Beautifully engraved $1000 uncancelled gold bond certificate from the Georgia and Florida Railway issued in 1912. This historic document was printed by the Hamilton Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a train passing a port. This item has the hand signatures of the Company's President, signed by John Skelton Williams and Secretary. 40 unused coupons attached on top.
Certificate John Skelton Williams (July 6, 1865 November 4, 1926) was a United States Comptroller of the Currency from 1914 to 1921 and the first president of the Seaboard Air Line Railway. Biography John Skelton Williams was a leading southern financier. He served as the Comptroller of the Currency under President Woodrow Wilson from 1914 to 1921 after serving as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. Previously, he had organized the Seaboard Air Line Railway into a single company, and served as its president from 1900 to 1903. Williams was Comptroller throughout World War I. Under his leadership, the agency worked closely with the War Finance Corporation, which was established in 1918 to provide credit to businesses, including banks, to promote the war effort. During William's term, legislation was passed allowing the consolidation of two or more banks. The Georgia and Florida Railway was organized in 1906 for the purpose of purchasing, building, and operating railroads in Georgia and Florida. Most of the G&F was assembled by John Skelton Williams, former president of the Seaboard Air Line Railway, between 1906 and 1911. The Georgia and Florida Railway acquired six lines: the 53-mile Millen & Southwestern Railroad (Millen-Pendleton-Vidalia); the 30-mile Augusta and Florida Railway (Keysville-Midville); the 20-mile Atlantic and Gulf Short Line Railroad (Midville-Swainsboro); the 87-mile Douglas, Augusta and Gulf Railway (Hazlehurst-Nashville and Barrows Bluff-Broxton); the 12-mile Nashville and Sparks Railroad (Nashville-Sparks); and the 28-mile Valdosta Southern Railway (Valdosta-Madison, Florida). The disruptions caused by World War I hurt the Georgia & Florida and went into receivership in 1915. The company was reorganized in 1925, expanded to South Carolina and went back into bankruptcy when the the stock market crashed and the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929. In 1961, the Southern Railway acquired the company. History from Wikipedia, Railroad History and OldCompany.com (old stock certificate research service)