Peoples National Bank, Dover, NJ (Charter 5136)

The old Dover Trust Company located on the corner of Blackwell and Warren Streets, Dover, New Jersey. Courtesy of Google Maps, ca2018

Peoples National Bank, Dover, NJ (Chartered 1898 - Liquidated 1901)

Town History

A 1974 advertisement for the Dover Trust Company, a member of United Jersey Banks.

Dover is a town in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located on the Rockaway River, Dover is about 31 miles west of New York City and about 23 miles west of Newark, New Jersey. Sources attribute the town's name to Dover, England or Dover, New Hampshire. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 18,460. In 1880 the population was 2,958 growing to 10,031 by 1930.

Dover was incorporated as a town on April 1, 1869, within Randolph Township and became fully independent as of March 5, 1896. The town charter was amended in 1875. On May 7, 1896, Dover was reincorporated as a city and regained its status as a town on March 21, 1899, after the referendum that approved the change was invalidated by a court ruling.

In its past, Dover has had extensive iron and mill works, machine shops, stove, furnace, and range works, boiler and bridge works, rolling mills, drill works, knitting and silk mills, and a large hosiery factory (MacGregors). During this period, Dover was a port on the Morris Canal while it was operational; the boat basin was located at what is today the JFK Commons Park.

Dover had two National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, The National Union Bank (Charter 2076) and The Peoples National Bank (Charter 5136), and both of those banks issued National Bank Notes.

Bank History

• Organized August 12, 1898
• Chartered August 31, 1898
• Liquidated December 31, 1901

On Tuesday, July 19, 1898, an application for authority to organize the Peoples National Bank of Dover, New Jersey, with capital of $75,000, was approved. The applicants were C.E. Clark, Davis S. Allen, James H. Simpson, Thomas Baker, William W. Hill, James H. Neighbour, Andrew K. Baker, Andrew Roderer, Jr., and William H. Baker.

The bank organized on Friday, August 19th, electing James H. Simson, president; Theodore F. King, vice president; and Wilbur F. Morrow, formerly cashier of the First National Bank of Madison, cashier. The bank planned to open about October 1st probably in the Simpson Building. The directors sent the required amount of registered bonds to Washington, purchased safes, furniture and fixtures. Henry P. Drake of Chester and Charles Clark from the City Bank of New York were employed as bookkeepers. On September 29, 1898, the comptroller of the currency announced that Wilbur F. Morrow resigned as cashier of the Peoples National Bank. No cashier was appointed in his place.

In January 1901, the stockholders elected the following directors for the year: D.S. Allen, R.A. Bennett, Thos. Baker, Chas. E. Clark, E. Clark, John B. Hulse, Elmer King, Harry S. Peters, Andrew Roderer, Jr., James H. Simpson, E.H. Todd, and N.C. Vannatta.

In December 1901, the certificate of incorporation of the Newton Trust Company had been filed with the office of the clerk of Sussex County.  The capital stock was $100,000 divided into 1,000 shares. The ten incorporators each subscribed for 100 shares, were Frederick F. Searing, Henry F. Bell, John K. Cooke, James Mitchell, Henry C. Knox, Peter Quackenbush, and Albert C. Fairchild, of Paterson; James H. Simpson and Isaac W. Searing, of Dover; and David B. Hetzel of Newton. The company would conduct its business in the town of Newton.  Messrs. Searing, Bell and Quackenbush were among the founders of the Citizens Trust Co. of Paterson who recently established a trust company at Dover. The Dover Trust Company promoted by Paterson and Dover capitalists had a capital of $100,000 and a surplus of $15,000. Among the stockholders were Frederick F. Searing, Henry F. Bell, W.A. Arnold, T.J. Arnold, James Mitchell, A.H. Knapp, Albert C. Fairchild, Peter D. Westerhoff, William Berdan, Charles D, Cook, Peter O'Blenis, Judge William I. Lewis, Wm. M. Inglis, Wm. B. Gray, Dr. Wm. Blundell, and A.H. Day. Dover had no other trust company and no savings bank, thus the field there was a promising one for such an institution. The organization and election of officers of the Dover Trust Company was planned for on or about December 15th.

In January 1902, the stockholders of the Dover Trust Company elected the following Board of Directors: James H. Simpson, Elmer King, Andrew Roderer, Jr.., Thomas Baker, David S. Allen, Harry S. Peters, Isaac W. Searing, Frederick F. Searing, Henry F. Bell, Edward Kelly, Julius Hairhouse, James H. Neighbour, Edwin J. Ross, Max Heller, Emil Kattermann, Edward H. Todd, C.N. Vannatta, Charles E. Clark, and John B. Hulse. The Peoples National Bank of Dover went out of existence and its business was transferred to the Dover Trust Co. In transferring the business, a letter was sent to Ashley & Shaw telling them that their commercial paper amounting to $1,000 had been transferred to the trust company. Startled, William H. Ashley, secretary of the company went to Dover and pronounced the papers as bungling forgeries. Frank C. Wright was accused of signing Ashley and Shaw's name to two notes discounted at the Peoples National Bank. Bank officials stated that they discovered other paper for Wright bearing the signatures of prominent Morris County firms, but had not determined their validity. Wright was 31 years old, coming to Dover from Princeton in 1899 where he studied at the university. For two years he had charge of the electric light plant in Dover and had been running an electrical supply house in Dover.

On Monday, April 25, 1910, James H. Simpson, a native of Newton, who served as an aide to General Custer in the Civil War was dead at his home in Dover of a complication of diseases following an attack of pneumonia. He was 77 years old and had been a resident of Dover for forty years. He was the oldest member of Harmony Lodge, F. and A.M., and was the first president of the Peoples National Bank of Dover which since was known as the Dover Trust Company. He was interested in mining and railroads in Morris County and the state of Virginia. He left a widow and six children. Two weeks ago Mr. and Mrs. Simpson celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at their Florida home.

In November 1974, Peoples Trust of New Jersey was planning a major realignment of its branch system, including a merger with The Second National Bank of Orange and the transfer of its six Warren County facilities to The Dover Trust Co.  Edward A. Jesser, Jr., chairman of the $1.2 billion bank made the announcement. All three banks were members of United Jersey Banks, a statewide multi-bank holding company. According to Jesser, Peoples Trust, which had 38 offices throughout northern Jersey, would merge with The Second National Bank of Orange, a $42 million bank with three offices in Orange. The merger would unify UJB's banking facilities in the Essex County area providing a more effective marketing base for the company’s services. It would also bring the individual and commercial residents of Orange the expanded banking capabilities of a $1.2 billion bank. Following the merger, the resulting organization would be called United Jersey Bank. The transfer of the bank's six Warren County facilities to The Dover Trust Company would coordinate UJB's facilities in the northwest New Jersey market. Peoples Trust acquired the Hackettstown offices in 1970 through a merger with the former Peoples National Bank of Hackettstown.

Official Bank Title

1: The Peoples National Bank of Dover, NJ

Bank Note Types Issued

1882 Brown Back $5 Proof approved September 22, 1898. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives

A total of $24,880 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1898 and 1901. This consisted of a total of 3,776 notes (3,776 large size and No small size notes).

This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:

Series/Type	Sheet/Denoms	Serial#s	Sheet Comments
1882 Brown Back	4x5	1 - 744
1882 Brown Back	3x10-20	1 - 200

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1898 - 1901):

Presidents:

• Capt. James H. Simpson, 1899-1901

Cashiers:

• E. William Rosevear, 1899-1901

Other Known Bank Note Signers

• No other known bank note signers for this bank

Bank Note History Links

• Peoples National Bank, Dover, NJ History (NB Lookup)
• New Jersey Bank Note History (BNH Wiki)

Sources

• Dover, NJ, on Wikipedia,
• Don C. Kelly, National Bank Notes, A Guide with Prices. 6th Edition (Oxford, OH: The Paper Money Institute, 2008).
• Dean Oakes and John Hickman, Standard Catalog of National Bank Notes. 2nd Edition (Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1990).
• Banks & Bankers Historical Database (1782-1935), https://spmc.org/bank-note-history-project