Set of 3 New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Co. signed by William K. Vanderbilt, E.V.W. Rossiter and J. Carstensen - 1884 and 1885 dated Autographed Railway Stock Certificate

Set of 3 stock transfers signed by Wm. K. Vanderbilt, E.V.W. Rossiter and J. Carstensen. Rossiter signs on 2 separate transfers. Further research needed on Carstensen.

William Kissam Vanderbilt (1849-1920) A member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family. The second son of William Henry Vanderbilt, from whom he inherited $60 million, he was for a time active in the management of the family railroads, though not much after 1903. His sons William Kissam Vanderbilt II (1878-1944) and Harold Stirling Vanderbilt (1884-1970) were the last to be active in the railroads, the latter losing a proxy battle for the New York Central Railroad in the 1950s. William K. Vanderbilt's first wife was Alva Erskine Smith (1853-1933), who he married in 1875. Born in 1853 to a slave-owning Alabama family, she was the mother of his children and was instrumental in forcing their daughter Consuelo (1877-1964) to marry the 9th Duke of Marlborough in 1895. Not long after this the Vanderbilts divorced, William K. later marrying Anne Harriman Rutherford Sands and Alva marrying Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont. After the death of his brother Cornelius Vanderbilt II in 1899 he was generally regarded as head of the Vanderbilt family. Like other members of his wealthy family, he built magnificent Vanderbilt houses. His homes included Idle Hour (1900) on Long Island, New York and Marble House (1892), designed by Richard Morris Hunt who also designed his 660 Fifth Avenue mansion (1883), in Newport. William Kissam Vanderbilt died in Paris, France in 1920. His remains were brought home and interred in the Vanderbilt family vault in the Moravian Cemetery at New Dorp on Staten Island, New York.

Edward Van Wyck Rossiter (1844-1910) President’s clerk for Hudson River Railroad; Treasurer’s office clerk for Hudson River Railroad 1860-67; cashier New York & Harlem Railroad 1867-77. Later treasurer of same company, June 1883 became treasurer and from November 1900 had been Vice President of New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, New York & Harlem Railroad as well as of almost all the lines affiliated with the New York Central Company, also Lincoln National Bank and Lincoln Safe Deposit Company.

The Beech Creek Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in central Pennsylvania between Jersey Shore and Mahaffey. Originally chartered in 1882, it was leased by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad (later the New York Central Railroad) in 1890 and was directly operated by that company afterwards. Much of the line was abandoned in the second half of the 20th century, though sections at both ends are still active.

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