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Raleigh and Gaston Railroad Co. signed by Lawrence O'Bryan Branch - Stock Certificate

Inv# AG1682   Stock
State(s): North Carolina
Years: 1853

Stock signed by Lawrence O'Bryan Branch. Portrait and biography included. Lawrence O'Bryan Branch (November 28, 1820 – September 17, 1862) was a North Carolina representative in the U.S. Congress and a Confederate brigadier general in the American Civil War, killed at the Battle of Antietam. Branch was born in Enfield, Halifax County, North Carolina to Major Joseph Branch and Susan Simpson O'Bryan Branch. His childhood home, The Cellar, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. His family moved to Williamson County, Tennessee but his mother died when he was five and his father died in 1827. His uncle, Secretary of the Navy John Branch (then serving as Governor of North Carolina) assumed his guardianship and took him back to North Carolina. Branch moved to Washington City with his uncle when the latter took the position as Secretary of the Navy and he was tutored by Salmon P. Chase. He pursued a preparatory course under a private teacher in Washington, D.C., before going on to train at North Carolina's Bingham Military Academy. He also attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for a short time and, in 1838, graduated first in his class from Princeton College before going to study law in Nashville, Tennessee, where he also owned and edited a newspaper. In 1840, Branch moved to Tallahassee, Florida and was admitted to the bar to practice law by a special act of the legislature. Just one year later, he went to fight in the Seminole Wars. In 1844, he married Nancy Haywood Blount and they had four children. In 1852, he moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he continued to practice law and became president of the Raleigh & Gaston Railroad Co. He also served as an elector on the Franklin Pierce ticket in 1852. Branch was elected as a Democrat to the 34th, 35th, and 36th Congresses (March 4, 1855 - March 3, 1861) but was not a candidate for renomination in 1860. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_O%27Bryan_Branch

The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad was a Raleigh, North Carolina, based railroad opened in April 1840 between Raleigh and the town of Gaston, North Carolina, on the Roanoke River. It was North Carolina's second railroad (the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad opened one month earlier). The length was 100 miles (160 km) and built with 4 ft 8 in (1,422 mm) gauge. Part of the Raleigh and Gaston's tracks remains in service today as part of CSX's S Line as the Norlina Subdivision of CSX's Florence Division.

Construction on the line began in 1836. At the north end, the line initially crossed the Roanoke River near Roanoke Rapids on a 1,040-foot long bridge to connect the line to Gaston. In Gaston, it connected with the Greensville and Roanoke Railroad (which was operated by the Petersburg Railroad). In 1852, the line was extended from Roanoke Rapids east to Weldon. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh_and_Gaston_Railroad

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Condition: Excellent

A stock certificate is issued by businesses, usually companies. A stock is part of the permanent finance of a business. Normally, they are never repaid, and the investor can recover his/her money only by selling to another investor. Most stocks, or also called shares, earn dividends, at the business's discretion, depending on how well it has traded. A stockholder or shareholder is a part-owner of the business that issued the stock certificates.

Item ordered may not be exact piece shown. All original and authentic.
Price: $450.00