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Full Steam Ahead: The Steam Engine and Transportation in the Nineteenth Century
An 1863 bond sold by the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad.

An 1863 bond sold by the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad.

The engraving depicts a typical steam locomotive of the time. Bonds were often sold to finance construction of the railroads.

Transcript:

[[object Object]]

$500

Know all men by these Presents,

That there is due from

The County of Washington

In the State of Tennessee

[[object Object]]

State of Tennessee,

No. 37 County of Washington, No. 37

[[object Object]]

$500

To the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad Company,

Or Bearer,

Five Hundred Dollars,

Lawful money of the United States, with interest at the rate of six per centum per annum, payable semiannually on the 1st day of January and July, in each year, at the BANK OF AMERICA, in the City of New York, on the presentation and surrender of the Coupons, duly signed by the Clerk of the County Court of said County, and hereto annexed. The principal is re-imbursable on the presentation of this Bond at the Bank of America in said city, at the expiration of thirty years from the date hereof. For the performance of all of which the taxable property of said County of washington is irrevocably pledged. As these obligations are created in pursuance, and under the provisions of an Act of General Assembly of said State, entitled: “An Act to incorporate the Nashville, Franklin, and Columbia Railroad Company,” passed February 28th, 1852, all of the pertinent sections of which act are hereto referred to for further information.

In Witness Whereof, I Lewis A. Markwood, Chairman of the County Court of said County, have hereunto signed my name and caused the same to be countersigned by the Clerk of said County Court, and the Seal of said County to be affixed, at Jonesborough, on this first day of January, 1853.

W. H. Smith, Clerk Lewis A. Markwood, Chairman

[[object Object]]

Cancelled April 12, 1876, CW Meek, Ch. Co. Court (6 times)

[[object Object]]

The Trustee of the County of Washington in the State of Tennessee Will Pay the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad Company, or Bearer, Fifteen Dollars at the Bank of America in the City of New York, on the first day of [date changes on each stamp: July 1877 to January 1883), being the semi-annual interest then falling due on Bond No. 37

$15. W.H.Smith, Clerk

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Citation Information
“East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad Company bond,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/5e43229ea7fbd766be94f30d0ac6e844.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of Tennessee State Library and Archives via Tennessee Digital Library.

Tips for Students

For this source, consider:

  • the author's point of view
  • the author's purpose
  • historical context
  • audience

Item 12 of 15 in the Primary Source Set Full Steam Ahead: The Steam Engine and Transportation in the Nineteenth Century

Previous ItemNext Item
A patent granted by the Georgia Assembly to Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet for their steam engine, 1789.
Excerpts from A Rudimentary Treatise on the Steam Engine by Dionysius Lardner, 1848.
A print depicting Robert Fulton’s steamboat, the Clermont, which had its first successful journey in 1807.
A chart of steam vessels built in New York City by Robert Fulton or according to his design, 1790-1816.
A broadside advertising the steamboat Nyack, which offered ferry service between Nyack, New York and New York City, 1827.
An advertisement for the steamboat Linda, traveling among Sacramento, Marysville, and Yuba City, California along the Feather River, 1850.
A photograph of a multi-level steamboat in New Orleans, Louisiana.
A photograph of cotton on the levees in New Orleans with river steamboats in background, ca. 1870s-1880s.
A photograph of a railroad car before steam locomotives, ca. 1834.
A stereograph of passengers at a train station in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, ca. 1850.
A photograph of the Pioneer, a steam locomotive, which was built in Boston and put into service in San Francisco, ca. 1868.
An 1863 bond sold by the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad.
A broadside advertising the Red Bird line as a travel alternative in “opposition to the railroad,” 1847.
An 1850 map with the title “Traveller’s Map of New England and Canada Showing all the Railroad, Steamboat, Canal and Stage Routes.”
Excerpts from Disturnell’s New and Complete Railroad and Steamship Guide, 1857.

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