St. Louis, Alton Terre Haute Railroad Co. Issued to and signed by W.C. Whitney and signed by Charles Butler - 1874 dated Autographed Stock Certificate

Stock issued to W.C. Whitney and signed by Charles Butler as president and on the back by W.C. Whitney. Gorgeous imprinted revenue and elaborate vignette in red! Portrait and biography of Whitney included.

W. C. Whitney (1841-1904) An American political leader and financier and founder of the prominent Whitney family.

William Whitney was born at Conway, MA of Puritan stock. He graduated from Yale University in 1863 then studied law at Harvard, and practised with success in New York City. He was an aggressive opponent of the Tweed Ring, and was actively allied with the anti-Tammany organizations, the Irving Hall Democracy of 1875-1890, and the County Democracy of 1880-1890, but upon the dissolution of the latter he became identified with Tammany.

He married Flora Payne, the sister of his wealthy Yale classmate Oliver Hazard Payne. Through his marriage to Flora Payne, Whitney gained enormously important corporate contacts.

In 1875-1882, he was corporation counsel of New York, and as such brought about a codification of the laws relating to the city, and successfully contested a large part of certain claims, largely fraudulent, against the city, amounting to about $20 million, and a heritage from the Boss Tweed regime.

In 1883, he became involved in a bitter struggle for control of the Broadway Railroad company, eventually gaining control by entering into an alliance with Thomas Fortune Ryan and Peter A. B. Widener. Whitney remained active in street railway affairs until his appointment as Secretary of the Navy (1885-89), in which post he was instrumental in the rebuilding of America’s naval forces.

During President Cleveland's first administration (1885-1889), Whitney was United States Secretary of the Navy and did much to develop the United States Navy, especially by encouraging the domestic manufacture of plate armor.

In 1892, he was instrumental in bringing about the third nomination of Cleveland, and took an influential part in the ensuing presidential campaign. In 1896, however, disapproving of the "free-silver" agitation, he refused to support his party's candidate, William Jennings Bryan. Whitney took an active interest in the development of public transport in New York, and was one of the organizers of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company. He was also interested in thoroughbred horse racing and established a racing operation with a string of race horses, competing against the successful stable of business associate, James R. Keene. A breeder of twenty-six American stakes winners, in 1901, Whitney won England's Epsom Derby with Volodyovski, leased by him from Lady Meux.

Charles Butler (1802-1897) Charles Butler was an American lawyer and philanthropist. He was born at Kinderhook Landing, Columbia Co., N.Y.; studied law in the office of Martin Van Buren at Albany, N. Y.; and was admitted to the bar in 1824. He became wealthy by accumulating land at the site of Chicago, Illinois and Toledo, Ohio. He also bought interest in the Michigan Southern, the Rock Island, and the Chicago & Northwestern railroads. It was his accumulation of Illinois land and railway building that helped turn Chicago into a city. In 1835, he was one of the founders of the Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. In 1836, he was appointed to the council of NYU, (where he served as an instructor) and he was a long serving Council President. He was a relative of (both by blood and as an in-law), as well as a business associate of William Butler Ogden, the first mayor of Chicago.
 

Read More

Read Less