Ashbel Holmes Barney (September 2, 1816 – December 27, 1886) was an American banker and expressman who served as president of Wells Fargo & Company in 1869-1870. Early life Barney was born on September 2, 1816 at Adams, New York in Jefferson County. He was a younger son of John Barney and Sarah (née Grow) Barney. His father was a farmer in Jefferson County, New York, when Ashbel and his older brother Danford were born. He was a descendant of Jacob Barney of Bradenham, Buckinghamshire, England, who settled at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1630. Educated at Belleville Academy in his native county before going to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1842 with his brother Danford where they engaged in business as forwarding and commission merchants under the name Danford N. Barney & Company. Career Barney remained in Cleveland when his brother Danford moved to Buffalo, New York, in 1849 and was elected to succeed Edwin Barber Morgan as president of Wells Fargo & Company in 1853, serving until 1866. Morgan had resigned the presidency upon his election to the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1857, Ashbel moved to New York City, where Danford had located the previous year. On November 17, 1859, Ashbel Barney was elected a director of Wells Fargo & Company in place of James McKay, who had resigned. Barney served as a director of the New York Elevated Railroad (founded by his brother and under the presidency of Cyrus West Field), and served as president, at various times, of Wells Fargo, the United States Express Company, and the Northern Pacific Railroad. He was vice president of Wells Fargo from the beginning of 1867 until 1869 when he succeeded Louis McLane as president. During his presidency, Lloyd Tevis acquired a controlling interest in Wells Fargo. Barney stepped down as president of Wells Fargo in 1870 and was succeeded by William G. Fargo that year and by Tevis in 1872. Later life After Frederick Billings was forced to resign the presidency of Northern Pacific Railroad on June 9, 1881, Barney was chosen to briefly serve as interim caretaker of the railroad from June 19 to September 15, when Henry Villard was elected president by the stockholders and Barney was elected a director. After 1881, Barney was practically retired from business. He retired from the board of directors of Wells Fargo & Company in 1883 with Colonel Charles Frederick Crocker elected in his