Farmers and Merchants NB, Los Angeles, CA (Charter 6617)
Farmers and Merchants NB, Los Angeles, CA (Chartered 1903 - Open past 1935)
Town History
Los Angeles is located in Los Angeles County. Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., officially the City of Los Angeles, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California. With roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits as of 2020, Los Angeles is the second-most populous city in the United States, behind only New York City; it is the commercial, financial and cultural center of the Southern California region.
Los Angeles had 22 National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and 18 of those banks issued National Bank Notes.
Bank History
- Organized January 10, 1903
- Chartered February 7, 1903
- Opened for business February 9, 1903
- Succeeded Farmers & Merchants Bank
- Bank was Open past 1935
- Merged with Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles, Charter 2491, on September 28, 1956
On April 10, 1871, the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Los Angeles with capital of $500,000, opened for business. The bank advertised that interest would be paid on term deposits, thus keeping capital at work in Los Angeles. The officers were Governor John G. Downey, president and I.W. Hellman, cashier.
In July 1880, the directors were Isaias W. Hellman, O.W. Childs, L.C. Goodwin, Phil. Gainier, John S. Griffin, C.E. Thom, A. Glassell, Dom. Amestoy and Jose Mascarel. The officers were Isaias W. Hellman, president; L.C. Goodwin, vice president; and John Milner, secretary. The bank had capital $200,000 and a reserve fund of $75,000.
In January 1890, the following were the newly-elected officers, the first two being re-elected and the last new: Isaias W. Hellman, president; L.C. Goodwin, vice president; John Milner, cashier and H.J. Fleishman, assistant cashier. Herman W. Hellman was made a vice president in 1890.
On December 11, 1901, Charles Seyler was elected cashier of the Farmers & Merchants' Bank of Los Angeles. Isaias W. Hellman was president. Mr. Seyler was manager of the Southern Pacific Railroad in Los Angeles. He was born at Dansville, New York, in 1844 and fought in the Civil War with the New York Infantry. Coming to California, he entered the service of the Southern Pacific at San Francisco, later at Wilmington, and then moved to Los Angeles.
In January 1902, the directors of the Farmers and Merchants Bank were W.H. Perry, O.W. Childs, J.A. Graves, H.W. Hellman, I.W. Hellman, Jr., I.N. Van Nuys, I.W. Hellman, J.F. Francis, C.E. Thom, A. Haas, and Wm. Lacy. The officers were I.W. Hellman, president; H.W. Hellman, vice president; J.A. Graves, 2nd vice president; Charles Seyler, cashier; and G. Heimann, assistant cashier. The bank had capital $500,000, surplus and undivided profits $878,000, and deposits of $6,300,000. It was the oldest and largest bank in Southern California, incorporated in 1871.
In January 1903, the directors of the Farmers and Merchants Bank were W.H. Perry, L.W. Hellman, Jr., H.W. Hellman, J.F. Francis, O.W. Childs, I.W. Hellman, J.A. Graves, I.N. Van Nuys, Wm. Lacy, C.E. Thom, and J. Baruch. The officers were Isaias W. Hellman, president; Herman W. Hellman, vice president; J.A. Graves, 2d vice president; Charles Seyler, cashier; Gustav Heimann, assistant cashier and Marco H. Hellman, 2d assistant cashier. The bank had capital, surplus and profits of $1,593,213, deposits $7,331,202, cash on hand and with bankers, $,299,816, U.S. Bonds and other bonds and stocks, $1,184,619. On January 9th, the comptroller of the currency authorized the Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Los Angeles to organize. The capital was increased to $1,000,000 fully paid with a surplus of $500,000 paid up. The new board of directors included H.E. Huntington, N.W. Stowell, and Charles Ducommun in addition to the members of the old board. I.W. Hellman remained as president.
In 1906, the control of the Farmers and Merchants National Bank was in the hands of some of the leading and most successful businessmen on the Pacific Coast, their reputations for financial strength and executive ability extending throughout the entire country, and giving the institution a national as well as a local influence. The officers were: Isaias W. Hellman, president; J.A. Graves, vice-president; I N. Van Nuys, vice-president; T.E. Newlin, vice-president; Charles Seyler, cashier; Gustav Heimann and John Alton, assistant cashiers. The directors were: Isaias W: Hellman, president, Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank and the Union Trust Company of San Francisco; H.E. Huntington, president, Pacific Electric Railway Company and Los Angeles Railway Company; W.G. Kerckhoff, president, Pacific Light and Power Company; I.N. Van Nuys, president, Los Angeles Farming and Milling Company; W.H. Perry, capitalist; Kaspare Cohn, of K. Cohn & Co., wool merchants; J.A. Graves, formerly of Graves, O'Melveny & Shankland, attorneys at law; I.W. Hellman, Jr., vice president, Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank and Union Trust Company of San Francisco; Dr. Walter Lindley, secretary and manager, California Hospital Company; William Lacy, president, Lacy Manufacturing Company, sheet iron and pipe manufacturers; J. Baruch of Haas, Baruch & Co., wholesale grocers; T.E. Newlin, banker; N.W. Stowell, capitalist; C.E. Thom, capitalist; C.A. Ducommin, hardware merchant; and O.W. Childs, broker.
On August 3, 1956, plans for a merger of the Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles and the Farmers and Merchants National were announced by James E. Shelton, chairman of the board of Security First and V.H. Rossetti, chairman of the board of Farmers and merchants. It was proposed to merge the Farmers and Merchants into the Security-First National and to continue the business of the merged institutions under the charter and name of the Security-First National. Basic terms included that for each share of Farmers and Merchants stock held, the shareholder would receive four-fifths of a share of Security-First National. With 900,000 shares of Farmers and Merchants stock outstanding, this would result in the issuance of 720,000 additional shares of Security-First stock, after which there would be 4,720,000 share outstanding, representing a capital stock of $59,000,000. The surplus would also be $59,000,000, making an aggregate of $118,000,000 and thus a maximum legal loan limit of $11,800,000. Farmers and Merchants had operated as a unit bank and the merger would give its customers access to the 147 branches of Security-First located throughout the southern half of California.
Oscar Thom Lawler was president from 1953 until 1956 when it merged into Security-First. He joined Farmers & Merchants in 1935. His nickname, Pat, derived from his Irish ancestry. On April 10, 1956, the bank celebrated its 85th anniversary. It had total deposits of $319,095,994 and assets of $348,674,795.
On September 24th, 1956, shareholders of the two institutions ratified and confirmed the merger agreement uniting the two. The merger became effective on September 28th. Total resources of the combined institutions were approximately $2.5 billion.
Official Bank Title
1: The Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Los Angeles, CA
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $29,303,480 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1903 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 3,523,673 notes (2,736,484 large size and 787,189 small size notes).
This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:
Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments 1902 Red Seal 4x5 1 - 69795 1902 Red Seal 3x10-20 1 - 45082 1902 Red Seal 50-100 1 - 1334 1902 Date Back 4x5 1 - 113000 1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 72000 1902 Date Back 50-100 1 - 1000 1902 Date Back 3x50-100 1 - 2900 1902 Plain Back 4x5 113001 - 347894 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 72001 - 217283 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 53802 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 27380 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 8486 1929 Type 1 6x50 1 - 1020 1929 Type 1 6x100 1 - 522 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 144384 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 77085 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 18460
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1903 - 1935):
Presidents:
- Isaias Wolf Hellman, (Sr.), 1903-1919
- Jackson Alpheus Graves, 1920-1930
- Victor H. Rossetti, 1931-1935
Cashiers:
Other Known Bank Note Signers
- No other known bank note signers for this bank
Bank Note History Links
- Farmers and Merchants NB, Los Angeles, CA History (NB Lookup)
- California Bank Note History (BNH Wiki)
Sources
- Los Angeles, CA, 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
- The Bankers' Magazine, Vol. 72, Jan. 1906-June 1906, pp 876-878.
- Los Angeles Daily Star, Los Angeles, CA, Wed., Apr. 19, 1871.
- Los Angeles Herald, Los Angeles, CA, Thu., July 1, 1880.
- Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, Tue., Jan. 7, 1890.
- Los Angeles Evening Express, Los Angeles, CA, Fri., Dec. 20, 1901.
- Los Angeles Evening Express, Los Angeles, CA, Wed., Jan. 22, 1902.
- Los Angeles Evening Express, Los Angeles, CA, Mon., Jan. 5, 1903.
- The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA, Fri., Jan. 9, 1903.
- Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, Mon., May 3, 1915.
- Los Angeles Mirror, Los Angeles, CA, Mon., Apr. 9, 1956.
- The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, Sat., Aug. 4, 1956.
- Los Angeles Evening Citizens News, Los Angeles, CA, Mon., Sep. 24, 1956.