First National Bank, Honeybrook, PA (Charter 1676)

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The old First National Bank of Honeybrook, Pennsylvania. In 2003 the bank merged and became part of Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company in Buffalo.
The old First National Bank of Honeybrook, Pennsylvania. In 2003 the bank merged and became part of Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company in Buffalo. Courtesy of Google Maps

First National Bank, Honeybrook, PA (Chartered 1868 - Closed (Merger) 1981)

Town History

Honey Brook is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population of the borough was 1,713 at the 2010 census. In 1880 the population was 470, growing to 609 by 1900.

Honey Brook Township was divided from Nantmeal Township in 1789. The owner of the surrounding property, Andrew Boyer, established a town plan for the village of Waynesburg (named in honor of Revolutionary War general Mad Anthony Wayne) and began selling lots in June 1813.

In 1884 the railroad from Philadelphia-Downingtown-Lancaster was completed and ran along the south side of Horseshoe Pike. The railroad caused a problem for the village: there was another Waynesburg in western Pennsylvania. The freight was being routed to the wrong stations, so the residents changed the name to Honey Brook in 1884. Honey Brook is an incorrect English translation of Nantmel, a village in Radnorshire, now part of Powys. The Welsh name Nantmel actually means 'Maël's valley', Maël being a tenth-century prince. Honey Brook was incorporated as a borough in 1891.

Honeybrook had one National Bank chartered during the Bank Note Era, and it issued National Bank Notes.

Bank History

  • Organized January 1, 1868
  • Chartered January 29, 1868
  • Succeeded 338 (First National Bank, Downingtown, PA)
  • Bank was Open past 1935
  • For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
  • Merged into Bank of Pennsylvania in Reading, PA January 2, 1981

On New Years day, 1868, a large number of prominent citizens of Lancaster, Chester and Berks counties met at the General Wayne Hotel, and organized the First National Bank of Honeybrook. Joshua Kames, Esq., was called upon to act as President of the meeting, and Jas. B. Ralston, Esq., acted as Secretary. The preliminary steps necessary to organizing a bank having been gone through with, the meeting proceeded to an election for nine Directors. The following named gentlemen were unanimously elected to serve for one year: Joshua Karnes, William Corbit, Samuel Lemmon, E.D. White, R.W. Morton, Joseph C. Davis, Thomas Millard, Jas. C. Roberts, Thomas S. Ingram. The parties interested in this bank were the owners of the First National Bank of Downingtown, which planned to be merged into the First National Bank of Honeybrook on the 14th of January. The officers of the bank in Downingtown, were to be the officers of the new bank. The Downingtown bank went into voluntary liquidation in January 1868.

In April 1868, Edward D. White of Churchtown was elected president of the First National Bank of Honeybrook in place of Joshua Kames [Karnes] who resigned.

In December 1914, the case against G.L. Ramsey, former assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Honeybrook who was charged with embezzlement was heard in the United State District Court of Philadelphia. The defense was conducted by Frank S. Groff and John E. Malone, both of Lancaster, and the verdict resulted in acquittal for the defendant. 

All Honeybrook was talking about it as were the farmers of all that fertile valley lying between the Welsh Mountains and the Barren Hills in Chester County. At the post office the citizens gather to talk about it and one man stops another along the mapled main street to argue the issue. What, they ask, is written on the $100 check that P.G. Hartman, cashier of the First National Bank of Honeybrook, mailed Mrs. Catherine Whitman, of Churchtown? And what has become of the money that has leaked from the old greenstone bank across the street from the hostelry where "Mad Anthony" Wayne once lodged? The first question probably will be answered Thursday at Lancaster, when a hearing will be held in the criminal libel proceedings which Mrs. George Lincoln Ramsey of Honeybrook, widow of the late assistant cashier of the bank, is pressing against Hartman. The second question may never be answered. One phase of it was threshed out in Philadelphia last December, when the United States District Court acquitted Ramsey of a charge of embezzlement. Vindicated in the eyes of his friends, he returned to his native town, his health impaired, and, after a lingering illness, died of a broken heart, his friends assert. WIDOW ACCUSES HARTMAN. Mrs, Ramsey charges that Hartman, in Settling one of the claims against the bank arising from the alleged embezzlement, committed a libel against her dead husband by writing on the check words to the effect that it was in payment for money embezzled by Ramsey. The check was mailed to Mrs. Whitman, at Churchtown, who, instead of depositing it in Honey Brook, gave it to William McCaa to deposit in the Blue Ball National Bank. Word of the inscription on the check reached the widow's friends and a warrant was obtained for Hartman's arrest Friday. He was held in $5OO bail by Justice of the Peace Reese H. White.

"I am not worrying," said Hartman. "I wouldn't be so foolish as to write a libel on the check." Further than that, officials of the bank will not divulge the exact wording of the check, which is now deposited in a vault in the bank. "My husband was not only prosecuted, but persecuted," said Mrs. Ramsey, "and as he is not able to speak for himself I will defend him as long as I can." The controversy, which has divided the 800 inhabitants of the prosperous little town, had its origin in 1912, when a "shake-up" occurred in the personnel of the bank's officials. Younger blood was injected through the election of John S. Galt as president to succeed the late John A. Lemmon, who died this spring, and whose father, the late Samuel Lemmon, was president and one of the founders nearly 50 years ago. Hartman was elected to succeed Cashier Finger, who resigned on account of i11 health after a service of many years. The Board of Directors, a majority of which brought about a change, consisted of Galt, P.G. Buchanan, vice president; Amos Hartzler, L.H. Whitaker, William Horst, Elmer Dunwoody, Jonathan Millard, Samuel Slichter and Nathan Rambo. RAMSEY IN BANK 22 YEARS. Friction resulted between Hartman and Ramsey who had been an employee of the bank for 22 years and whose friends maintained he should have succeeded Finger. It resulted in the dismissal of Ramsey and an investigation by bank examiners of the shortage which had prevailed through a series of years an amount never made public, but variously estimated at between $15,000 and $20,000. Ramsey, long a trustee of the Presbyterian Church, treasurer of the Sunday School and secretary of the school board, was indicted. The trial, before Judge Dickinson, in Philadelphia, December 27, was attended by at least 50 prominent Honeybrook citizens as witnesses. Much of the evidence was thrown out of court and Ramsey returned, not in triumph, but a sick man. He was taken to the University Hospital, underwent an operation and went home to die April 29, 1915. He was 54 years old. The old wounds, which time promised to heal, were reopened through the check episode. The bank, with its capital stock of $100,000 and surplus of $71,000, is behind its cashier, and Mrs. Ramsey has her friends.

In January 1928, the Officers were John S. Galt, president; Dr. A.C. Morozzi, vice president; E.J. Kandle, cashier; Carl B. Diehm, trust officer; Cora C. Buchanan, assistant trust officer; Olive E. Elmer, assistant cashier; directors, John S. Galt, Dr. A.C. Morozzi, L.H. Whitaker, William K. Hurst, J.A. Wanner, C.K. Huyett, S.W. Dengler, Nathan Rambo and W.H. Fleming.

In January 1969, changes in organization were announced at a meeting of the board of directors of First National Bank of Honey Brook. Dr. Grant W. Bamberger was elected chairman of the board, a new position in the bank. He was President since 1960 and director since 1947. Merrill L. Mordan, who was executive vice president, was elected president. Sara L. Newswanger, cashier and comptroller, was named senior vice president, also a new position. G. Ronald Beaton was appointed cashier, Mrs. Jeannette R. Checket was named executive secretary and Mrs. Rose Maru Whiteman, auditor, both new positions within the bank. Dr. Bamberger was a physician in the Chester-Lancaster County area. He did undergraduate work at Dickinson College and received his medical degree from the Hahnemann Medical College. He was a major in the 8th Air Force during World War II and lived in Honey Brook with his wife Jo Marie since the 1930s.

Mordan entered the bank in 1958 and was a director since that time. He previously was manager of Warwick farms. A graduate of Penn State University with a degree in agricultural economics, he was a veteran of World War 11 and was a captain in the Air Force. He flew military cargo over Central and North Africa and the United States.

Miss Newswanger had been with the bank since she graduated from Temple university in 1953 with a Bachelor of Science in business administration. She earned her master’s degree in finance in 1962 from the same university. Miss Newswanger was active in many banking organizations including Bank Administrative institute, National Association of Bank Women and the Chester County Bankers association of which she was secretary-treasurer. A member of Coatesville Country club, she resided with her mother in Honey Brook. She was elected a director of the bank in 1967.

Official Bank Title(s)

1: The First National Bank of Honeybrook, PA

Bank Note Types Issued

1882 Brown Back $10 bank note with pen signatures of John E. Finger, Cashier and John S. Galt (Sr.), President.
1882 Brown Back $10 bank note with pen signatures of John E. Finger, Cashier and John S. Galt (Sr.), President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, wwww.ha.com
1902 Plain Back $10 bank note with printed signatures of P.G. Hartman, Cashier and John S. Galt (Jr.), President.
1902 Plain Back $10 bank note with printed signatures of P.G. Hartman, Cashier and John S. Galt (Jr.), President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, wwww.ha.com
1902 Plain Back $10 bank note with printed signatures of E.J. Kandle, Cashier and John S. Galt (Jr.), President.
1902 Plain Back $10 bank note with printed signatures of E.J. Kandle, Cashier and John S. Galt (Jr.), President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, wwww.ha.com
1929 Type 1 $20 Replacement bank note with printed signatures of F. Haines Newswanger, Cashier and John S. Galt (Jr.), President.
1929 Type 1 $20 Replacement bank note with printed signatures of F. Haines Newswanger, Cashier and John S. Galt (Jr.), President. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

A total of $2,193,990 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1868 and 1981. This consisted of a total of 170,681 notes (134,482 large size and 36,199 small size notes).

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

Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments
Original Series 4x10 1 - 1375
Original Series 50-100 1 - 420
Series 1875 4x10 1 - 2305
Series 1875 50-100 1 - 483
1882 Brown Back 3x10-20 1 - 3058
1902 Red Seal 3x10-20 1 - 200
1902 Date Back 3x10-20 1 - 3810
1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 3811 - 26231
1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 3916
1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 1014
1929 Type 2 10 1 - 5213
1929 Type 2 20 1 - 1406

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1868 - 1981):

Presidents:

Cashiers:

Other Bank Note Signers

  • There are currently no known Vice President or Assistant Cashier bank note signers for this bank.

Wiki Links

Sources

  • Honeybrook, PA, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeybrook,_Pennsylvania
  • 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 Daily Evening Express, Lancaster, PA, Mon., Jan. 6, 1868.
  • Harrisburg Telegraph, Harrisburg, PA, Tue., Jan. 28, 1868.
  • Intelligencer, Journal, Lancaster, PA, Wed., Apr. 15, 1868.
  • The Morning Journal, Lancaster, PA, Sat., Jan. 2, 1915.
  • Evening Public Ledger, Philadelphia, PA, Tue., July 6, 1915.
  • Lancaster New Era, Lancaster, PA, Tue., Jan. 24, 1928.
  • The Mercury, Pottstown, PA, Wed., Jan. 22, 1969.
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