James Jewett Stillman (June 9, 1850 – March 15, 1918) was an American businessman who invested in land, banking, and railroads in New York, Texas, and Mexico. He was chairman of the board of directors of the National City Bank. He forged alliances with the Rockefeller family, Standard Oil and Kuhn, Loeb & Co. to lay a foundation that made it, arguably, "the greatest bank in the Western Hemisphere." He engaged in an expansion policy that made National City the largest bank in the United States by 1894, the first to open foreign branches, and a leader in foreign exchange. By 1902, the bank was able to pay any sum of money to any city in the world within 24 hours. He was worth approximately $77 million at the time of his death, making him one of the wealthiest people in the country at the time. Biography Stillman was born on June 9, 1850, to Charles Stillman (1810–1875) and Elizabeth Pamela Goodrich in Brownsville, Texas, a town founded by his father. Both of his parents were born in Wethersfield, Connecticut. Charles Stillman had significant business interests which James acquired in 1872. He expanded those to control of sixteen Texas banks and a significant land holdings in the Rio Grande Valley, particularly Corpus Christi and Kerrville, Texas. Stillman was an investor in a Fractional Warrant of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Along with Edward Henry Harriman, Jacob Henry Schiff and William Rockefeller, he controlled the most important Texas railroads (including the Texas and Pacific Railway, the Southern Pacific Railroad, the International-Great Northern Railroad, the Union Pacific Southern Railway, the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway, and the Mexican National Railroad). In 1876, Stillman supported Porfirio Díaz's overthrow of the government of Mexico by the Revolution of Tuxtepec. He was chairman of the board of directors of the National City Bank and retired in 1908. He died on March 15, 1918, at his home on 9 East 72nd Street in Manhattan, New York. His funeral was at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York. Personal life & family James Stillman was married to Sarah Elizabeth Rumrill from 1855 to 1925. Together they had: Sarah Elizabeth "Elsie" Stillman (1872–1935), who married William Goodsell Rockefeller (1870–1922), a son of Standard Oil senior executive William Rockefeller James Alexander Stillman (1873–1944), who married Anne Urquhart Potter. He also served as president of National City Bank of New