Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 9.djvu/369

 �THE

RANITE n

���NTHLY.

��A NEW HAMPSHIRE AlAGAZINE.

'Devoted to Literature, 'Biography, History, and State Progress.

��Vol. IX.

��DECEMBER, 1886.

��No. 12.

��BANKS AND BANKEES OF CONCORD.

��It is now more than eighty years since the banking business was intro- duced into Concord. June. 18, 1806, Timothy Wallver, Caleb Stark, John Bradley, John Mills, Robert Harris, Ebenezer Peasley, Richard A3'er, William Whittle, William A. Kent, Joshua Darling, Thomas W. Thomp- son, Aquila Da^-is, John Chandler, Baruch Chase, Joseph Towue, and Joseph Clough and their associates were incorporated b}' the name of the President, Directors, and Company of the

CONCORD BANK.

There immediately arose dissension in the board of directors as to the lo- cation of the bank, the party favor- ing the "north end" being led by Hon. Timothy Walker ; the party fa- voring the ''south end" being led by Colonel William A. Kent. As a re- sult two banks went into operation under the same charter, each claiming exclusively to be the Concord Bank, one called the Upper Bank, the other the Lower Bank. Mr. Walker was the first president of the Upper Bank, and Samuel Sparhawk was the first cashier. Mr. Towue was president.

��and Mr. Kent was cashier, of the Lower Bank. The division led to considerable litigation, which after a while was amicably settled, and the two banks continued to do business until the charter expired in 1826, when the Upper Bank obtained a new charter and took the name of the Mer- rimack County Bank. The Lower Bank also obtained a new charter, and continued to do business until it failed in 1840.

THE MECHANICKS BANK

was incorporated July 5, 1834. Its original incorporators were Peter Ren- ton, Abner B. Kelley, Horatio Hill, Joseph W. Harper, Nathaniel G. Up- ham, Abel Baker, Benjamin Evans, William Low, Joseph Low, Cyrus Barton, Ralph Metcalf, Nathaniel Curtis, James Minot, Arnold Carroll, Moody Kent, Ezra Carter, William Richardson, and Isaac F. Williams. The original officers were Nathaniel G. Upham, president ; George Minot, cashier ; N. G. Upham, Peter Renton, Horatio Hill, J. M. Harper, N. Curtis, and A. B. Kelley, directors. The original capital was $100,000. The charter of the bank was extended

�� �