Farmers NB of New Jersey, Mount Holly, NJ (Charter 1168)
Farmers NB of New Jersey, Mount Holly, NJ (Chartered 1865 - Liquidated 1911)
Town History
Mount Holly is a township that is the county seat of Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia, the nation's sixth largest city as of 2020. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 9,981. The township, and all of Burlington County, is a part of the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden combined statistical area and the Delaware Valley.
What is now Mount Holly was originally formed as Northampton on November 6, 1688. Northampton was incorporated as one of New Jersey's initial group of 104 townships created by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798. Portions of the township were taken to form Little Egg Harbor Township (February 13, 1740, now part of Ocean County), Washington Township (November 19, 1802), Pemberton borough (December 15, 1826), Coaxen Township (March 10, 1845, now known as Southampton Township), Pemberton Township (March 10, 1846), Westampton Township (March 6, 1850) and Lumberton Township (March 14, 1860). There had been a Mount Holly post office since before the 1870 U.S. Census. The township was renamed Mount Holly as of November 6, 1931, based on the results of a referendum held three days earlier. The township was named for hills covered with holly trees. Some areas of today's Mount Holly were known as Bridgetown.
On December 17, 1776, Colonel Samuel Griffin of the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River with 600 men, mostly untrained men and boys with little equipment, who marched to Mount Holly where they set up a few 3-pounder artillery pieces on Iron Works Hill. Hessian commanders von Block and Carl von Donop were told that there were 3,000 American troops at Mount Holly.
By December 23, 1776, 2,000 Hessians were moved from Bordentown and positioned at The Mount in Mount Holly, where they engaged in a three-day-long artillery exchange, known as the Battle of Iron Works Hill or Battle of Mount Holly, with the Americans on Iron Works Hill. The Americans slipped away that night.
After George Washington crossed the Delaware River on December 25, 1776, the fact that thousands of Hessian troops had been drawn to Mount Holly aided in the Continental Army's success in the Battle of Trenton the next day, a surprising American victory that helped turn the Army's fading morale after the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Fort Washington just weeks before and the ignominious retreat through New Jersey.
Mount Holly had three National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all three of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized April 15, 1865
- Chartered May 18, 1865
- Succeeded Farmers Bank
- Liquidated December 30, 1911
- Succeeded by Farmers Trust Company of Mount Holly, NJ
On January 14, 1828, the proceedings of a meeting of citizens held in Mount Holly which the Philadelphia Inquirer styled as the first railroad meeting held in the United States. John Black was president; John Dobbins, vice president and Charles Stokes and James Newbold, secretaries. The object of the meeting was to promote the proposed railroad from Camden to Amboy. First published by the Mt. Holly Mirror, January 16, 1828 and republished in 1874.
In 1871, John Black of Mount Holly was re-elected to the presidency of the Farmers National Bank of New Jersey and entered upon his fifty-fifth year in that office.
On Tuesday, January 19, 1915, the Farmers' Trust Company of Mount Holly celebrated the 100th anniversary of the organization of the institution. The minute book of Farmers Bank listed the date of organization as July 9, 1814, when a meeting was held at one of the hotels in Mount Holly and a board of directors was elected to serve until the last Saturday in April 1815. The first depositor was John L. Nugent who on October 5, 1814, put $137 into the coffers of the bank and he was the only depositor for the day, so the clerks were not very busy. The first note discounted was that of E.D. Woodruff dated September 30, 1814, for $1,000 for three months. The organization was perfected and it wasn't until January 1815 that formal application was made to the state of New Jersey for a charter to establish a state bank, thus the question whether the bank was 100 years old in 1914 or 1915, but it had surely reached the centennial mark by the time of the celebration. In the spring of 1815, after much discussion, the site was finally determined and by a vote of 10 to 9, it was decided to put the building on the middle of the lot where the Farmers Trust Co. building stood 100 years later. The original long board and chairs in the director's room were still used weekly by the present officers. In April 1816, there was quite a contest over the office of the president, there being four candidates and John Black was elected. The first 'vault' or safety box was an iron chest which was still in possession of the bank. It was on display in 1915 along with the watchman's rattle, the old pistols, the original stock ledger that was in use up to the time the institution changed from a bank to a trust company. The iron box was kept in a vault and fastened by an iron rod that was devised by one of the officials. After the vault was locked this bar was dropped and made a secure bolt. It was this device that prevented burglars getting to the money when the first and only attempt to rob the bank was made. Many changes had taken place in the history of the Farmers' Trust Company, but a matter of interest was the fact that the salary of the first president was $300 per year and that figure had never been changed. In 1915, deposits amounted to $903,106.97 and from the first $1000 note, discounts had grown to $407,194.83. A history was compiled by Edward D. Stokes at that time.
The directors elected in 1915 with the date they were originally chosen follows: Joseph J. White, 1888; Barclay C. Allen, 1889; Joseph C. Kingdon, 1890; Walter E. Borden, 1891; John Black, 1895; James D. Black, 1901; Edward D. Stokes, 1902; Benjamin Deacon, 1904; Robert W. Carter, 1905; George F. Ried, 1906; John B. Davis, 1907; Edward E. Logan, 1909; Richard C. Barrington, 1910; Blanchard H. White, 1910; Henry M. Black, 1912; Elmer L. Tallman, 1912; John V. Bishop, 1913; V. Claude Palmer, 1913. Joseph J. White was elected president in 1912 and John E. Darnell was made vice president in the same year. John B. Davis was secretary and treasurer; V. Claude Palmer, solicitor; J.H. Colkitt, paying teller and notary; S.A. Border, assistant trust officer; B.C. Kingdon, bookkeeper; Edna Willitts, receiving teller; B. Everett Zelley, clerk; Elsie V. Haines, stenographer.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Farmers National Bank of New Jersey at Mount Holly, NJ
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $1,834,300 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1865 and 1911. This consisted of a total of 57,520 notes (57,520 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 - 1150 Original Series 4x5 1 - 3875 Original Series 3x10-20 1 - 2350 Original Series 50-100 1 - 1050 Series 1875 3x1-2 1 - 1110 Series 1875 3x10-20 1 - 562 Series 1875 50-100 1 - 1549 1882 Brown Back 50-100 1 - 4181 1902 Red Seal 50-100 1 - 2467 1902 Date Back 50-100 1 - 1419
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1865 - 1911):
Presidents:
- John Black, 1865-1874
- John Leake Newbold Stratton, 1875-1888
- Alfred Lawrence Black Sr., 1889-1900
- Charles Ewan Merritt, 1901-1911
Cashiers:
Other Bank Note Signers
- There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.
Wiki Links
- New Jersey Bank Note History
- General information on Mount Holly (Wikipedia)
- General information on Burlington County (Wikipedia)
- General information on New Jersey (Wikipedia)
Sources
- Mount Holly, NJ, 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
- Monmouth Democrat, Freehold, NJ, Thu., Feb. 16, 1871.
- Monmouth Democrat, Freehold, NJ, Thu., Nov. 19, 1874.
- The Mount Holly News, Mount Holly, NJ, Tue., Jan. 19, 1915.