Description:

William Fargo
New York, NY, June 30, 1869
Wm Fargo Signed Beautifully Engraved Early American Express Stock Certificate
Partially printed DS
WILLIAM G. FARGO, Partially Printed Document Signed, Certificate for 5 shares of stock in American Merchants Union Express Company for William Brownell, signed by company president William Fargo, June 30, 1869, New York, NY. Also signed by J. N. Knapp as Secretary and E. P. Ross as Treasurer. Includes elaborate engraving of ships, railroad, and cargo wagon in a dock setting. 2 pp., 12" x 9". Canceled on July 10, 1876; light toning on edges; very good.

Excerpt
"This Certifies Wm Brownell of Bloomington, Ill is entitled to Five Shares in the American Merchants Union Express Company organized under Articles of Association and Agreement dated November 25th 1868...."

William G. Fargo (1818-1881) was born in New York, the eldest of twelve children, and left school at age thirteen to deliver the mail to support his family. He held a variety of jobs before becoming a freight agent for a railroad in 1841. In April 1845, along with Henry Wells and Daniel Dunning, Fargo organized the Western Express to deliver mail and packages along a line from Buffalo to Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Chicago, using railroads, steamboats, and wagons. A few months later, Dunning withdrew from the company, and in 1846, Henry Wells sold out his interest to William A. Livingston. In 1850, the companies owned by Wells; Fargo and Livingston; and John Warren Butterfield consolidated to form the American Express Company, with Wells as president and Fargo as secretary. After two years of intense competition, the American Express Company and the Merchants Union Express Company merged in November 1868, and Fargo became the president of the American Merchants Union Express Company, a position he held until his death, when his younger brother J. C. Fargo became president until 1914. The company became the American Express Company in 1873. In 1852, Henry Wells and William Fargo created Wells Fargo & Co. to facilitate express business between New York and San Francisco via the isthmus of Panama. This company offered banking services and express services. A lifelong Democrat who opposed secession, Fargo served as the mayor of Buffalo from 1862 to 1866 and supported the Union cause.

American Merchants Union Express Company (1868-1873) was organized in November 1868 through the merger of the American Express Company and the Merchants Union Express Company after two years of intense competition. William G. Fargo served as the merged company's first president, while Merchants Union President Elmore P. Ross served as treasurer, and Merchants Union Secretary John N. Knapp continued as secretary of the new company. Fargo remained president until his death in 1881, when his younger brother James Congdell Fargo (1829-1915) succeeded him as president for the next 33 years. In 1873, the company shortened its name to the American Express Company.

William J. Brownell (1835-aft. 1915) was born in Hartwick, New York. In the 1860s, he moved to Bloomington, Illinois, with Elisha B. Steere, who conducted a large dry goods store. By 1880, Brownell selling boots and shoes and boarded with Steere, who had served as the mayor of Bloomington. In 1882, Brownell married Carrie G. Dalton (1860-1905) of Ohio in Bloomington. By 1900, they lived in Chicago, where Brownell operated a shoe store on State Street. In 1904, Brownell returned to Hartwick, where he lived with his only surviving sister.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 12" x 9.5"
  • Medium: Partially printed DS

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