Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis & Chicago Railway Co. Issued to J.B. Clews and Signed by Henry & J.B. Clews - 1889 dated Autographed Stock Certificate

Stock issued to J.B. Clews and signed by both Henry and J.B. Clews on back.

Henry Clews (August 14, 1834 – January 31, 1923) was a British-American financier and author. Clews was born on August 14, 1834, in Staffordshire, England. He was the youngest of four sons born to Elizabeth "Bessie" (née Kendrick) Clews and James Clews, a prosperous manufacturer of Staffordshire ware. At age 14, while in training for the Anglican Church, Clews traveled to New York City, where he "began to perceive the possibilities that presented themselves to a young man."

Shortly thereafter, Clews emigrated to the United States in 1853. His first job was at a pottery import business, working as a junior clerk for Wilson G. Hunt & Company. He organized the firm of Stout, Clews & Mason and eventually brought his brother James Clews over from England to help him manage a branch of the brokerage firm. In 1859, he co-founded Livermore, Clews, and Company, what was then the second largest marketer of federal bonds during the United States Civil War. In 1877, he split away and started Henry Clews & Company, a member of the New York Stock Exchange, which made him enormously wealthy. 

James Blanchard Clews (August 4, 1869 – December 17, 1934) was an American railroad executive and banker.

Clews was born in Dunkirk in Chautauqua County, New York on August 4, 1869. He was a son of John Clews (1826–1862) and Sabina (née Dayman) Clews (1830–1912). His older brother was John Henry Clews, who also became a banker.

His uncle was the prominent financier and author Henry Clews. Among his many cousins were Elsie Clews Parsons (wife of U.S. Representative Herbert Parsons) and artist Henry Clews Jr., who lived at the Château de la Napoule in France. His paternal grandparents were Bessie (née Kendrick) Clews and James Clews, a prosperous manufacturer of Staffordshire ware. He graduated from Chamberlain College in Randolph, New York in 1888.

The Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago Railway (CISL&C) was a railroad in the United States. The CISL&C resulted from the 1880 corporate restructuring of the bankrupt Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Lafayette Railroad (IC&L). The CISL&C operated a railroad line from Cincinnati via Indianapolis to Lafayette, being the result of an 1867 merger of the Indianapolis and Cincinnati Railroad (I&C), the Lafayette and Indianapolis Railroad (L&I), and the Cincinnati and Indiana Railroad (C&I). The three predecessor companies had been founded in 1850, 1846, and 1861, respectively.
 

The CISL&C controlled and operated numerous subsidiary railway companies operating smaller branch lines. These included:

• Cincinnati, Lafayette and Chicago Railroad, which ran from Templeton, Indiana, to Kenkakee, Illinois. Most notably, through service (1872) with the Illinois Central Railroad via Kankakee, Illinois, eventually became the only Amtrak service that utilized Central Station in Chicago. (Amtrak moved to Union Station in 1972)
• Columbus, Hope and Greensburg Railroad from Columbus, Indiana, to Greensburg, Indiana
• Harrison Branch Railroad

In 1889, the railway merged with the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway and the Indianapolis and St Louis Railway to form the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, also known collectively as the Big Four.

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