Exchange Bank of Daniel Ball & Co., $1 Obsolete Scrip, prior to October 1861 - Michigan City, Indiana : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Exchange Bank of Daniel Ball & Co., $1 Obsolete Scrip, prior to October 1861 - Michigan City, Indiana / Shook Photos
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示 2.1 |
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| 説明 | THE Exchange Bank of Daniel Ball & Co.GRANDRAPIDSMICH.THE MICHIGAN CITY AND SOUTH BEND PLANK ROAD CO.Will Pay ONE DOLLARon demand.No. [ink faded] BRowden, Wright, Hatch & Edson, New-York.[ink faded], Sec'Y.Daniel Ball, Pres.Patended 30 June 1857. ONE DOLLAR. American Bank Note Company.Date: Prior to October 1861Source Type: Obsolete ScripPublisher, Printer, Photographer: Rowden, Wright, Hatch & Edson, American Bank Note CompanyPostmark: Not ApplicableCollection: Steven R. ShookRemark: This note is in listed in Wolka et al. (1978), but appears in Wolka (2018) as 1570-03 with a rarity of R7. The rarity scale ranges from R-1 to R-7, with R-7 indicating that between one and five specimens are known to exist.Concerning this scrip, Wolka (2018, p. 536) writes that:"Some sources indicate indirectly that this plank road was chartered in the 1850s and remained in business for a number of years. One can deduce the obvious from the company’s name that this firm’s mission was to construct a wooden plank road from Michigan City to South Bend, a distance of some thirty-five miles.Plank roads suffered from high maintenance costs and rapid deterioration. The road apparently found one way to make sure that the notes issued to help pay expenses did not ‘come home to roost’ too quickly. The notes were initially payable at the Exchange Bank of Daniel Ball & Co. in Grand Rapids, Michigan (see Issuer 1570), some 120 miles away. Should someone come calling to redeem notes in Michigan City, it would be quickly pointed out that the notes were redeemable elsewhere. Around 1862, the plank road company apparently changed its ‘Michigan banking partner’ to Exchange Bank of J.J. Perrin & Co. in Marshall, Michigan, again approximately 120 miles from Michigan City."The plate for the American Bank Note Company notes used for the Exchange Bank of Daniel Ball & Company was altered to accommodate a change to print notes for the H. J. Perrin & Co. The green tint was no longer used and the serial numbers were mechanically added. A stamped ‘We guarantee the pay/ment on demand.’ text was also added.Daniel Ball was a native of Cheshire County, New Hampshire, born July 30, 1808, to John Ball and Nancy (Bradbury) Ball. He married Mary A. Covert and their union resulted in three children: Byron D., Mary E., and Julia E. In 1853, Ball established the Daniel Ball & Company Exchange Bank; this bank went into liquidation in October 1861 due to the failures of unsecured loans to individuals and banks of issue in Illinois and Wisconsin and the mergence of the issuance of a national currency. Thus, this scrip was printed and in circulation prior to October 1861. Daniel Ball died at Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York, on December 30, 1872, at the age of 64 years.An act was approved on February 8, 1851, by the Indiana General Assembly to benefit the Union Plank Road Company and the Michigan City & South Bend Plank Road Company, both located in Michigan City. The act recognized both companies as (1851, p. 461):"…bodies politic and corporate, by their respective names, each of them possessing all the powers of a corporation in perpetuity, and they are fully authorized to do any and all acts which may be necessary to carry out the objects and purposes of said companies…. said companies are authorized and empowered to enter into contracts and agreements with each other for their mutual accommodation whereby the gate keepers of either said roads may receive toll from, and issue tickets to persons desirous of traveling over parts of both roads…."According to a 1909 biographical sketch of Daniel Ball, Ball formed an acquaintance with Chauncy B. Blair, a businessman and banker from Michigan City who had relocated to Chicago to establish the Merchants National Bank. Note that Blair’s brother, Lyman Blair, issued scrip from Michigan City. Prior to 1856, Chauncey B. Blair had purchased the right to issue a form of currency based upon a charter from the State of Indiana for the establishment of the Union Plank Road Company. The Union Plank Road Company was created to construct a plank road between Michigan City and Union City, Randolph County, Indiana, which are separated by a distance of 200 miles.Bills for the Union Plank Road Company totaling an amount between $100,000 to $200,000 were soon in circulation. Observing Blair’s success, Ball decided to embark in a similar enterprise and acquired the stock of The Michigan City and South Bend Railroad Company, with a circulation based upon a charter very similar to Blairs’ Union Plank Road Company. It has been reported (Hollister 1909, p. 55) that “So largely was that form of currency [i.e., Michigan City and South Bend Railroad Company notes] used in this vicinity [Grand Rapid, Michigan] and in this part of Michigan, and so promptly was it redeemed, that it served to drive out many of the other forms of money then in vogue.” So widespread was the circulation of these notes that it was commonly referred to “Ball money” between 1857 and 1860.The commencement of the Civil War, however, brought considerable trouble to issuers of unsecured notes, such as those notes issued by Ball, since the federal government was issuing a more secure form of money. Daniel Ball & Company began to sell assets to pay redemptions on their notes, but the quick collapse of asset values combined with the rapidly increasing circulation of a national currency made an impossibility of this task. Acceptance of a national currency combined with a rapid disuse of unsecured notes became so overwhelming to Ball that he placed all his personal property and the assets of Daniel Ball & Company in the hands of Judge Solomon Lewis Withey on October 4, 1861, to protect it from creditors. At this time, the total circulation of notes associated with the Michigan City and South Bend Plank Road Company amounted to $22,000.It is believed that The Exchange Bank of Horace J. Perrin & Company took control of assets of The Michigan City and South Bend Railroad Company between October 1861 and April 1862, soon after the collapse of the Daniel Ball & Company Exchange Bank. It is known for certain that all unsecured notes in circulation issued by Ball for the plank road had been retired and paid in full by 1863. Hence, Perrin likely issued his own unsecured notes in April 1862 to resurrect The Michigan City and South Bend Plank Road Company.Little is known as to whether this plank road company actually established a road between the communities of Michigan City and South Bend - or even partial segments of a road. Research has yielded little information on this company.Note that Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson of New York, the printers of this scrip note, also designed and printed the first two postage stamps for the United States government 1847 – the five cent Benjamin Franklin stamp and the ten cent George Washington stamp.Source Information:The Detroit Free Press, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan; October 9, 1861; Volume 25, Number 115, Page 4, Column 2. Column titled “Suspension of Daniel Ball & Co.”Hollister, Harvey J. 1909. Daniel Ball as a Banker. Publications of the Historical Society of Grand Rapids 1(4):51-59.Indiana General Assembly. 1851. Local Laws of the State of Indiana, Passed at the Thirty-Fifth Session of the General Assembly. Indianapolis, Indiana: J. P. Chapman. 592 p.Wolka, Wendell. 2018. A History of Indiana Obsolete Bank Notes and Scrip. Sun City Center, Florida: Wendell Wolka. 900 p. [see p. 539]Wolka, Wendell A., Jack M. Vorhies, and Donald A. Schramm. 1978. Indiana Obsolete Notes and Scrip. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications. 306 p. [see p. 171]Copyright 2024. Some rights reserved. The associated text may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Steven R. Shook. |
| 撮影日 | 2024-09-28 22:43:46 |
| 撮影者 | Shook Photos , Moscow, Idaho, USA |
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