JAY COOKE - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 02/27/1900 - HFSID 81312

JAY COOKE
The American financier pens a letter in regards to Miss Bennett steppig down due to illness from the Ogontz School
Autograph Letter Signed: "Jay Cooke", 3p, 5¼x6¾, front and verso. Gildon, 1900 February 27. To Miss Bennett. In full: "I received only today your sad circular to your 'Pupils & Patrons' of Ogontz & altho on my return from a visit to my son in Ohio I heard that you had thus addressed them. I had not been shown the circular. I need not assure you that I fully sympathize with you knowing how your heart mind & conscience were all engaged in the grand work you so successfully accomplished for so many long years. I understand from Mr. Butler, (as I have had no direct communication with any one) that the school is to be perpetuated through the intervention of others. I am glad to know this & shall do all I can to aid Miss Eastman and her friends in continuing this grand work, which I feel assured will be carrying out your earnest wishes. Under your splendid auspices during the last 17 years the fame of Ogontz has far outstripped that of any school-I think-in the world - & such foundations should be occupied & blessed for many years to come. All of which I trust will be a source of comfort & pleasure to the one whose great labors & universally admitted talents have been instrumental in thus establishing so fair & useful an Institution. I hope to see you at some early date & in the interim, shall pray for your happiness & restoration to health." Financier Jay Cooke marketed government bonds for financing the Civil War, raising over $2,000,000 in 1861, following the battle of Bull Run. He served as fiscal agent for the U.S. Treasury (1862-1864, 1865) and after the war, financed the construction of western railroads. His business, Jay Cooke & Co., failed in the financial crisis of 1873, but Cooke recouped his fortune in silver mining in 1878 and 1879. Cooke was 79 when he wrote this letter to Miss Bennett, who apparently had to step down from a position at The Ogontz School due to ill health. The Ogontz School, located fifteen miles north of Philadelphia, where Cooke resided, was an elite finishing school for young women. In 1950, the facility, on 45 acres, was given to Penn State by its owner, Abby A. Sutherland. The Ogontz Campus then became Penn State Abington.American financier Cooke (1821-1905) marketed government bonds for financing the Civil War, raising over $2,000,000 following the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. He served as fiscal agent for the U.S. Treasury (1862-1864, 1865) and after the war, financed the construction of western railroads. Problems in building the Northern Pacific Railroad (the second transcontinental railroad) and the financial crisis of 1873 forced Cooke to close his business Jay Cooke & Co. He later recouped his fortune with silver mines in Utah in 1878 and 1879 and investments in real estate in the West. Fine condition.