Silsbee, Baker & Geer, Insurance

SILSBEE, BAKER & GEER,

MAR

20

1901

LYNN, MASS.

Langlois scan

From The Register of the Lynn Historical Society, 1915:

Frederick Elisha Baker, the son of Ezra and Jennie (Dexter) Baker was born in Lynn, July 13, 1853, and died in Windham, N. H., July 1, 1915. 

After a course in the public schools of Lynn he entered Wilbraham Academy.  During most of his life he made his home in his native city, though he resided for a time in Somerset, Mass., and in Windham, New Hampshire.

Mr. Baker was widely and most favorably known from his connection with the real estate and insurance business and his sound judgment on all matters pertaining to this business was generally recognized. For many years he was associated with his father as Ezra Baker & Son ; then as Baker, Marshman & Baker; but, upon the death of his father, the firm became merged into the company of Silsbee, Baker & Geer; later as Silsbee, Baker, Geer & Ingalls, which became by far the strongest of its kind in Lynn.

Ely Lumber Company

ELY LUMBER CO.

NOV  17  1899

Holyoke, Mass.

David Thompson scan and highlight

Waxed Paper: Erie Railroad Bill of Lading

As we head towards the holidy season, candy companies are also entering one of their biggest seasons.  In addition to making the candy, the firms also need to worry about packaging.  Over 110 years ago, Rochester Candy Works ordered a lot of waxed paper from The Hammerschlag Manufacturing Company in Garfield, New Jersey, which shipped the lot by rail via the Erie Railroad to Rochester, N. Y. 

ERIE

APR

RR.     19    CO.

1901

GARFIELD,

N.J.

Langlois scan

The Erie RR cancel above takes the diamond form of the Erie RR logo:

International Pulp Company

INTERNATIONAL PULP. CO.

JUN

14

1899

INTERNATIONAL PULP CO.

FEB

27

1900

Langlois scans

International Pulp was first featured on this site back in June 2012.  International Pulp, like many forest products firms, also engaged in other industries that took advantage of their large land holdings.  In this way Internatinoal Pulp became an asbestos firm. 

International Paper Company

International Paper's +50 year old brand logo designed in the early 1960s by Lester Beall.  Organized in 1898 of of sixty smaller paper firms, the company continues today as the largest paper and pulp company in the world.  The company is based in Memphis, Tennessee.

INTERNATIONAL PAPER CO.

SEP

17 & 20

1898

NEW YORK.

Langlois scan

Phoenix Paper Manufacturing Company Promissory Note

PHOENIX PAPER MFG CO

Seven 2c stamps placed "tapeworm" style on a promissory note

Seven 2c documentary stamps for a total of 14 cents were used to pay the taxes on this $620 promissory note. 

Very little shows up in the historical record I have access to regarding the Phoenix Paper Manufacturing Company.

New York Stock Brokers: Jacob Kirkner

J. KIRKNER

JAN

9

1902

NEW YORK.

David Thompson scan & highlight

Jacob Kirkner was a member of the New York Stock Exchange and the New York Produce Exchange.

The New York Times, December 15, 1909:

Samuel Simpson & Company

SAMUEL SIMPSON & CO.

1

AUG

1899

PHILADELPHIA.

David Thompson scan & hightlight

There is little history available to me on Mr. Simpson and his company, save for the report of a legal case between owners of the firm Samuel Simpson & Company in the 1901 Pennsylvania State Reports.

Samuel Simpson & Company was reported to be in the business of importing and selling goat skins and other merchandise at 429 North Third Street in Philadelphia. 

Due to legal issues in a firm in which a J. Harry Lyons was involved, he could not become a partner in a new firm.  Samuel Simpson & Company was established when the mother of J. Harry Lyons, Elizabeth J. Lyons, established a firm with Mr. Samuel Simpson in which J. Harry Lyons would be employed with a salary. 

The firm Samuel Simpson & Company would be reasonably successful, but with the end of the partnership in March 1899, Mr. Simpson treated Mr. Lyons as his true partner and refused to open the books of the firm to Elizabeth Lyons.  Hence the court case ensued.

By the date of this cancel in August 1899 it is clear that some aspects of the firms operation were still underway after March 1899. 

F. DeHass Simonson

Front page advertisement

The Newtown Register, May 16, 1911

F. DeHASS SIMONSON

APR

12

1900

ELMHURST, N.Y.

Langlois scan

American Telephone and Telegraph Company

AMERICAN TELEPHONE

DEC

19

1899

& TELEGRAPH CO.

XXX Other ATT scans here?

Corporate structure

July 1, 1898, First Day of the Tax Period

Farm. & Mec. Nat. Bk

JUL     1     1898

Georgetown,  D. C.

Langlois scan

Check of the Farmers & Mechanics National Bank of Georgetown, District of Columbia from Joseph B. Bailey dated July 1, 1898, the first day of the Spanish-American War tax period. 

Completed in 1922 in the heart of Georgetown at the corner of M Street and Wisconsin Avenue, this neoclassical building was once the home of the Farmers & Mechanics National Bank.  It became a branch of the Riggs Bank for years, and is now a branch for PNC Bank. 

*****

The user of this check, Joseph B. Bailey, was a dry goods merchant in Washington.  ArlingtonCemetary.net provides a few details about Mr. Bailey:

"Joseph B. Bailey was born in 1848 at Heathsville,Northumberland County,Virginia. He entered service at Richmond on November 23,1864 and served under Captain William Dement, Company D, 1st Maryland, Light Artillery. In the Battle of Dutch Gap and Drewry's Bluff on the James River, he was taken prisoner of war. Paroled at Appomattox on April 9,1865 and Oath of Armesty taken May 29th,1865.  After the war, he was a dry goods merchant in Washington, D.C. and the father of Ralph B.Bailey. Lived at 413 6th Street,Washington, D.C. SW and was a Member of Camp# 171,Confederate Veterans.

124th Anniversary of the Johnstown Flood

PENNA R. R. CO.

JOHNSTOWN

DEC   3   1898

STATION.

Langlois scan

May 31, 1889: 

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. 

New York Stock Brokers: Stout & Company

STOUT & CO.

MAR

27

1901

David Thompson scan

The day rotor on the cancel has transfered the 6 from 26 and the 2 from 28, so that 6 and 2 sandwich 27. 

New York Stock Brokers: Sutro, Scholle & Company

New York Times, December 9, 1898

Sutro, Scholle & Co.

SEP    21    1898

David Thompson scans

Soon after the canceling of the stamp above, and not too far into the 1898 tax period, Mr. Scholle left the firm Sutro, Scholle & Co.  Lionel Sutro's brother joined the firm and the firm became Sutro Brothers in 1899.  Has anybody seen a Sutro Brothers & Company cancel?  If so, please write to 1898revenues@gmail.com.

From The New York Morning Telegraph of January 5, 1899:

American Brewing Company of New York

American Brewing Co. of N. Y.

NOV

17

1898

Langlois scan

Insurance Agents: Ferguson & Wallace

Ferguson & Wallace,

MAR

29

1899

Saginaw, M.

Ferguson & Wallace,

APR

6

1899

Saginaw, M.

scans by David Thompson

Ferguson & Wallace were William Wallace and Frank A. Ferguson.  Based in Saginaw, Michigan, their  company sold insurance and surety bonds. 

1898 Revenue Exhibits at ARIPEX all Garner Gold Awards and Another Phoenix Check

1898 Revenue exhibits did well at ARIPEX!  All four of the 1898 revenue exhibits garnered Gold Medals! 

Additionally, Hermann Ivester's single frame exhibit, The Saint Louis Provisionals 1898, won the show's Single Frame GRAND AWARD, the ARA's award for the best revenue single frame exhibit, and the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitor's special award for the exhibit having the Best Title Page. 

Winning the ARIPEX single frame grand award, automatically qualifies Hermann's exhibit for the national single frame "Champion of Champions" competition at Ameristamp Expo in Little Rock Arkansas in February 2014!  Congratulations Hermann!! 

The ARIPEX multi-frame RESERVE GRAND award went to Frank Sente's 10 frame exhibit, Spanish American War Fiscal History: The US Documentary Taxes 1898-1902.  Sente's exhibit also was awarded the American Revenue Association Grand Award as the best overall revenue exhibit.       

Standing in front of Len McMaster's exhibit from left to right are:

Frank Sente, Len McMaster, Hermann Ivester, and Bob Hohertz

 

1898Revenue blog readers can enjoy much of the material in these four exhibits vicariously. 

 

Len McMaster's, "I. R." Overprinted 1898 1cent Franklin Postage Stamps, exhibit is available online here at 1898Revenues.

 

Many of the 1898 Saint Louis Provisional Issues in Hermann Ivester's exhibit and much more information about them can be found here on 1898Revenues.  And now that Hermann's wonderful material is in exhibit format, we'll be asking him to scan those 16 pages to put up on 1898Revenues.  

 

It was a thrill for me to view Hermann's exhibit as all I've ever been able to do is read about these stamps. Previous owners of the material never exhibited it, Hermann being the first ever to do so! 

 

Bob Hohertz  has blogged extensively about the revenue stamp paper of the 1898 tax era on 1898Revenues. Much of the material in his exhibit, Revenue Stamped Paper of the Spanish American War Tax Era, may be found in his blogs.

 

And finally, individual blogs about some of the items from my exhibit, Spanish American War Fiscal History: The Documentary Taxes 1898-1902, can be found among the On Document Uses blogs on 1898Revenues.    

 

Shows aren't just about exhibits and awards however; more importantly they provide a venue where collectors, exhibitors and dealers can meet, trade information, and discuss mutual interests.  The camaraderie and good fellowship developed from face to face meetings with others having similar interests far outweighs awards. 

 

I finally got to meet 1898 revenue contributor Sean Roberts.  Len McMaster and I discussed a joint article about bisect stamp usages from the 1898 tax era, and I attended the meetings of the American Revenue Association.  And I would be remiss if I didn't provide a link to the American Revenue Association website; it's their annual meeting that I'm attending at ARIPEX prompting these Phoenix-related blogs.

 

Here's an interesting bank check.  Other than being datelined Phoenix, Arizona, it's a generic printed form; essentially it could have been used at any bank!

 

Bank of Arizona check on generic check form

January 27, 1899

 

Drawn by John Lawler against the Bank of Arizona, Prescot, Aziz. (Note mis-spelling of Prescott) it was made payable to "Valley Bank" or bearer.  The pair of one-cent large I. R. overprint stamps paying the 2cent check tax apparently were applied at the bank as they bear a double ring cancel reading: "The Valley Bank"/ "Phoenix, Arizona"

 

John Lawler was a prominent Prescott businessman who had extensive cattle and mining interests.  His papers are available at the University of Arizona.  Perhaps he was on business in Phoenix and picked up this form check at the Valley Bank to secure $200 cash. 

 

As I now live in Prescott, Arizona it's a treasured item in my 1898 collection.

 

             

   

              

           

 

Our Crowd: Hallgarten & Company, Albert Loeb & Company

HALLGARTEN & CO.

MAR

29

1901

New York.

David Thompson scan

ALBERT LOEB & CO.

FEB

13

1901

N. Y.

Langlois scan

Our Crowd: J. S. Bache & Company

Jules S. Bache