Kalamazoo, Allegan and Grand Rapids Railroad Co. signed by J. H. Wade - 1888 dated Autographed $1,000 Bond

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.