2250

Sacramento,CA - Sept. 25, 1852 - Mills, Townsend & Co. Check :

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Banks, Registers & Vending Start Price:100.00 USD Estimated At:200.00 - 400.00 USD
Sacramento,CA - Sept. 25, 1852 - Mills, Townsend & Co. Check :
Extra Rare. Pay “West for taking care of hogs since Rice’s Death.” West received $21.00 for his troubles from the Estate of W. A. Rice. The check is signed by J. W. W[illegible] and [illegible] Adams. This is the first check written on the estate account. The vignette on the left of the check is in black ink and is a sailing vessel tacking in rough waves. Darius Ogden Mills and his cousin, E. J. Townsend, opened up this bank in Sacramento. According to Ira B. Cross, in volume one of his book, Financing an Empire: Banking in California, Mills set up an early banking house, named D. O. Mills & Company, Bankers in Sacramento at 55 J. Street between Second and Third Streets in 1849 [Cross, 1927, 78]. Townsend was an early partner but Mills bought him out in 1852 to become the sole owner of the bank. Cross does not explain the change in names from the 1849 bank to the bank listed on this check in 1852, nor if Townsend was with Mills in 1849 or joined him later. Therefore, it is not certain that this check is from Mills first bank in California.