William George Fargo (20 May 1818-3 August 1881) was Mayor of Buffalo, New York (D) from 1862 to 1866, succeeding Franklin A. Alberger and preceding Chandler J. Wells. Fargo and Henry Wells co-founded the Wells Fargo bank in 1852.
Biography[]
William Fargo was born in Pompey, New York on 20 May 1818, the older brother of Amerrican Express president J.C. Fargo. William Fargo left school at age 13 to become a mail carrier, and he began working with some Syracuse grocers in the winter of 1838. In 1841, he became a freight agent, and he organized the 1845 Western Express, founding American Express in 1850 as an express mail business. In 1852, he co-founded Wells Fargo with Henry Wells, offering banking services such as buying gold and selling paper bank drafts. In 1861, Fargo was elected Mayor of Buffalo as a Democratic Party politician, serving until 1866. Fargo was an anti-secession Democrat and paid a part of the salary of Wells Fargo employees who were drafted into the US Army during the American Civil War, supporting the Union. Fargo died in 1881, and his younger brother J.C. Fargo succeeded him as President of American Express.