Jay Gould Biography
(American Railroad Executive, Financier, and Speculator)
Birthday: May 27, 1836 (Gemini)
Born In: Roxbury, New York, United States
Updated On : December 06, 2022Jason “Jay” Gould, known as one of the ruthless “robber barons” of the nineteenth century American capitalism, was a famed railroad developer, financier and speculator. Starting his career as a surveyor in the state of New York, he did not take long to become the deadliest speculator and the largest railroad developer of his time. In between, he had owned and lost a tannery, dealt in lumber, used banks to finance his speculations and bribed legislatures and judges to legalize his illegal dealings. Born to a farmer in the state of New York, he knew from his childhood that he did not want to become a farmer. To make his dream come true, he left school without graduating and from the age of sixteen started working during daytime and studying at night. As a teenager he started his surveying business and a few years later he convinced an established businessman to take him as a partner in his new tannery business and then convinced a leather merchant to loan him money so that they could take it over. He first started buying stocks during the Panic of 1857 and slowly began to takeover railroad companies by shrewdly manipulating them and thus amassed a huge fortune.