In this blog we will look at what has become my favorite note in the Eric AgnewCollection, one that will be sold in the Summer 2025 Global Showcase Auction this coming August. This $5 Brown Back is unique in private hands (another is in the Smithsonian) and is from the Stockton National Bank (charter #2794), the 1882 conversion of the Bank of Stockton. This national bank lasted less than a year before the Stockton Bank absorbed the institution and liquidated its national charter.
The chapter on the bank in my recently published book (Paper Dreams in the Golden State) focuses on Robert King Reid, president of the bank at the time of its national charter. A most interesting individual, he was born in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1820 and came to California during the Gold Rush. After a very brief (and unsuccessful) stint as a prospector, he returned to his old profession and in 1854 was appointed to a two-year term as the resident physician of the State Insane Asylum in Stockton. When his tenure ended, discussions about the renewal of his term and the appointment of a successor got heated, and two doctors with opposing views ended up in a duel over the situation. Dueling was officially outlawed in California, so they rarely occurred, and the “Dueling Doctors of Stockton” is one of the very few instances of such an event happening in the state. Later, Dr. Reid served in the Civil War, before becoming a ranch-owner, investor, and banker.
Stack’s Bowers Galleries recently acquired Dr. Reid’s personal journal, dating from 1872 to 1882. The small leather-bound volume, with “Record” on the spine and handwritten “1872 to 1882” on the cover, contains almost 300 pages covering these 10 years. While most of the entries are brief, the volume includes some comments about the bank and the day-to-day life of Robert Reid that provide insight into what it took to establish a national bank in the early 1880s. A typical entry, written in what is what can be best described as (barely legible) doctor’s writing, covers letters received and sent, sums of money in and out, and the state of his investments and properties. There are also bank-related entries, such as this one from May 15, 1874:
Meeting of Board of Directors of the Bank of Stockton. Was elected V. President and Chairman of Finance Committee.
There are some insightful entries into the Bank of Stockton and its conversion to a national bank, which took place after the state bank commissioner had warned the institution in the late 1870s of its impaired capital, perhaps in an attempt to switch jurisdictions and the mistaken belief that conversion to a national bank brought less strict capital requirements. This, however, was not the first time Reid had attempted to become involved in the national banking system. On April 25, 1872, Reid recorded the posting of a letter to Aaron Sargent and Cornelius Cole (politicians representing California in Washington D.C. in the Senate and House, respectively) for the “proposal to organize a National Gold Bank.” He received a reply on June 12 with “instructions and forms in regards to establishing a national gold bank.” No further words were written about this by Reid, and while the First National Gold Bank of Stockton was organized in November of that year, Reid does not appear to have been involved in its establishment.
Reid seems to have been rather content as vice president of the bank (as even in his private journal we don’t see any comments otherwise), but things would change for him on Tuesday, April 22, 1879. On that day, Captain George W. Kidd, president of the Bank of Stockton, passed away from pneumonia in San Francisco at the age of 66. Robert Reid wrote the following about it in his journal, in one of his lengthier entries:
Capt. Kidd died at San Francisco. Mr. Tully, cashier and I as Vice-President Took possession of the Bank. Closed the vaults and safe until Monday.
Meeting Board [of] Directors. It was resolved to continue the business of the Bank. I was elected President + then re-appointed. Tully – Cashier and discharged “Dan” as Book-Keeper.
“Dan” was Daniel, the nephew of George W. Kidd, and his firing the same day his uncle died does not appear surprising, as he had several run-ins with the law and had earned quite a reputation, judging by contemporary newspaper reports. R.W. Tully (sometimes spelled Tally), who would become cashier after the bank’s conversion to the national bank, was related to the Kidd family, but it seems that this was not a hindrance in his employment. He would later serve as mayor of Stockton from 1882 to 1884 while also cashier of the Stockton National Bank.
Not long after assuming the presidency of the bank, Robert Reid spent a month at home in July 1879 with “typhoid pneumonia.” The newspapers reported that he was “again visible on the streets, looking thinner than is his wont, but his eye undimmed by disease or age.” Not surprisingly he wrote little in his journal at that time, stating merely that he returned to work on July 20; the next day he wrote “weighed to day. 120 lb.” He recovered well though, and happily wrote on September 8 that he had “gained 25 lb. in six weeks.”
The next year and a half were spent with ordinary things, but the possible conversion of the Bank of Stockton to a National Bank continued to be on his mind. On January 5, 1881, he wrote:
Recd from Comp. U.S. Treasury forms + blanks for Natl Bank.
Unfortunately, Reid did not record much more about his thoughts and possible discussions with Tully or others about converting to a national charter until July 24, 1882, when he wrote:
Forms changing “The Bank of Stockton” to “Stockton National Bank” completed + sent to Washington.
On October 18, 1882, just six days after the Stockton National Bank was chartered, Reid received a letter from Washington D.C.:
Frm. Jno. Jay Knox, Compt. Of Treasury. U.S. and conf. Authorization for formation of “Stockton National Bank”.
Reid replied to John Jay Knox Jr. three days later, but unfortunately did not record what he sent back to Washington. The following month, on November 4,he wrote the following brief sentence about what he received that day:
Frm. Rev. Office Blanks + Record Book
This is pretty much where the journal ends, and unfortunately we are missing what must have been a couple interesting entries in 1883 and later. The question that arises is what he actually received on November 4. Were they already the printed notes? It seems doubtful, especially given the fact that Stockton newspapers only announced the transition in late December, but on the other hand, the proofs in the Smithsonian are dated October 23, so technically it could have been possible. More likely, they were blank certificates of deposit.
The Stockton National Bank did not last long. In September 1883 it was reported that the bank would give up its national charter, and the bank liquidated on October 1 of that year. It continued business as the private Stockton Bank, with Robert K. Reid as president and R.W. Tully as cashier. In 1889, the bank finally ran out of money and closed. The Chinese community of Stockton was especially impacted by the bank’s closure, as several Chinese people had deposited funds with the bank at the time of its closure. Whether or not they were ever made whole is unclear. Dr. Reid died on February 4, 1891, and his obituary in the Stockton Mail ended with these words, summarizing the last decade of his life:
…From his professional work and by speculating in real estate he made a fortune and was once estimated to be worth about $100,000. Nearly the whole of it, however, was lost in late years though his connection with the Bank of Stockton, an institution where the ink-wells were chronically full of dust.
Not long ago the deceased transferred to his brother the little property he managed to save from the wreck of the bank.
The journal provides a fascinating look into the era that enhances the $5 Brown Back from the Eric Agnew Collection. The consignment deadline for the Summer 2025 Global Showcase Auction is rapidly approaching. To consign your items alongside this storied note, contact Dennis Hengeveld today at [email protected] or call 800-458-4646.
