ezra married JD Rockefeller's daughter Alta.

George F. Baker's son George F. Jr. married Miss Breevort Kane. Their son GF III married a Drexel-Munn, descendant of the Drexel banking house that was one of JP Morgan's original partnerships (Drexel-Morgan).

Incidentally, Angier Biddle Duke's mom Cornelia was the great-granddaughter of one of the Drexel founders, as well as the second-great-grandchild of Nick Biddle, founder of the Second Bank of the US (precursor of Federal Reserve).

GF Baker's daughter Flo married Thomas Suffern Tailer, whose mom was grandchild of one of the original Brown Brothers (as in Brown Bros Harriman).

He remarried to a Sturgis (Russell Trust/China Trade Family). Their child married a Gimbels' heir.

GF Baker's daughter Edith married John Schiff, son of Kuhn-Loeb financier Jacob Schiff.

Kuhn-Loeb teamed with Morgan to back James J Hill in acquiring the Northern Pacific RR in the 1890s, then backed EH Harriman & the Rockefellers in a fight for control of NP in 1901.

The fight was titanic, nearly caused a financial panic, & ended with a detente cordiale between the parties & the formation of Northern Securities:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Securities_Company

John Schiff's great aunt Nina & aunt Freida married into the Warburg banking family (e.g. Nina's husband = Paul Warburg, promoter of the Federal Reserve, & Freida's = financier Felix, whose granddaughter married FDR's son Franklin Jr.)

Bringing us into the present, John M. Schiff & Edith Baker's grandson recently married Al Gore's daughter.

Money casts long shadows...

[Hannah Bell]

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