Banker/Public Servant
Centurion, 1886–1892
Born 19 March 1828 in Knoxboro, New York
Died 9 February 1892 in New York (Manhattan), New York
Buried Oak Hill Cemetery
, Washington, District of Columbia
Proposed by Abram S. Hewitt and William H. Fuller
Elected 6 March 1886 at age fifty-seven
Century Memorial
John Jay Knox was for seventeen years Comptroller of the Currency of the United States, having been Deputy Comptroller previously from the time of the passage of the Currency Act; since 1884 he had been President of the National Bank of the Republic in this city. He was a voluminous writer on financial subjects, and his reports as Comptroller are part of the literature of finance. The vast national banking system, which is now recognized as being so fine and sound, owed to him much that is best and strongest in its constitution and administration. He was not only a practical banker, he was familiar with the science, not only what are the safe and wise methods, but what are the sound and enduring principles, and why they are authoritative. He was always ready to use his influence for the promotion of the public good, and was untiring in his labors to create an active and efficient public opinion on the side of honest money.
Henry E. Howland
1893 Century Association Yearbook
