1835 Monroe Bank MI, Haxby MI-28 Mormon Bank

Description

Monroe Bank 1835, Monroe, MI; Mormon Bank, Haxby MI-280 G24
The Bank of Monroe is the only bank in Michigan owned by the Mormon Church. All the members of the Board of Directors were Mormon leaders, except for the cashier, who was a neighbor of Joseph Smith’s home near Hill Cumorah.
The Bank of Monroe was incorporated on 29 March 1827, with a capital stock authorized at 0,000 to 0,000 and a corporate existence of 20 years. The early officers of the Bank were Steven Van Rensselaer Trowbridge, cashier and John Anderson, president, who managed the bank from 1827 to 1830.
In the summer of 1828 the Bank found itself in a precarious situation.
The NY Evening Post published the following on 3 July 1828:
Deception – Spurious Bills
We have been shown a well executed bill, purporting to be a two dollar bill on the Bank of Monroe, in Michigan, which, upon investigation proves to be a spurious emission, as there is no such bank in existence, to our knowledge.
The problems continued and the same newspaper later reported
:
the bank has closed its doors.
On 18 May 1830 The United States Gazette of Phila. listed the Bank of Monroe as a “Broken Bank.”
After closing its doors, the bank slipped into an hiatus of non-activity until late 1835 when it appears the bank attempted to re-establish itself by electing new officers: James Q. Adams, president; Philip Charles Hamilton Brotherson, cashier; and George B. Harleston, assistant cashier. However, they didn’t fully recover until purchased by the Mormon Church. In a public announcement by the Bank on 10 February 1837 Oliver Cowdery (scribe to Joseph Smith) was appointed Director and Vice President and Bailey Jenkins Hathaway, cashier.
The earlier bank officers signed many of the bank notes in 1835 and 1836. The Mormon management prior to the public announcement signed some of the bank notes in 1836. The Bank of Monroe became embroiled in an Ohio statewide banking scandal as part of the “panic of 1837”
and i
n January 1837 the Michigan legislature initiated an investigation into the president, directors and company of the Bank of Monroe. By June 1837 there was a bill introduced to repeal the charter of the bank. The bank became known as the Mormon Bank.
This banknote was printed by Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, New York; on sheet “A” shows in its central vignette 3 cherubs: education, commerce and geography; on the left, a portrait of George Washington in a frame; and on the right an allegorical figure of Education holding a scroll. The note is made payable to
J. D. Morton,
hand numbered
5105
, dated
Sept 1, 1836
and signed by
G. B. Harleston,
Cashier and
H. Smith
, President. On the back is written
"The man that bought N3 Saratoga Work Store Oct 20th '51"
The President was Major General Henry Warren Smith fought in the war of 1812 and then graduated from West Point in 1816. He had an extensive carrier working on construction projects with the Army Engineering Corp throughout Michigan include the Erie Canal and bay harbors. He served in the Michigan legislature and was Mayor of Monroe in 1846. He fought in the Mexican American War and d
ied on 24 July 1847 in Vera Cruz Mexico from yellow fever.
The note has been made complete by restoring a mouse bite out of the left side with archival paper using conservation techniques. It has a small ink stain on the back and a scattering of tiny pinholes.