Cotton Brokers: Gwathmey & Company

GWATHMEY & CO.

AUG

15

1899

New York

GWATHMEY & CO.

SEP

30

1899

New York

from Bradstreet's, March 11, 1893

from The Commercial & Financial Chronicle, July 4, 1903:

Wood & Havemeyer: Gas, Ferry & Street Railway Security Brokers

 

WOOD & HAVEMEYER,

JUN

29

1899

N. Y.

from Moody's Manual of Railroads, 1909

from Progressive Age, November 15, 1901

The "What time is it?" Cancel: Commercial Stock Company

Neither David Thompson or I can find much on the Commercial Stock Company.  Likely located in Boston, though there is a Water Street in the financial district of New York.  Whatever the case, the cancel is an interesting one, with a time but no date other than the year.  Or am I missing something?

New York Stock Brokers: William Salomon & Company

William Salomon was born in Mobile, Alabama before the Civil War.  He found his way to New York where he would eventually establish a brokerage house with one of Wall Street's best known names.  He began in the brokerage business with Speyer & Company, but would open his own shop in early 1902.

WILLIAM SALOMON & CO.

JUN

13

1902

NEW YORK.

Document fragment for taxes of $2.44.

Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society

 Another David Thompson find.  Norwich Union continues to exist, though now branded as Aviva.

N. U. F. I. S.

APR   17   1901

NEW YORK.

Mystery Fancy Cancel

Looking for answers or clues for the identity of this unique cancel.  Any ideas?  Please write to 1898revenus@gmail.com

Chicago Board of Trade Members: Armour & Company

ARMOUR & CO.

JUL

16

1901

CHICAGO.

Langlois scans

October 5, 1900

July 30, 1898

blue cancel

September 30, 1898

purple cancel

August 28, 1899

green cancel

June 30, 1899

Chicago Board of Trade Members: John Marshall

JOHN MARSHALL,

MAY

22

1900

NEW YORK.

David Thompson scan

Mr. Marshall was CBOT member #6978.  He was in the grain export business and based in New York City according to the list of members of the Chicago Board of Trade from 1900. 

American Brewing Company of New York

American Brewing Co. of N. Y.

NOV

17

1898

Langlois scan

New York and Boston Stock Brokers: Hornblower & Weeks

Advert in US Investor from 1899

Hornblower & Weeks first featured on this site in January 2011.   Narrative content from that post included:

"The investment banking and brokerage firm Hornblower & Weeks was founded by Henry Hornblower and John W. Weeks in 1888.  By the1970s, Hornblower ranked eighth among member firms of the New York Stock Exchange in number of retail offices, with 93 retail sales offices located in the United States and Europe. Hornblower was active in financing automobile companies in the first half of the 20th century, including Dodge Motors, General Motors, and Hudson Motor Car Company. Through mergers and acquisitions the firm would become a part of Loeb, Rhoades, Hornblower & Company.

HORNBLOWER & WEEKS

JAN  14  1902

BOSTON

Langlois scans

HORNBLOWER & WEEKS,

10 Wall St., New York.

Boston Stock Brokers: H. C. Waiwright & Company

Screen capture from H. C. Wainwright home page

H. C. WAINWRIGHT & CO.

MAR

17

1899

BOSTON

Lokos scan

Hays Brothers, Waco, Texas

Hays Bros.

JAN

10

1900

Waco, Texas.

Langlois scan

Hays Brothers, run by Bowden Hays, apparently dealt in real estate.  Bowden Hays' son, Bowden Jr. is reported to have been quite a Klansman, having been arrested with two fellow members of the KKK for tarring and feathering an "undesirable" in Waco. 

Chicago Board of Trade Members: George A. Seaverns Sr. & Jr.

G.  A.  S.

JUL   29   1898

G.  A.  S.

NOV  12  1898

G.  A.  S.

APR  24  1901

The obituary for Louis Seaverns in 1991 tells us something about the work of the George A. Seaverns during the 1898 tax period.  George Sr. was a grain broker along with his son George Jr.  By 1921 George Jr. would start Seaverns & Co. with Louis:

From The Chicago Tribune, June 25, 1991:

Louis Seaverns, 103, a retired stockbroker for Dean Witter Reynolds Inc., worked for the firm until he was 94 years old. He graduated from Harvard University and was in the 1910 class with poet T.S. Eliot, columnist Walter Lippman and John Reed, subject of the movie, ``Reds.``

A longtime resident of Lake Forest, he died Sunday in Lake Bluff Health Center.

His grandfather, George A. Seaverns, had started as a grain broker in Chicago in 1853 by spending $5 to become a member of the Chicago Board of Trade. Mr. Seaverns became a broker in 1913 and he, with his father, George Jr., started the firm of Seaverns & Co. in 1921.

He was successful in the 1920s, but lost heavily in the 1929 stock market crash.  In 1936, he became the treasurer of the Illinois Republican State Central Committee.  He left the brokerage business in the late 1930s and did not return to it until 1960, when he was hired by Dean Witter at age 72.

Survivors include a stepson, James Holliday; a stepdaughter, Winston Dwyer; and a brother, George A. III, 101 years old.

Services for Mr. Seaverns will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Church of the Holy Spirit, Episcopal, 400 E. Westminster Ave., Lake Forest.

Metellus L. C. Funkhouser of Montgomery & Funkhouser

Metellus L. C. Funkhouser, photographed as a Major in the US Army.   As a Captain, Metellus saw action in the Spanish American War.  Montgomery & Funkhouser was a Chicago-based insurance agency.

MONTGOMERY & FUNKHOUSER

SEP

10

1900

CHICAGO

Langlois scan

The retired Major Funkhouser would become involved in Chicago law enforcement. As 2nd Deputy Police Commissioner he would have responsibilities to clean up aspects of organized crime in Chicago.  His status was such that a contract was put out on his life in 1914. 

I can't get over the name Metellus L. C. Funkhouser.

Chicago Board of Trade Members: Nash Wright Company

N. W. Co.

NOV  10  1899

David Thompson scan

Nash Wright members of the CBOT included:

#1135 Charles T. Nash

#2628 William Nash

Nash Wright Co. was a commission trading firm.

Chicago Board of Trade Members: William R. Mumford & Company

William Mumford's firm in Chicago dealt in the pedestrian farm commodities of hay and animal feeds, and apparently provided for a comfortable and successful life for his family.  The nature of his business is a great example of the difference between the type of firms that used vast quantities of 1898 revenue stamps in Chicago versus those in New York City.  New York was the center of American capital and finance, and had large and numerous firms that traded in corporate equities and bonds.  The Chicago Board of Trade, however, was populated by many that were absorbed in the grounded world of the mid-western farm economy.  It is hard to imagine a man like J. P. Morgan even thinking about hay, much more doing business with it like Mr. Mumford.

W. R. M. & CO.

NOV   14  1898

David Thompson scan

W. R. Mumford & Company was listed in the 1900 CBOT annual report as a Grain, Feed and Hay firm.  The staff included the following CBOT members:

#1125 William R. Mumford

#5223 W. O. Mumford

From the February 1923 edition of the trade journal Flour and Feed:

Death has again invaded the ranks of the Chicago Feed Dealer's association and has taken away one of its most honored and highly respected members, William R. Mumford.  Mr. Mumford was one of the founders of the association and was its first secretary, which position he occupied fore several years, and it is due to his earnest work that the association succeeded and is today second to none in the country.

Mr. Mumford was a native of Pennsylvania, born in Wilkes Barre, March 5, 1842.  He came to Chicago about 1865 and at once entered into the hay and grain business and by industry and close attention to business soon established an extensive trade. 

He organized the firm of W. R. Mumford & Company that year and in 1875 became a member of the Chicago Board of Trade and at his death was one of the oldest active members of that organization.  He was an active member of the Chicago Hay Receivers association and served one year as its president.  He was a most genial companion; always met you with a smile and hearty grasp of the hand.  never to busy to speak a pleasant word. 

During the session of the National Hay association held in Chicago two years ago at the banquet given at the Drake hotel, he as referred to by the president of that organization was "the grand old man of the hay trade"...

Chicago Board of Trade Members: Barrett, Farnum & Company

BARRETT, FARNUM & CO.

XXX

XXX

Langlois scans

By December 1900, the list of CBOT members included many Barretts and a Farnum, but also a Barrett, Farnum firm.  It appears the the firm's failure in September 1899 was permanent.  See the NYT article below.

B. F. & Co.

JUL  27  1898

These cancels are from a CBOT lot.  I would like to confirm that they belong to Barrett, Farnum & Company or to Bartlett, Frazier & Company, both CBOT firms in 1898.  If you have an on-document example that can provide the confirmation, please write 1898revenues@gmail.com

*****

The risks in trading in futures is partly reflected in the article below:

From The New York Times, September 22, 1899:

WHEAT PLUNGE CAUSES FAILURE

Influential Firm of Barrett, Farnum & Co. Forced to Suspend.

BEARS DRIVEN TO COVER.

Wall Street Business Lighter and Quieter--The Wheat Flurry--Live Stock Markets Weak.

Chicago, Sept. 21.--The firm of Barrett, Farnum & Co., a wealthy and influential board of trade concern here, failed today. 

The firm had sold heavily short during the past three days, plunging in the expectation that the New York stock panic would result in a break in wheat.  The shortage of the firm is variously estimated at from four to five million bushels of the December option.

It was noticed yesterday that Barrett, Farnum & Company were heavy buyers--the heaviest in the local pit, taking in about a million in an effort to cover.  The price held firm with a strength that puzzled the theorists in vew of the bearish tone of the news.  Again this morning the brokers representing the firm were busy in the pit, but all efforts proved of no avail.

The crash came at 11 o'clock, when the deals went into the clearing house.  Barrett, Farnum & Company in a hastily scrawled notice announced the inability of the firm to fulfill its contracts.  Then the scene took on the tone of a panic...

Meanwhile, Mssrs. Barrett, Farnum & Company had closed their doors.  James Walker, manager of the concern, when seen, declared that he was as much surprised as any one at the suspension, and gave as his opinion that the firm would be able to resume business inasmuch as the subsiding of the panic had left wheat fluctuating narrowly.

Chicago Board of Trade Members: Montague & Company

MONTAGUE & COMPANY,

JUL

11

1900

CHICAGO

Langlois scan

By the end of 1900, Gilbert Montague, CBOT Member #3755, was listed as deceased in the CBOT annual report.  George Carhart, #6025, was the company President by this time.  Montague & Company were commission traders on the CBOT.

From The Book of Chicagoans, 1905:

George Tappen Carhart: President. Montague & Co., commission merchants; b. Chicago, Oct. 17, 1871; s. Richard L. and Lucinda A. (Smith) Carhart; ed. public schools; m. Chicago, Sept. 19, 1894, Susie P. Page; 1 daughter: Dorothy Murray. After leaving school in 1888, entered employ of Montague & Co., commission flour, grain, millstuffs, etc., as office boy, and has continued in the same house ever since; incorporated, 1896, and has since been President. Republican. Mason. Office: 6 Sherman St. Residence:
Waukegan, 111.

Chicago Board of Trade Members: C. DePeyster Berry

C. D. Berry memorandum of sale for 5 units of something I can't decipher for September delivery

David Thompson scans

C. DePeyster Berry was member #5562 of the Chicago Board of Trade.  He was a commission trader.

Chicago Board of Trade Members: Philip Benz & Company

P. B. & Co.

AUG  10  1898

Langlois scan

This stamp was in a packet in which all the stamps with readily identifiable cancels were made by members and firms of the Chicago Board of Trade.  Making the assumption that this stamp too was soaked from a CBOT contract or sale memorandum, the one firm in the membership list of 1900 that fits this initial pattern is that of Philip Benz & Company. 

The commission firm of Philip Benz & Company had two members of the CBOT with the last name Benz:

CBOT #114 Philip Benz

CBOT #5774 Emil P. Benz

Philip Benz had a very low member number and must have been one of the CBOT's earliest members.