George Washington Riggs

George Washington Riggs (July 4, 1813 – August 24, 1881) was an American businessman and banker. He was known as "The President's Banker."

Riggs was born in Georgetown, D.C. (now part of Washington), the son of Elisha Riggs and Alice Lawrason. His great-grandfather was John Riggs, who was mentioned in a will in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, as early as 1716. George was brought up in Baltimore, to which his father removed after he took George Peabody into partnership and established the firm of Riggs & Peabody there. He went to the Round Hill School kept by George Bancroft and Joseph Green Cogswell at Northampton, Massachusetts, and entered Yale College in 1829, but left some time in his junior year. He traveled abroad, and, returning to America, worked for his father in the mercantile firm of Riggs, Taylor & Company in New York City.

On June 23, 1840, he was married to Janet Madeleine Cecilia Shedden, the daughter of Thomas Shedden of Glasgow, Scotland. They had nine children, among them the Catholic priest T. Lawrason Riggs. The same year William W. Corcoran took him into partnership in the banking firm of Corcoran & Riggs at Washington, D.C. The firm was immediately successful; it was able to obtain a major share of the loans required by the federal government, acquired a reputation in financing the Mexican-American War, and made large profits. In 1848 he gave up his connection with the firm, to which, however, his younger half-brother Elisha succeeded so that the firm name remained the same. When Corcoran retired in 1854, Riggs bought his interest. Under the firm name of Riggs & Company (since 1896 Riggs Bank), he directed the business until his death.

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