Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad Co. signed by John Guy Vassar - 1868/69 dated Autographed Stock Certificate

Stock signed by John Guy Vassar on the back. Orange imprinted revenue stamp on the front!

John Guy Vassar is the nephew to Matthew Vassar, businessman, philanthropist, and world traveler. Raised by his uncle, John Guy became a partner in M. Vassar & Co. in 1832 but fell ill seven years later and began his travels. In 1862, he published his "Twenty Years Around the World", claiming to have "visited more countries, and traveled over more surface than any man who ever existed". A wise investor, John Guy Vassar funded the construction of various institutions with the help of his brother, Matthew Vassar, Jr. The last of these, The Vassar Brothers Hospital, was erected after his brother's death. John Guy died in 1888.

On July 8, 1853, the Ohio and Indiana companies merged, and on February 7, 1855, the Northern Indiana and Chicago Railroad and the Buffalo and Mississippi Railroad merged to form the Northern Indiana Railroad. In April 1855, the Northern Indiana Railroad merged with the Michigan Southern Railroad to form the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad. In October 1867, the Cleveland, Painesville, and Ashtabula Railroad leased the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad. The CP&A changed its name to the Lake Shore Railway on March 31, 1868, and on February 11, 1869, the Lake Shore absorbed the Cleveland and Toledo. On April 6, the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad and Lake Shore merged to form the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, which absorbed the Buffalo and Erie Railroad on June 22, giving one company the entire route from Buffalo to Chicago.

The main route passed through Dunkirk, Erie, Ashtabula, Ohio, Cleveland, Toledo, Waterloo, Indiana, and South Bend. An alternate route, the Sandusky Division, in Ohio ran north of the main line between Elyria and Millbury. (Not all track was laid until 1872.) From Toledo to Elkhart, the Old Road ran north, through southern Michigan, and the through route was called the Air Line Division or Northern Indiana Air Line. Along with various branches that had been acquired (see below), the Monroe Branch ran east from Adrian, Michigan, to Monroe, where it intersected the leased Detroit, Monroe, and Toledo Railroad. At some point, the original line to Toledo was abandoned west of the branch to Jackson, Michigan (Palmyra and Jacksonburgh Railroad). The new connection was at Lenawee Junction, the crossing between that branch and the line to Monroe.

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