Vermont National Bank, Saint Albans, VT (Charter 1583)
Vermont National Bank, Saint Albans, VT (Chartered 1865 - Receivership 1883)
Town History
St. Albans is the county seat of Franklin County, Vermont. At the 2020 census, the city population was 6,877. St. Albans City is surrounded by the town of Saint Albans which is incorporated separately from the city of St. Albans. The city is located in Northwestern Vermont, 29 miles north of Burlington, the state's most populous city which is located in Chittenden County.
One of the New Hampshire grants, St. Albans was chartered by Colonial Governor Benning Wentworth on August 17, 1763, to Stephen Pomeroy and 63 others. Named after St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, it was first settled during the Revolution by Jesse Welden. The war delayed further settlement until 1785, when many others began to arrive. Farmers found the rich, dark loam suitable for cultivation, as well as for the raising of cattle, horses and sheep. Butter and cheese were produced in great quantities. St. Albans also became known as "Railroad City," home to a major depot, operations center and repair shop of the Vermont and Canada Railroad. When the village was incorporated in 1859, it had an iron foundry, a manufacturer of freight cars, and a large number of mechanic shops.
The northernmost engagement of the Civil War, known as the St. Albans Raid, occurred here on October 19, 1864. In 1902, the City of St. Albans was incorporated, comprising two square miles within the town of St. Albans.
Saint Albans had four National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all four issued National Bank Notes. Saint Albans also had two Obsolete Banks that issued Obsolete Bank Notes during the Obsolete Bank Note Era (1782-1866).
Bank History
- Organized July 24, 1865
- Chartered October 11, 1865
- Succeeded St. Albans Bank
- The St. Albans Bank, Franklin County Bank, and First National Bank were robbed on October 19, 1864, by a band of 22 Confederate raiders coming from Canada
- Receivership August 9, 1883
- Bank History Links:
- St. Albans Has Been Surprised (SPMC PM#96)
- St. Albans History Museum video of the St. Albans Raid
The Bank of St. Albans was incorporated in 1825, and at the expiration of its charter, it was re-chartered for 15 years. Its legal existence as a bank of discount expired in 1855. The first president was Benjamin Swift who resigned the office on his being elected a representative to Congress in 1827. N.W. Kingman was then elected president and continued in this office until his death in 1845 when Lawrence Brainerd was elected president. Mr. Brainerd was successively elected president as long afterwards as the bank had an existence. The first cashier was Andrew Plimpton who resigned after two or three years and Alexander C. Tracy was elected cashier. He continued a year or two when he was obliged to go South for his health, but never returned having died among his friends at Schaghticoke, New York. Abel Houghton was appointed cashier in October 1829 and remained cashier until the bank was wound up. The capital originally was $100,000, but there was never but $50,000 paid in. Owing to the money panic and the stringency of the times the capital was reduced to that sum. This bank for some years withstood the repeated attacks of the Suffolk Bank in Boston to break it by receiving its notes and returning them in large amounts, from $10,000-25,000 at a time and demanding the specie, or something equivalent. During this time the bank never failed to redeem its notes. By one or two heavy failures in New York at the time of the great panic in 1837-8, the bank sustained a loss of nearly $20,000, but it kept on regularly with its business. Despite the difficulties, the bank paid an average of about 8% per year as dividends, returning $5 per share more than the amount of capital paid in. A further extension of the charter was denied by the legislature and instead, a new bank was chartered in 1853 under the name of the St. Albans Bank with a capital of $150,000. The bank began operations under the direction of H.B. Sowles, president; and Henry Howes, cashier. Around 1858, Bradley Barlow was appointed to succeed Howes after he was dismissed.
In February 1858, the following were directors of the St. Albans Bank: H.B. Sowles, A.O. Aldis, W.W. White, S.P. carpenter, Wm. H. Hoyt, John Gregory Smith, Bradley Barlow. H.B. Sowles was president and Bradley Barlow, cashier.
On October 19, 1864, about half past three, two or three young men, very well dressed and evidently men of intelligence, came into the bank. All were fair in appearance save one who was described by an old townsman, Martin A. Seymour, who was in the Directors’ room of the bank at the time, as of most malicious visage. The St. Albans Bank, of which H.B. Sowles was President and Gov. Smith, Lawrence Brainerd, Bradley Barlow, and other leading citizens, directors, had its banking house on Main street, in the well-known Seymour House, and just south of the "Kingman Block." These fellows approached Mr. C.N. Bishop, teller of the bank, and presenting a pair of pistols, proceeded to rob the institution. Mr. Bishop ran into the room where Mr. Seymour was and attempted to bolt the door, but they were too quick for him, and forced the door. Bishop was dragged out by the throat, and Mr. Seymour presented with a rebel argument in the shape of a pistol to his head. They were then obliged to swear an oath of allegiance to the Southern Confederacy and not to divulge any of these proceedings for two hours. The leader of the party said, "We are here under the order of General Early. You have been down into the Shenandoah Valley, burned our houses and wasted our property and now we propose to pay you back in the same coin." Mr. Seymour being an extremely good Union man hesitated about taking the oath prescribed, but a threatened application of "cold lead" soon brought him to the rebel terms. The bank lost in all $73,500 distributed at follows: Bills of St. Albans Bank, $38,500; Bills of other Banks, $10,000; Legal tender notes, $20,000; Interest U.S. demand notes, $5,000.
The leader of the party was described as tall, well-built, good looking, and registered himself at the Tremont House as T.B. Clyde of Illinois. He first appeared in St. Albans about the 10th of October, when he put up at the Tremont House and remained two or three days. At that time he mostly kept to his room, but several strangers in the meanwhile visited him at his room. He next visited St. Albans on the morning of October 18th. He was evidently a man of talent, coolness and of good education, and undoubtedly a Confederate officer. The Confederates were well armed with horse pistols of a new and most serviceable pattern. They each had from one to four of these formidable weapons. The demonstration was totally unexpected to the citizens of St. Albans, though locals remarked that they noticed an unusual number of strangers in town Wednesday afternoon, exciting their curiosity and attention. They were almost all well dressed, intelligent looking men, and were clearly just the men for so bold and hazardous an undertaking as they accomplished. After dinner these persons were seen occasionally in groups, but mostly walking carelessly along Main Street in the neighborhood of the banks. The preliminaries of the affair were the stationing of a patrol on the streets and a simultaneous descent on the banks, about half past three o'clock, parties of five or six entering each of them, while a like number of their friends remained outside keeping watch. The leader of the raid was Lieutenant Bennett H. Young. One of his fellow raiders was Marcus A. Spurr who would go on to become president of the Commercial National Bank of Nashville, Tennessee. For more details of the St. Albans Raid, see the links above.
In January 1866, the recently organized Vermont National Bank of St. Albans had paid in capital of $100,000. W.C. Smith was president and Bradley Barlow cashier. Its banking room was undergoing completion under the Welden House where it expected to commence operation as soon as its currency was received from the Government.
The St. Albans Messenger reported in May 1866, "The rooms in the Welden House Block, fitted up for the Vermont National Bank of St. Albans, are the finest we have ever had the pleasure of examining. They are certainly unsurpassed in New England. The finish and furniture inside are all of solid black walnut, elegantly carved; and the conveniences of the room for light, heat, water, etc., are admirable. The cornucopia over the arched door on the counter, through which wealth is to pass and repass, is quite suggestive of plenty; and the strong vault of the bank is as suggestive of safety, the outer door thereof weighing a ton. Altogether the bank is a very elegant as well as convenient affair, and speaks well for the taste and enterprise of those who have fitted it up in a manner so creditable to them and the place."
The St. Albans Bank of St. Albans, Vermont, whose charter terminated on the 25th day of March, 1868, gave notice that it would redeem its outstanding bills at its banking house in the Vermont National Bank of St. Albans for one year from the 25th day of May, 1868.
In January 1870, stockholders elected the following directors: W.C. Smith, J. Gregory Smith, H.N. Barber, James Saxe, D.R. Bailey, A.O. Brainerd, and Bradley Barlow. At a subsequent meeting of the directors, the following officers were elected: W.C. Smith, president; H.N. Barber, vice president; Bradley Barlow, cashier; C.N. Bishop, Assistant cashier; and Wm. K. Smith, teller.
In May 1875, the directors of the Central Vermont Railroad Co. met at Young's Hotel in St. Albans and organized their board as follows: John B. Page, Portland, president; Bradley Barlow, St. Albans, first vice president; James W. Hickok, Burlington, second vice president; A.G. Safford, St. Albans, clerk; Albert Sowles, St. Albans, treasurer; B. Barlow, president of finance committee; Romeo H. Hoyt, president of committee on accounts.
In January 1880, the directors were Bradley Barlow, H.N. Barber, H.C. Edson, J.L. Sanderson, B.B. Smalley and C.N. Bishop. The officers were: president, Bradley Barlow; cashier, C.N. Bishop.
On Tuesday, January 9, 1883, at the annual meeting the following directors were chosen: Bradley Barlow, A.O. Brainerd, F.A. Metcalf, H.G. Edson, B.B. Smalley, A.B. Chaffee, and C.N. Bishop. At a subsequent meeting of the directors, the following officers were chosen: Bradley Barlow, president; F.A. Metcalf, vice president; C.N. Bishop, cashier; and S.B. Morgan, teller.
On Monday, August 6, 1883, the Vermont National Bank at St. Albans closed and its suspension was followed by that of the St. Albans Trust Company. Bradley Barlow who said he had put a million dollars into the South Eastern Railroad tried to effect a sale of that road for some time to the Canadian Pacific syndicate. But the syndicate didn't buy, probably waiting to get the property cheaper. Within a few days much of Barlow's paper had gone to protest in Montreal and Boston. The Vermont National Bank among its discounted paper had $319,000 of the paper of the South Eastern Railway. On Saturday evening, Mr. Barlow and the directors decided to suspend business and Mr. Barlow assigned all his property to the bank. Bank Examiner Hendee was at work examining the condition of the bank. The suspension of the St. Albans Trust Company was hoped not to cause loss to its depositors. Its president, Lawrence Brainer, was an indorser of Mr. Barlow's paper to a large amount. Mr. Brainerd assigned his property, estimated at half a million to the Trust Co., which was thought sufficient to pay his liabilities to the Trust Co. and also the paper he indorsed for Barlow. Mr. Barlow said he was depressed in spirits and that he had nothing left, but was absolutely penniless.
For 1883, Vermont had 47 national banks with an aggregate capital of $7,986,000 and a circulation of $6,512,179. The Vermont National Bank at St. Albans was the only one that suspended during the year and the Killington National of Rutland was the only one organized for business in 1883. Ex-Governor Hendee was appointed receiver of the Vermont National Bank.
St. Albans would soon be without a bank after the failure of the First National in 1884. However, in March 1886, the Welden National Bank, with a capital stock of $100,000, was organized at St. Albans with heavy backing from the Central Vermont Railroad interests. Hon. J. Gregory Smith of St. Albans was president; E.C. Smith of St. Albans, vice president; Henry L. Millis of Boston, J.W. Hobart of St. Albans, F.O. Squire of Boston, and J.M. Foss of St. Albans, directors. The cashier was F. Stewart Stranahan of St. Albans.
Official Bank Title(s)
1: The Vermont National Bank of St. Albans, VT
Bank Note Types Issued
A total of $443,300 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1865 and 1883. This consisted of a total of 51,064 notes (51,064 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 4x5 1 - 5000 Original Series 3x10-20 1 - 5000 Series 1875 4x5 1 - 1500 Series 1875 3x10-20 1 - 1266
Bank Presidents and Cashiers
Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1865 - 1883):
Presidents:
Cashiers:
Other Known Bank Note Signers
- No other known bank note signers for this bank
Bank Note History Links
Sources
- Saint Albans, VT, 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
- Woodstock Observer, and Windsor and Orange County Gazette, Woodstock, VT, Tue., Nov. 29, 1825.
- Vermont Standard, Woodstock, VT, Fri., Feb. 12, 1858.
- Orleans Independent Standard, Irasburgh, VT, Fri., Oct. 28, 1864.
- The Burlington Weekly Sentinel, Burlington, VT., Fri., Jan. 19, 1866.
- The Burlington Weekly Sentinel, Burlington, VT, Fri., May 11, 1866.
- The Vermont Transcript, St. Albans, VT, Fri., Jan. 11, 1867.
- Vermont Daily Transcript, St. Albans, VT, Wed., June 3, 1868.
- The St. Albans Weekly Messenger, St. Albans, VT, Fri., Jan. 21, 1870.
- Boston Post, Boston, MA, Tue., May 25, 1875.
- The Burlington Free Press, Burlington, VT, Thu., Jan. 15, 1880.
- The St. Albans Weekly Messenger, St. Albans, Tue., Jan. 9, 1883.
- Green-Mountain Freeman, Montpelier, VT, Wed., Aug. 8, 1883.
- The Landmark, White River Junction, VT, Sat., Dec. 29, 1883.