Claremont National Bank, Claremont, NH (Charter 13829)

The old Claremont National Bank, ca2019. The stone at the top of the bank has "EST. 1864" while a stone on the Town Hall has its construction date of 1896.  Courtesy of Google Maps

Claremont National Bank, Claremont, NH (Chartered 1933 - Open past 1935)

Town History

Claremont National Bank advertisement from July 1934.

Claremont is the only city in Sullivan County, New Hampshire. The population was 12,949 at the 2020 census. In 1860 the population was 4,026 growing to 12,377 by 1930.

The city was named after Claremont, the country mansion of Thomas Pelham-Holles, Earl of Clare. On October 26, 1764, colonial governor Benning Wentworth granted the township to Josiah Willard, Samuel Ashley and 67 others. Although first settled in 1762 by Moses Spafford and David Lynde, many of the proprietors arrived in 1767, with a large number from Farmington, Hebron and Colchester, Connecticut. The undulating surface of rich, gravelly loam made agriculture an early occupation. Spafford was deeded land from Col. Samuel Ashley, who was given a charter to establish a ferry across the Connecticut River in 1784, the location of which is still known as Ashley's Ferry landing.

The Monadnock Mills Co. and Sullivan Mills Co. were responsible for the two most prominent collections of manufacturing structures in the Lower Village District. Monadnock Mills' textile operations began with its founding in 1842, and lasted through 1932, shuttering operations following the decline of the textile industry in New England during the 1920s. By the 1920s, Sullivan Mills Co. had become New Hampshire's largest machining company, as well as Claremont's largest employer. Sullivan's Machinery division merged with Joy Mining Machinery in 1946, becoming Joy Manufacturing Co. Its founder, inventor Joseph Francis Joy, stayed on as general manager of the facility, which remained the dominant employer in Claremont through the 1970s.

Claremont had three National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all three of those banks issued National Bank Notes.

Bank History

Claremont National Bank advertisement from November 1980. The bank was located at Pine and Pleasant.

• Organized October 28, 1933
• Chartered November 7, 1933
• Succeeded 596 (The Claremont National Bank, Claremont, NH)
• Assumed its circulation
• Bank was Open past 1935
• Acquired by First Financial Group of New Hampshire at Manchester in 1980

On May 6, 1938, Judge Gilbert F. Davis, 60, prominent banking and corporate lawyer, died in Boston. He graduated in 1897 from the Phillips Exeter Academy and then entered the Lawrence Scientific school of Harvard University, receiving a degree in civil engineering in 1901. He then entered Harvard Law School and received his L.L.B in 1904. He entered the law office of his father in the partnership of Davis & Davis and passed the Vermont Bar in the Fall of that year. Mr. Davis was appointed judge of probate court for Windsor County by Governor Percival Clement. He was organizer of the Windsor Co-operative Savings and Loan Association which became the Windsor Federal Savings & Loan Association of which he was president. The bank which he took an active part in reorganizing were the Poultney National Bank, the Connecticut River National Bank of Charlestown, the Windham National Bank of Bellows falls, and the Claremont National Bank. Entertainment in the bizarre was his hobby and he was very interested in the methods of the circus and all fakirs from the rope-climber of India to a home talent circus.

On March 13, 1940, incorporation of the Claremont baseball club with Dr. Charles F. Keeley, prominent surgeon and head of the Claremont National Bank as president was announced by officials of the club. Club officials said they had selected the name Pilots for the organization and that they were negotiating for a player-manager.

In May 1941, the Claremont National Bank advertised their qualification as a loaning agency for the Federal Housing Authorized Insured Loans on real estate. The officers were Dr. Charles F. Keeley, president and George N. Barrett, cashier.

George N. Barrett, 76, banker and author died July 26, 1972, in Maine at a Waterville hospital. He was born September 7, 1895, in Lyman, New Hampshire, the son of Elbridge and Minnie (Judd) 'Barrett. He was a graduate of the Bryant and Stratton Business School in New Hampshire and American School of Law in New Hampshire. In 1915 he started a banking career in the Lisbon bank and was employed there for five years. He worked in Colebrook and Newport, New Hampshire, and ended his banking career as president of the Claremont National Bank. Mr. Barrett married Beulah Barter March 3, 1927. In 1951 he and his wife purchased the Jones Inn in Newport, Maine, and operated it until June 1972. He was an author of many short stories in magazine publications. He authored a short book of poems, and the prose work, "The Inn at The Crossroads."

In June 1976, New Hampshire bankers met at the historic Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City, and elected Ralph Crosby president of the New Hampshire Bankers' Association. He was president of the Claremont National Bank.

In June 1980, the First Financial Group, the bank holding company which owned The Bank, Concord, acquired two more banks. W.N. Dewitt, chairman of the First Financial Group said the company had acquired the Claremont National Bank and the First Bank and Trust Co. in Meredith. First Bank and Trust had assets of $11 million. Claremont National had assets of $33 million. At the end of 1979, First Financial Group had assets of $205 million with subsidiary banks in Concord, Manchester, Nashua, Bedford and Hudson.

In March 1981, bank president Ralph V. Crosby announced the Claremont National Bank would open a branch at the K-mart shopping center on Washington Street in August. The branch would occupy a separate building on the east side of the shopping center with three drive-up bays. In May 1981, BankEast Corporation expanded its board of directors to nine by adding three new members. The new directors were Ralph V. Crosby, chairman of the board of the Claremont National Bank; Leonard M. Foster, president of the First Bank and Trust Company in Meredith and Sylvio L. Dupuis, O.D., president of the Catholic Medica Center in Manchester. Also elected were W.N. DeWitt, chairman and chief executive officer of BankEast Corporation.

In August 1986, BankEast, the state's fourth largest bank holding company announced a deal to acquire the Hanover Bank and Trust Co., a subsidiary of United Banks Corporation. Under the agreement subject to regulatory approval United Banks Corp. would become a subsidiary of Manchester-based BankEast. Hanover bank had branches in Hanover, Lebanon, West Lebanon and Orford and would keep its name. BankEast bought out the Claremont National Bank in 1980 and in 1985 it acquired First Citizens National Bank of Newport. Their bid to take over Dartmouth National Bank fell through in 1984, so BankEast officials turned their attention to Hanover Bank & Trust. BankEast reported year-end 1895 assets of approximately $824 million and net income of about $8.2 million. BankEast was formed on April 1, 1981, by the merger of the Manchester Bank and the Colonial Bank and at the time it operated eight offices in Manchester, Nashua, Concord, Hudson and Bedford.

Official Bank Title

1: Claremont National Bank, Claremont, NH

Bank Note Types Issued

1929 Type 2 $20 bank note with printed signatures of George N. Barrett, Cashier and F.W. Johnston, President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

A total of $62,200 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1933 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 7,618 notes (No large size and 7,618 small size notes).

This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:

Series/Type	Sheet/Denoms	Serial#s	Sheet Comments
1929 Type 2	5	1 - 4456
1929 Type 2	10	1 - 2332
1929 Type 2	20	1 - 830

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1933 - 1935):

Presidents:

• Francis Wayland Johnston, 1934-1935

Cashiers:

• George Nelson Barrett, 1934-1935

Other Known Bank Note Signers

• No other known bank note signers for this bank

Bank Note History Links

• Claremont National Bank, Claremont, NH History (NB Lookup)
• New Hampshire Bank Note History (BNH Wiki)

Sources

• Claremont, NH, on Wikipedia
• Don C. Kelly, National Bank Notes, A Guide with Prices. 6th Edition (Oxford, OH: The Paper Money Institute, 2008).
• Dean Oakes and John Hickman, Standard Catalog of National Bank Notes. 2nd Edition (Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1990).
• Banks & Bankers Historical Database (1782-1935), https://spmc.org/bank-note-history-project