Charles Milford Bergstresser (June 25, 1858 – September 20, 1923) was an American journalist[1] and, with Charles Dow and Edward Jones, one of the founders of Dow Jones & Company at 15 Wall Street in 1882.
A native of Berrysburg, Pennsylvania, Bergstresser was born on June 25, 1858.[2] Bergstresser graduated from Lafayette College, where he took a scientific course and Latin, in 1881.[2] After graduation, he took a job with the Kiernan News Agency, but he was not satisfied with his employment, particularly when the Agency refused to give equity interest in a stylus that he had invented which would allow information to be inscribed in 35 bulletins at once.[3] Dow and Jones were co-workers there, and Bergstresser convinced the pair to join him in departing from Kiernan to form their own company in November 1882.[3][4]
Although he was the chief financier of the fledgling company,[4] Bergstresser chose to be a silent partner of Dow and Jones, using money he had saved while in college to fund their company.[citation needed] He worked for the new company, which was located in the basement of 15 Wall Street, near the New York Stock Exchange,[5] as a reporter.[6] It was he who came up with the name The Wall Street Journal.[4]
He retired as a journalist in 1903.[7] He died on Thursday, September 20, 1923,[8] survived by his daughter Mrs. Ethel B. Stewart McCoy.[9][10]
Shortly after Ms. McCoy died in 1980 at the age of 87