Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad Company

Date

1869

Location

Alabama

Amount

$1,000

Signatures

  • A. M. Fowlkes
  • Nathan Bedford Forrest

Description

This is a stock certificate 208 representing $1000 for the Selma, Memphis and Marion Railroad Company. This railroad company, beginning as a river transport company, grew as part of the Confederate railway system during the Civil War, originally connecting Marion Alabama with Marion Junction Alabama. The company was sold many times until finally becoming the Southern Railway Company in 1894. This bond is signed by Company President Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate Army Cavalry Leader and Lieutenant General turned entrepreneurial businessman after the war.

Notable Bond Imagery

The certificate is surrounded by a green border reading “United States of America” on the top and on both sides reading “1000 Dollars.” An upper middle vignette depicts a train stopping at a train station in a town surrounded by a valley. The bottom right vignette shows two men both loading baskets and transporting them away. On the bottom left of this certificate is the official company seal of the Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad Company which reads “Selma Marion & Memphis Railroad Company.” In the left middle area of the certificate is a an orange imprint that states “One Dollar United States Internal Revenue.” On the bottom of the certificate are 33 certificate dividends out of originally 40 dividends, meaning that seven have already been redeemed.

Certificate with black, green, orange and gold ink shows intricate bordering, lettering, a company seal, signatures, and vignettes of a train
Backside shows has four different bodies of text with coupons, legal language, and signatures
Transcription 
						The Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad Company stock certificate reads:
State of Alabama
No 208 | $1000
Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad Company
First Mortgage Eight Per Cent. Bond
Endorsed by the State of Alabama

Know all men by these presents, that the Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad Company, a Corporation existing under the Laws of the State of Alabama, acknowledges itself to be indebted to the holder hereof, in the sum of One Thousand Dollars, which sum the said Company hereby promises to pay to the holder hereof, on the First day of September in the year One thousand, eight hundred and eighty nine, at the office or Agency of said Company in the City of New York, with interest thereon, at the rate of Eight per cent. Per annum, payable semi-annually, at the said Office or Agency in the City of New York, on the first days of March and September in each year, on the presentation and surrender of the annexed Coupons as they severally become due.

This is one of a series of Bonds of the same tenor date and amount, numbered consecutively from one upwards, and limited to $16,000 per mile of completed railroad, in the State of Alabama  issued under the provisions of an Act of the General Assembly of Alabama entitled An Act to establish a system of Internal Improvements in the State of Alabama, approved February 19th 1867 and An Act amendatory thereof, approved September 22nd 1868; all secured by the first and exclusive lieu provided for in said Acts, on the raid road of said Company and its equipments and all other property including the franchise of the Company, with power of sale in case of default’ and by endorsement of the State of Alabama, made under authority and in pursuance of the Acts of the General Assembly aforesaid.

In Witness Whereof, the said Company has caused its Corporate Seal to be hereto affixed and these presents to be signed by itse President and Secretary, on the first day of September, A.D. 1869.
Signed by the Secretary A. M. Fowlkes
Signed by the President N. B. Forrest

The 33 coupons below each state:
The Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad Company will pay the bearer hereof, Forty Dollars, at its Office or Agency in the City of New York, on September/March 1st 1873 - 1889 being semi-annual interest due on that day on Bond.
No 208
Signed by the Secretary A. M. Fowlkes

The back of this document has four different bodies of text, from top to bottom, they read

The Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad Company, hereby further agrees and binds itself to pay the principal and interest of the within Bond in Gold Coin of the United States.

In Witness Whereof, the said “Company has caused its corporate seal to be hereto affixed, and these presents to be subscribed by its President hereunto duly authorized, this first day of September, A.D. 1869.
Signed by the President N. B. Forrest

Proven and allowed within objective
Amount of Bank
10 Pack due coupons $40 each 
Interest due June to March 1-78
Interest due the first due coupons (illegible correction written above this line)
From March, 1 Sept. 1 - 78 
1 coupon due Sept 1 - 78.
$1000.00 + 400.00 + 72.00 = 1472.00 + 16.00 + 40.00 = 1528.00
illegible

Guaranteed by the State of Alabama | No. 208 $1000. | Selma, Memphis and Marion Railroad Company. | Eight Per Cent. First Mortgage Bond | Payable September 1st, 1889 | Interest payable March 1st, and September 1st, at the Agency of the Company in the CIty of New York
Henry Seibert & Bros., Lithographers, Ledger Building, corner William and Spruce Streets, N.Y.

Endorsement by the State of Alabama.

In Pursuance, and under authority of an Act of the General Assembly of the State of Alabama, entitled, “ An Act to establish a system of internal improvements in the state of Alabama,” approved, February 19th 1867; and an Act of said Assembly, amendatory thereof, approved September 22nd, 1868, the State of Alabama, acting by its Governor, hereby endorses the within Bond of the Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad Company, and thereby binds itself for the payment of the principal interest of this Bond, according to the terms and provisions of the Acts aforesaid;  the said Railroad Company having complied with the conditions which authorize and require the Governor to make this endorsement on behalf of said State.

In Witness Whereof, the said Governor has hereunto subscribed his name and caused the seal of said state to be hereto affixed, this 1st day of September A.D. 1869
Signed by the Governor W. H. Smith

Accession No:

2017.002.016