Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Benjamin Pierce Cheney was an American businessman, and a founder of the firm that became American Express. The surname is pronounced / t i ni/ chee-nee. Cheney was born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire on August 12, 1815, to Jesse and Alice Cheney. The family were descended from John Cheney, who was recorded in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1635, moving the following year to Newbury, Massachusetts. John Cheney's brother, William, recorded in Roxbury by 1640, was an ancestor of former Vice President Dick Cheney.