Thursday, March 21, 2013

Southern Railroads: Arkansas Lines

Little Rock & Memphis Railroad


L. R. & M. R. R.
JAN  19  1899



Hot Springs Railroad Company


Hot Springs R. R. Co.
MAR
24
1900



Eureka Springs Railroad Company


EUREKA SPRINGS RY. CO.
W. SXXXX
SEP
28
1898
CASHR & AUD
EUREKA SPRINGS, ARK.



Southern Missouri & Arkansas Railway


S M + A
Ry  5/31/99 & 6/24/99

manuscript cancels

 

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Southern Railroads: South Eastern Line


SOUTH EASTERN LINE
JAN    30    1899
ATLANTA,  GA.



S.  E.  L.
MAY
30
1899
ATLANTA,   GA.


Southern Railroads: Express Coal Line


EXPRESS COAL LINE.
SEP   30   1898
ATLANTA,  GA.




E.  C.  L.
AUG
29
1899
ATLANTA,  GA.


Monday, March 18, 2013

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Another $3 R183 On-Document Usage

We're pleased to welcome a new contributor to 1898 Revenues.  Reader Charley Kemp has answered our census call by reporting another on-document usage of R183, the $3 Lake Commerce issue of 1900.    

As noted in our prior blog about usages of R183, I had been looking for one on document for more than 35 years.   Now our census count for R183 is up to three!

Notarized Signature Certification Page from a
Property Conveyance in Mobile County, Alabama
December 8, 1900
Charley Kemp scan
 
Regrettably, the conveyance itself is gone so we don't know exactly what property was conveyed, although it presumably was located in Mobile County, Alabama.  It is interesting to note that there were two separate notarized certifications for this conveyance.   First the standard affirmation by the sellers, in this case Frank P. and Mary Alice Andrews, that they understand the contents of the then attached conveyance and had voluntarily signed it. 
 
Then, below the stamps, there is what I take to be a separate notarized renunciation of dower statement by Mary Alice that reads
 
     "I Clara M. Stokes, a Notary Public in and for said State and County, do hereby certify that on the 8th day of December, 1900, came before me the within named Mary Alice Andrews, known to me to be the wife of the within named Frank P. Andrews, who, being examined separate and apart from from the husband touching her signature to the within deed, acknowledged that she signed the same of her own free will and accord, and without fear, constraints or threats on the part of the husband." 
 
      "In witness thereof , I hereto set my hand this 8th day of December, 1900."
Signed Clara M. Stokes  
Notary Public, Mobile County, Ala.
 
detail of stamps and pencancel:
Dec 8 / 1900
F P & M A A
Charley Kemp scan
 
 
That four dollars in tax are attached, an R184 $1 gray overprint Commerce Issue in additon to the $3 Lake Commerce stamp, suggests a property value of more than $3,500 up to $4,000.

Frank P(aul) Andrews, was born in St. Augustine Florida January 26, 1841.  The 1860 census shows him living in a boarding house in Paducah, Kentucky, occupation, day laborer with an "estate" valued at $200.  From that rather humble start he progressed through a number of jobs and by 1884 was listed as a grain dealer, F. P. Andrews & Company in Mobile, Alabama.  He must have become rather substantial because the 1912 directory shows him as the Commissioner of Revenue and Roads for Mobile County.  Andrews also was a Confederate veteran.  The Alabama census of Confederate soldiers lists him as enlisting as a private into Company B of the 1st Kentucky Infantry Battalion around May 1861.  He spent four years in the service being discharged May 10, 1865 in Columbus, Mississippi. He moved to Mobile in 1869 and died there in 1913.    

Thanks, Charley, for submitting this nice usage.  Charley also sent along a list of some other interesting 1898 era taxed documents, so we can look forward to seeing more from his collection in future blogs.      

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Gilbert M. Speir

Regulars have likely noticed the lack of posts or more substantive posts over the past week or so.  The last two posted entries I have now taken down as they went up in error.  I have been on a 16 hour a day pace for about the last 10 days and have not had a literal minute to get to the web site.  So sorry about the lack of new material.  

As some of you know, I live and work in Kenya, where national elections were held on March 4, and the announcement of a putative winner was made yesterday.  Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of the first president of Kenya, won a first round victory on the strength of 50.07 margin.  However, there were more than 100,000 votes in dispute at the time of the announcement, and legal challenges are beginning at the Supreme Court in Nairobi, especially since the .07 is on the strength of only 8000 votes  For the international community, the drama is increased by the fact that Kenyatta is now under indictment for Crimes Against Humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for organizing violence during the last elections in 2007.  

As for today''s entry, I don't know much about Gilbert Speir save for that he adjudicated and oversaw legal property transactions.  But the piece is cool, with the 1, 5 and $10 stamps.



G. M. SPEIR,
JUN
7
1901
62 WALL ST. N.Y.

Langlois scans