Cobbossee National Bank, Gardiner, ME (Charter 939)
Cobbossee National Bank, Gardiner, ME (Chartered 1865 - Liquidated 1884)
Town History
Gardiner is a city in Kennebec County, Maine. Popular with tourists, Gardiner is noted for its culture and old architecture. It is included in the Augusta, Maine, micropolitan New England City and Town Area. The population was 5,961 at the 2020 census. In 1860, the population was 4,487, growing to 5,501 by 1900.
Located at the head of navigation on the Kennebec River, Gardiner was founded as Gardinerstown Plantation in 1754 by Dr. Silvester Gardiner, a prominent Boston physician. Dr. Gardiner had made a fortune as a drug merchant, with one apothecary shop in Massachusetts and two in Connecticut, and became a principal proprietor of the Kennebec Purchase within the old Plymouth Patent. He proved a tireless promoter for his development, which once comprised over 100,000 acres.
The wilderness toils of Dr. Gardiner would end, however, with the Revolution. Loyal to the Crown, he fled Boston in 1776 when the British army evacuated. But his settlement lived on without him, and in 1803 was incorporated as the town of Gardiner. From the early 19th century until the Civil War, shipbuilding and trade were primary industries. It would become a city in 1849, at which time ten large riverfront wharves served shipping. Lumber, in vast quantities, passed through Gardiner. Tanneries and shoe factories prospered.
The city became known for exporting ice. Each winter men cut large blocks from the Kennebec River, then covered the ice with sawdust in warehouses to keep it frozen into summer. It was loaded year-round on large vessels for shipment throughout the United States and world. Gardiner was noted for its pristine Kennebec ice, harvested at the furthest point upriver that deep-draft vessels could reach.
Lake Cobbosseecontee, also known as Cobbossee Lake, is a lake located in the towns of Litchfield, Manchester, Monmouth, West Gardiner, and Winthrop in the state of Maine. It is the largest lake in the Winthrop Lakes Region at 100 feet deep, covering about 8.7 square miles in surface area, a length of 9 miles, and a shoreline of 62 miles. The word Cobbosseecontee translates to "plenty of sturgeon" in Wabanaki.
Gardiner had five National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all five of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized February 23, 1865
- Chartered March 27, 1865
- Succeeded Cobbossee Contee Bank
- Liquidated April 18, 1884
On Monday, January 15, 1877, the following officers were elected for the Cobbossee Bank: James Stone, Charles Danforth, F.G. Richards, S.J. Young, F. Trott, directors; James Stone, president; Joseph Adams, cashier.[1]
On April 24, 1879, the death of Joseph Adams, cashier of Cobbossee National Bank of Gardiner coincidentally occurred within eight months of the deaths of three sons, all cashiers. Frank H. of the Freeman's National, Augusta; Edward S, acting cashier of the Cobbossee National, and George F., formerly cashier of the Gardiner National. About four years ago, the oldest son, Joseph I. died. At the time hos his death, he was cashier of the Freeman's National Bank. These were all the sons he ever had. Mr. Adam's father had been connected with several banks during the many years of his banking life and was one of the oldest inhabitants.[2]
On May 19, 1879, the directors met and elected Treby Johnson, son of Hon. Wm. T. Johnson of Augusta, cashier, vice Joseph Adams, deceased. There were over fifty applicants for the position.[3] Mr. Johnson had been stenographer to the secretary of the treasury in Washington prior to being selected as cashier.[4]
In October 1881, Treby Johnson was elected cashier of the Granite National Bank of Augusta in place of Hon. W.T. Johnson, deceased.[5] Mr. Henry S. Webster of Gardiner was elected cashier to succeed Mr. Treby Johnson.[6]
On February 10, 1884, Mr. Francis Gardiner Richards, owner of the extensive paper mills at Gardiner, died in Boston, having been ill since November. He was born in Gardiner in 1833, and graduated at Harvard in 1853. At the death of his father in 1858, he came home from Calcutta, India, where he was in business, and took charge of the paper mills. As trustee of the estate of his uncle, R.H. Gardiner, and director of the Cobbossee National Bank, and trustee of the savings bank, he was closely connected with the prosperity and growth of his native city and his death was a loss of no little magnitude to the community. A widow and two children survived him.[7]
In March 1900, workmen cleaning up the banking rooms of the old Cobbossee Contee Bank for the future office of the Maine Water Co. found quantities of cancelled checks of the bank in the vault. Wm. Grant of Farmingdale was showing a bundle of them in the Gardiner National Bank which represented a sum of $50,000. They were cashiers' checks dated 1859 and 1860 bearing the signature of Joseph Adams, the late cashier of the Cobbossee Contee Bank at that time.[8]
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Cobbossee National Bank of Gardiner, ME
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $308,800 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1865 and 1884. This consisted of a total of 39,344 notes (39,344 large size and No small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments Original Series 3x1-2 1 - 1000 Original Series 4x5 1 - 2600 Original Series 3x10-20 1 - 2520 Series 1875 4x5 1 - 2000 Series 1875 3x10-20 1 - 1716
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1865 - 1884):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
Other Known Bank Note Signers
- No other known bank note signers for this bank
Bank Note History Links
Sources
- Gardiner, ME, 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
- ↑ Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME, Wed., Jan. 17, 1877.
- ↑ Chicago Daily Telegraph, Chicago, IL, Sun., May 4, 1879.
- ↑ The Portland Daily Press, Portland, ME, Tue., May 20, 1879.
- ↑ Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME, Mon., Nov. 15, 1915.
- ↑ The Portland Daily Press, Portland, ME, Wed., Oct. 19, 1881.
- ↑ Sun-Journal, Lewiston, ME, Nov. 1, 1881.
- ↑ The Portland Daily Press, Portland, ME, Fri., Feb. 15, 1884.
- ↑ Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME, Sat., Mar. 31, 1900.