Footnotes
The Society’s capital stock was a considerably higher amount than that of other community banks in the period, which ranged from $100,000 to $300,000.
The Kirtland Safety Society charged $0.26¼ per share of stock for the initial installment payment once an individual agreed to purchase stock. This amount was not a published figure but can be calculated based on stockholders’ payments recorded in the society’s stock ledger. Stockholders paid certain amounts consistently, including $2.63 for 10 shares of stock, $5.25 for 20 shares, $10.50 for 40 shares, $15.75 for 60 shares, $26.25 for 100 shares, $52.50 for 200 shares, and $105 for 400 shares. When the amount paid is divided by number of shares, the price of an individual share comes to $0.26¼. While the requirement remained constant, some individuals paid more than the required amount when they initially paid for their stock, and many others paid less for their initial payment. (Kirtland Safety Society, Stock Ledger, 33–34, 43–44, 81–82, 183–184, 191–192, 195–196.)
In the 1836 Ohio legislature proceedings, the most common cost for a share of stock for banks in Ohio towns was $100. Stock shares in larger, well-established areas varied from $100 to $500 per share, but most community banks on the western frontier could not demand such elevated prices. Shares in the stock of the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie were $100 and required five percent to be paid upon subscription. (“A Bill for the Regulation of Banks within This State,” sec. 7, Ohio State Journal and Columbus Gazette, 13 Jan. 1837, [2]; Bodenhorn, State Banking in Early America, 19–20; Charter Acceptance, Letterbook, vol. 1, 1816–1839, [1], Commercial Bank of Lake Erie Records, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, OH.)
Ohio State Journal and Columbus Gazette. Columbus. 1825–1837.
Bodenhorn, Howard. State Banking in Early America: A New Economic History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Commercial Bank of Lake Erie Records, 1816–1840. Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland.
No compilations of data for installment payments have been created for nineteenth-century banks, but the Bank of Geauga in Painesville, Ohio, notified stockholders that an installment of $6.50 was due on each share on 20 January 1837. The charter for the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio, required an installment of 5 percent, or $5.00 on each share. The Bank of Monroe in Michigan notified stockholders of the need to pay monthly installments of $5.00 per share after the bank’s 10 February 1837 meeting. (Notice from Bank of Geauga, 16 Nov. 1836, in Painesville [OH] Telegraph, 30 Dec. 1836, [4]; Charter Acceptance, Letterbook, vol. 1, 1816–1839, [1], Commercial Bank of Lake Erie Records, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, OH; “Bank of Monroe,” Painesville [OH] Republican, 29 Feb. 1837.)
Painesville Telegraph. Painesville, OH. 1822–1986.
Commercial Bank of Lake Erie Records, 1816–1840. Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland.
Painesville Republican. Painesville, OH. 1836–1841.
Kirtland Safety Society, Stock Ledger, 1–2. Brigham Young recorded in his personal account book that he “paid to the Bank this day 150 cents in silver” on 15 October 1836, but no record of this transaction is found in the stock ledger. It is possible the money was paid to the Bank of Geauga in Painesville or that Young paid the money to the Kirtland Safety Society in some other capacity than payment for stock subscription. The Kirtland Safety Society loan book is not extant, and only a few pages of discount records have survived to the present. (Young, Account Book, [1].)
In the ledger these payments are recorded as being made in “cash,” which in nineteenth-century banking and accounting terminology could mean either specie, such as gold or silver coins, or banknotes. (Coffin, Progressive Exercises in Book Keeping, 10–39.)
Coffin, James H. Progressive Exercises in Book Keeping, by Single and Double Entry. Greenfield, MA: A. Phelps, 1836.
Five individuals who subscribed for stock have no recorded payments in the extant stock ledger: Joseph Brayn, Frederick G. Williams, Samuel Willard, Luther P. Bates, and Samuel Wittemore. (Kirtland Safety Society, Stock Ledger, 159–160, 197–198, 199–200, 207–208, 213–214.)
Six women were among the subscribers in October and early November. The majority of women who were stockholders were related to JS or were the wives of men involved in the society.
“Minutes of a Meeting,” Messenger and Advocate, Mar. 1837, 3:475–477.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.
| Dr. Lysander M. Davis | Contra Cr. | |||||
| 40 Shares Stock $50.00 Ea | 2,000.00 | Novr. 9 | Cash | 10.50 |