Aaron Burr
Background
Aaron Burr was one of the political figures who led the effort to secure the 1799 New York charter for the Manhattan Company, the oldest institution in JPMorgan Chase's corporate family tree. The company was publicly organized to supply clean water to New York City, but Burr inserted language permitting directors to employ surplus capital in any lawful enterprise. That provision allowed the directors to open the Bank of the Manhattan Company within six months. Burr's role therefore belongs to the Chase side of the lineage rather than to a single company continuously known as JPMorgan Chase. The official corporate history treats the Manhattan Company as a predecessor, and the present firm uses 1799 as its founding year. Burr's importance is institutional: he helped create a durable banking charter that survived changes of name, ownership, and structure before the Bank of the Manhattan Company joined Chase National Bank in 1955. Calling him a predecessor founder preserves that distinction and avoids implying that he founded the modern holding company formed through much later combinations.