Beautifully engraved Certificate from the famous Pine Creek Railway Company issued in 1885. This historic document was printed by the American Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of a farmer, a woman holding a scale and a train. This item is hand signed by William K. Vanderbilt and Chancey Depew. There are 2 - 3 small cancellation holes through the signatures. This wonderful piece of history is over 121 years old. Certificate signed by Vanderbilt and Depew
William K. Vanderbilt William K. Vanderbilt (1849-1920) Grandson of Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt, the shipping and railroad tycoon whose acquisitions created the family fortune, William Kissam Vanderbilt inherited his position as a railroad executive but forged his own reputation as a leading yachtsman and a breeder of champion racehorses, traditions that would long remain a part of the Vanderbilt legacy. His Father was William Henry Vanderbilt Born in 1821, the Commodore's eldest son. William Henry Vanderbilt inherited a large portion of his father's estate. Generally viewed as a thorough and industrious worker, he more than doubled this fortune in eight years. While his father had lived modestly, William Vanderbilt began the tradition of interest in architecture and the fine arts. He died in 1885, leaving a widow, Maria Louisa Kissam, and their eight children including George Washington Vanderbilt. DEPEW, Chauncey Mitchell, a Senator from New York; born in Peekskill, N.Y., April 23, 1834; attended private schools; was graduated from the Peekskill Military Academy in 1852 and from Yale College in 1856; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1858 and commenced practice at Peekskill, N.Y., in 1859; member, State assembly 1861-1862; secretary of State of New York 1863; appointed United States Minister to Japan by President Andrew Johnson, was confirmed by the Senate, but declined; unsuccessful candidate for election as lieutenant governor in 1872; colonel and judge advocate of the fifth division of the New York National Guard 1873-1881; unsuccessful Republican candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1881; appointed president of the New York Central Hudson River Railroad Co. 1885-1899, and later became chairman of the board of directors of that railroad system; unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1888; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1899; reelected in 1905 and served from March 4, 1899, to March 3, 1911; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1910; chairman, Committee on Revision of the Laws of the United States (Fifty-seventh through Sixtieth Congresses), Committee on Pacific Islands and Puerto Rico (Sixty-first Congress); resumed his legal and corporate business pursuits in New York City, where he died on April 5, 1928; interment in Hillside Cemetery, Peekskill, N.Y.
Chauncey Depew