Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Co. Issued to and signed by Hamilton Fish and Stuyvesant Fish on back - 1867 dated Autograph Railway Stock Certificate

Stock issued to and signed by Hamilton Fish. Also signed by Stuyvesant Fish on back. 25 cents Washington revenue stamp. Very Rare!

Hamilton Fish(August 3, 1808 – September 7, 1893) was an American politician who served as the 16thGovernor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States Senator from New York from 1851 to 1857 and the 26th United States Secretary of State from 1869 to 1877. Fish is recognized as the "pillar" of the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant and considered one of the best U.S. Secretaries of State by scholars, known for his judiciousness and efforts towards reform and diplomatic moderation. Fish settled the controversial AlabamaClaims with Great Britain through his development of the concept of international arbitration.

Fish and Grant kept the United States out of war with Spain over Cuban independence by coolly handling the volatile Virginius Incident. In 1875, Fish initiated the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom that would ultimately lead to Hawaiian statehood, by having negotiated a reciprocal trade treaty for the island nation's sugar production. He also organized a peace conference and treaty in Washington D.C. between South American countries and Spain. Fish worked with James Milton Turner, America's first African American consul, to settle the Liberian-Grebo War in 1876. President Grant said he trusted Fish the most for political advice.

Stuyvesant Fish (1851-1923) was president of the Illinois Central Railroad.

Fish was born in New York City, the son of Hamilton Fish and his wife Julia Ursin Niemcewicz, née Kean. A graduate of Columbia College, he was later an executive of the Illinois Central Railroad, and as its president from 1887 to 1906 oversaw its period of greatest expansion. In 1906, he was removed from his position by E. H. Harriman, probably because of Fish's cooperation and participation with the state government in investigating the Mutual Life Insurance Company. Stuyvesant Fish also served on the board of directors of the National Park Bank.

He married Marion Graves Anthon on June 1, 1896. Marion, known as "Mamie", was a leader in New York and Newport society. She lived in a grand but plain Colonial Revival house, "Crossways", where her Harvest Festival Ball in August signaled the end of the Newport social season.

When Grand Duke Boris of Russia visited Newport, Mrs. Fish issued invitations for a dinner and ball in his honor; the night of the ball the Duke was detained by Mrs. Ogden Goelet, Mrs. Fish's rival as social leader, at whose home he was staying. About 200 guests had assembled in the hall at Crossways, and when the hour for dinner approached and there was no sign of the Duke, Mrs. Fish announced that the Duke was unable to come, but the Czar of Russia had agreed to be her guest. Suddenly the doors of the room were flung open and in walked His Imperial Majesty, dressed in his royal robes, wearing the Imperial Crown and carrying a scepter. The guests, including Senator Chauncey Depew, Pierpont Morgan, and Lord Charles Beresford, sank in a court curtsy, only to recover themselves with shrieks of laughter when they realized they were paying homage to Harry Lehr." (Rhode Island: a Guide to the Smallest State, 1937)

The house on Gramercy Park that was designed by Stanford White for Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish still stands. Stuyvesant Fish was a vestryman at Trinity Church, New York. They maintained his grandmother's Federal-style house at 21 Stuyvesant Street, but their New York house was a brick and limestone Italianate structure at 25 East 78th Street at Madison Avenue. The house is still standing; it too was designed by McKim, Mead, and White.

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