Investors in the Delaware Railroad Company

In my June 8, 2011 blog entry about the Delaware Railroad Company, where I shared some documents Tom Hilson had unearthed about the railroad, I promised to provide a list of people buying shares in the company and purchasing the right of way for the railroad.  Here are the lists. 

There were two different documents listing shareholders, pretty much duplicates of each other. 

Shareholders for the Delaware Railroad Company.

We, the undersigned, hereby subscribe hereto our respective names, post office addresses and the number of shares of capital stock, at the par value of one hundred dollars ($100.00) each, which we respectively agree to take in the Delaware Railroad Company, a corporation organized under the Laws of the State of New York, with a capital stock of Two hundred thousand Dollars ($200,000.00) consisting of two thousand shares and we hereby severally agree to pay for said stock at such times as the Board of Directors of each Company may by resolution require after the completion of said railroad to Bovina Center, and not before.  [The number after each name and address is the number of shares purchased.]

F.R. Coulter            Bovina Center        1
B.S. Miller            Bovina Center        1
D. Dickson            Bovina Center        1
J.W. Coulter            Lake Delaware        2
J.A. Irvine            Lake Delaware        1
James Russell            Bovina Center        1
W.L.C. Samson            Bovina Center        2
L. Phinney            Bovina Center        1
James & Margaret Chisholm    Bovina            1
A.T. Strangeway            Bovina            1
Charles R. Lee            Bovina            1
J.R. Hoy            Bovina            1
Mrs. D. Lyle Thomson        Bovina            1
J.M. Miller            Bovina            1
M. Miller            Bovina            1               
Albert McPherson        Bovina            1
D.J. Miller            Bovina            1
Johnson Bros            Bovina            1
Thomas Hoy            Bovina            1
W.A. Doig            Bovina            1
Robert W. Scott            Bovina            1
J.H. Blair            Bovina            1
W.L. White            Bovina            1   
W.F. Black            Bovina            1
J.W. Storie            Bovina            1
M.A. Doig            Bovina            1
J.E. Hastings            Bovina            1
Mrs. E.A. Hewitt        Bovina            1
W.J. Archibald            Bovina            1
John W. Elliott            Bovina            $10 dollars
Thomas J. Liddle        Bovina            $5 dollars
R. Archibald            Bovina            $5
R.G. Foreman            Bovina            $5
J.E. Knapp            Bovina            $10

There are several documents of people contributing to the purchase of the right of way for the railroad.  There were a lot of names, so I have alphabetized them to make them easier to peruse:

We the undersigned, for value received, do severally agree to pay to the Delaware Railroad Company, a corporation duly organized, the sums set opposite our respective names, for the purpose of purchasing the right of way for the said Railroad Company; the sum to be paid on the completion of said railroad to Bovina Centre, and not before.  [Addresses are Bovina or Bovina Center, unless otherwise indicated.]

Amos, Walter        $25.00    Andes
Anderson, A.        $5.00
Armstrong, F.C.        $50.00
Armstrong, W.W.        $5.00
Bailey, Jacob        $5.00
Barnhart, J.T.        $25.00
Bergman, Mina        $25.00
Biggar, John        $25.00    Andes
Biggar, W.        $25.00
Bramlee, G.        $50.00
Bramley, Fred        $5.00
Brisbane, Wm. H.    $5.00     Lake Delaware
Bryden, Alex        $5.00     Lake Delaware
Case, E.H.        $5.00
Coulter, H.M.        $5.00     Margaretville
Coulter, J.H.        $5.00
Coulter, Francis    $25.00
Currie, D.G.        $5.00
Dennis, John P.        $5.00
Draffen, D.B.        $5.00
Dumond, W.J.        $5.00
Erkson    , Claude    $5.00
Fiere, Robert        $5.00
Finkle, D.H.        $5.00
Foreman, H.        $25.00
Forrest, W.T.        $25.00
Gladstone, Geo        $50.00
Graham, F.W.        $5.00     Lake Delaware
Hastings, Elmer E.    $25.00
Hastings, M. T.        $5.00
Hastings, W.E.        $5.00
Hobbie, John S.        $50.00
Jackson, Robert        $5.00
Jardine, A.        $5.00
Johnson, W.        $5.00
Johnston, A.A.        $25.00
Johnston, Fred        $25.00
Laidlaw, H.        $5.00
Liddle, William M.    $5.00
Mason, Wm. T.        $5.00    Lake Delaware
Maynard, W.H.        $5.00
McCune, D.        $2.00
McCune, John        $5.00
McDivitt, W.        $5.00
McFarland, Andrew    $25.00
McLee(?),W.G.        $5.00
McNair, Geo. R.        $10.00
McNair, Peter        $5.00
McNee, Wm. F.        $5.00     Lake Delaware
McPherson, A.F.        $5.00
Miller, G.D.        $10.00
Miller, Gideon        $5.00
Miller, Wm. T.        $5.00
Monroe, James        $25.00
Myers, A.R.        $5.00
Oliver, John        $5.00
Ormiston, T.        $25.00
Phyfe, A.B.        $5.00
Rait, Mrs. J.        $25.00    Andes
Reynolds, Orrin        $25.00
Russell, R.H.        $25.00
Sanford(?), Charley    $25.00
Seacord, A.C.        $5.00
Seacord, S.R.        $25.00
Sloan, Leonard        $5.00
Smith, Amasa J.     $5.00
Smith, Richard        $5.00
Thompson, W.D.        $5.00
Thomson, A.G.        $50.00
Thomson, D.L.         $25.00
Thomson, Dixon        $50.00
Thomson, Elliott    $10.00
Thomson, James A.    $5.00
Thomson, L.        $5.00
Thomson, M & L        $50.00
Thomson, Robert A.    $10.00
Thomson, Robt. E.    $5.00
Thomson, Wm. S.        $50.00
Tuttle, C.A.          $25.00
Washburn, E.S.        $5.00
Whitson, John A.     $25.00    Andes
Wight, Jas. R.        $25.00    Andes
Worden, D.C.        $25.00

These documents show that there was a lot of support for the railroad in Bovina, though everyone was cautious enough to not put any money on the table until the railroad was actually built.  As discussed in previous blog entries, railroad construction was started but never completed, much to the disappointment of many people.