JOHN MACGREGOR GRANT, banker, was
born in Cromdale, near Grantown-on-Spey, September 6, 1874, the second son
of William Stewart Grant and Elsie Robertson, and fourth eldest of a
family of eight (five boys and three girls), all living: James Alexander,
a graduate of Aberdeen, Professor in the Royal High School, Edinburgh;
William Robertson, tenant of the farm of Balnaclash, near Grantown; Rev.
Donald MacGregor Grant, B.D., also a graduate of Aberdeen, Minister at
Walkerburn; Joseph Orchard, with the Continental and Commercial Bank,
Chicago; his eldest sister, Annabella, in Nebraska; and two younger
sisters in South Africa, Helen, in Kimberley, and Mary Jane Robertson, in
Johannesburgh.
Mr. Grant studied in the Gromdale
and Achnarrow Public Schools and the Kingussie Preparatory School, and at
seventeen entered the Caledonian Bank of Scotland, Grantown. After three
years’ apprenticeship, he spent part of the following year relieving at
branch offices. Mr. Grant came to America in 1895, and worked for a short
time in the tobacco-factory of his cousins, W. T. Grant, in Louisville,
Ky., before entering the employ of the Merchants Loan & Trust Co.,
Chicago. In 1902, he resigned, as Assistant Manager of the Foreign
Exchange Department, to organize a Foreign Exchange Department for the
American Express Co. In December, 1903, he was transferred to London as
European Financial Manager, and established financial offices of the
American Express Co. throughout Europe. In 1907, he returned to New York,
as First Assistant Treasurer in charge of all the foreign financial
business of the company. In 1915, he was appointed Managing Director of
the Swedish-Russo-Asiatic Co., Inc., of Stockholm, with headquarters in
New York.
Mr. Grant is a tireless and
determined worker. He is a member of the Transportation Club and Bankers
Club of America, New York. His recreations are golf, walking and
horseback-riding. He has written many financial articles, and is an
authority on foreign exchange and foreign banking.
He married, December 13, 1900, Fanny
S. Etheridge, daughter of the late Dr. James Henry Etheridge, Chicago, and
Harriet E. Powers. They have two sons: James Henry Etheridge, born June
17, 1902, and Clinton Furbish, born May 10, 1904. Their home is at
Scarsdale, N. Y. Mr. Grant’s business address is 120 Broadway, New York.
