Valley Railway Co. signed by Jeptha H Wade - 1889 dated Autographed Stock Certificate

Stock signed by Jeptha Homer Wade as president. Some glue residue at left border. Similar to AG1844 without Flagler signature.

Jeptha H. Wade (1811-1890), Financier. Wade was one of the founders of the American commercial telegraph system. He started as an itinerant painter of portraits and branched out into photography when he learned of the invention of the daguerreotype and purchased a camera to widen his field of portraiture. The news of the success of the telegraph in 1844 led him to study the possibilities of the invention of Morse and in 1847 he contracted to build a telegraph line from Detroit to Jackson. Other lines, known as the Wade Lines, followed in rapid succession. In 1856, most of these lines were combined in the Western Union Telegraph Co. Wade became general agent. Western expansion put the pony express out of business and prepared the way for the transcontinental railroad and the daily mail. Later in 1866, he became President of the enlarged Western Union. He moved to Cleveland and was involved in banking, railroad building and management.

In corporate law, a stock certificate (also known as certificate of stock or share certificate) is a legal document that certifies ownership of a specific number of shares or stock in a corporation. Historically, certificates may have been required to evidence entitlement to dividends, with a receipt for the payment being endorsed on the back; and the original certificate may have been required to be provided to effect the transfer of the shareholding. Over time, these functions have been rendered redundant by statutory schemes to streamline the administrative burden on corporations, and to facilitate and streamline trading on a stock exchange. For example, most jurisdictions now impose an obligation on corporations to pay dividends to shareholders registered at a relevant point of time without the need to produce the share certificate as proof of entitlement and the certificate is no longer required to be produced with a transfer of a shareholding. In some jurisdictions today, the issue of paper stock certificates may be dispensed with, at least in some circumstances, and many corporations now provide a holding statement in lieu of a share certificate for each parcel of shares owned. Most jurisdictions now require corporations to maintain records of ownership or transfers of shareholdings, and do not permit share certificates to be issued to bearer. (Wikipedia)

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