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Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co. Issued to and Signed by Edward S. Harkness- Stock Certificate

Inv# AG2326   Stock
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co. Issued to and Signed by Edward S. Harkness- Stock Certificate
State(s): Maryland
Years: 1906

Stock issued to and signed on the back by Edw. S. Harkness and also signed by Charles W. Harkness.

Edward Stephen Harkness (January 22, 1874 – January 29, 1940) was an American philanthropist. Given privately and through his family's Commonwealth Foundation, Harkness' gifts to private hospitals, art museums, and educational institutions in the Northeastern United States were among the largest of the early twentieth century. His was a major benefactor to the Columbia University, Yale University, Harvard University, Phillips Exeter Academy, St. Paul's School, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Harkness inherited his fortune from his father, Stephen V. Harkness, whose wealth was established by an early investment in Standard Oil, and his brother, Charles W. Harkness. In 1918, he was ranked the 6th-richest person in the United States by Forbes magazine's first "Rich List", behind John D. Rockefeller, Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Carnegie, George Fisher Baker, and William Rockefeller.

Harkness was born in Cleveland, Ohio, one of four sons of Anna M. Harkness and Stephen V. Harkness, a harness-maker who invested in and was one of the five founding partners in the forerunner of Standard Oil, John D. Rockefeller's oil company. Stephen Harkness died when Edward was fourteen, leaving his wife and oldest son, Charles, to manage the estate. Harkness attended St. Paul's School and Yale College, Class of 1897 and Columbia Law School. Harkness, his brother Charles, and cousin William were members of Wolf's Head Society at Yale.

After graduating, Edward Harkness married Mary Stillman, daughter of wealthy New York attorney Thomas E. Stillman, in 1904. Mary's maternal grandfather was George Greenman, a shipbuilder in Mystic, Connecticut, who founded George Greenman & Co. Harkness' mother gave the couple a new Italian Renaissance mansion on the Upper East Side as a wedding present. As the building's architect, Harkness chose his classmate James Gamble Rogers, who would later design many of his philanthropic building projects. The home, at 75th Street and 5th Avenue and now known as the Edward S. Harkness House, became the headquarters of Harkness' Commonwealth Fund after Mary's death.

Harkness briefly served as a railroad director for the Southern Pacific Railroad, but within several years decided to become a full-time philanthropist. He began making gifts to the Egyptian collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1912, and that same year was appointed to the museum's Board of Trustees.

Harkness' older brother Charles died in 1916 at age 55, leaving Edward more than US$80 million, much of it in Standard Oil stock. Charles had continued to invest substantially in Standard Oil as manager of the family fortune, and his brother's estate made Harkness the third-largest stakeholder in Standard Oil.

Charles William Harkness (December 17, 1860 – May 1, 1916) was the son of Stephen V. Harkness, an original investor in the company that became Standard Oil, and his second wife, the former Anna M. Richardson. He is the brother of Edward Harkness, noted philanthropist and half brother of Lamon V. Harkness.

Charles was born in Monroeville, Ohio, and his early education was in Cleveland at The Brooks Military Academy. He earned a B.A. from Yale College with the Class of 1883. Harkness, his cousin William L. Harkness (Yale Class of 1881), and others help found Wolf's Head Society, known originally as The Third Society, at Yale in 1883. Harkness married Miss Mary Warden, daughter of William G. Warden who was an early Standard Oil partner and thus kept the Standard Oil fortune "in the family".

While at Yale, he was described as "care-free, happy, irresponsible as the rest of us." On his father's death in 1888, Charles inherited stock in Standard Oil amounting to the second largest holding in the company, surpassed only by that of the Rockefeller family. Harkness became a director at Standard Oil and was a director of the Southern Pacific Railway Company, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the Tilden Iron Mining Company, and managed his father's immense holdings.

C.W. purchased the Henry Flagler townhouse at 685 Fifth Ave, NY and also owned a home in Madison, NJ and a winter home in St. Augustine, FL. Harkness was a member of the University Club of NY, the Morris County Golf Club of Morristown, NJ , The Down Town Club in Philadelphia, Newport Country Club, Newport Casino and The N Y Yacht Club.

He died suddenly in 1916, leaving a fortune. The large portion of his Standard Oil stock was left to his brother Edward S. Harkness. One half his residual estate, his home in New York at 2 West 54th Street and his country home in Madison, NJ (designed by James Gamble Rogers who designed many Harkness buildings) were bequeathed to his wife Mary. He left $100,000 as a token of affection and esteem to his brother Lamon V. Harkness. Lamon had already died a year before Charles' death. Lamon had been quite wealthy in his own right from his inheritance from their father Stephen V. Harkness

Harkness Tower at Yale is named after Charles W. Harkness because his mother, Anna Harkness, provided a $3,000,000 donation to build the Memorial Quadrangle of dormitories in his memory. Harkness tower contains the Yale Memorial Carillon, a carillon of 54 bells, the largest of which is inscribed "In Memory of Charles W. Harkness, Class of 1883, Yale College."

The Cleveland Museum of Art has a $100,000 permanent endowment known as the Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund, which was created through a donation from his widow, Mary Warden Harkness.

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Condition: Good

A stock certificate is issued by businesses, usually companies. A stock is part of the permanent finance of a business. Normally, they are never repaid, and the investor can recover his/her money only by selling to another investor. Most stocks, or also called shares, earn dividends, at the business's discretion, depending on how well it has traded. A stockholder or shareholder is a part-owner of the business that issued the stock certificates.

Item ordered may not be exact piece shown. All original and authentic.
Price: $130.00