Hello Listers,

Apologies for cross-posting.

From my limited reading of banking history in Virginia, the Farmers'
Bank of VA began in 1812 and went out of business after the Civil War .
I looked at John J. Knox, "A History of Banking in the United States";
Allan
G. Gruchy, "Supervision and Control of Virginia State Banks"; George T.
Starnes, "Sixty Years of Branch Banking in Virginia" & T. Harry Gatton,
"Banking in Virginia".  That seemed to be all the Library of Congress
had to offer.
I have looked at the records of the bank housed at the Virginia
Historical Society--the domestic records, didn't go into the box marked
Foreign.  Records of officers' meetings, some loans, etc., no lists of
shareholders.

I have an ancestor, Martha ALLEN, who willed (1846, Chesterfield Co.,
VA) bank stock in the Farmers' Bank of Virginia (Richmond branch) to her
son, James Lawrence TOWNLEY (3 shares) and her daughter, Hypatia ALLEN
WILSON (2 shares)    Apparently she only owned 5 shares.  Her estate
also consisted of land & household furniture & goods as well as a gold
watch which was inherited by her son.

My questions to the list:  Would a woman of the early to mid-19th
century purchase bank stock or is it more likely she got it from either
a husband or her father?   Would there be any kind of record of the
shareholders' names either when shares were purchased or redeemed?  I do
not know her father's or husband's name.

I have no proof of her marital status in 1846, always "assumed" she was
a widow, however I've never found a marriage to either a Mr. TOWNLEY or
a Mr. ALLEN.  Perhaps she was single, or divorced.  She gave her consent
for Hypatia (1819-1869) to marry George N. WILSON in 1837 in Henrico
Co.

Suggestions for further reading and/or research would be appreciated.
Regards,

Marigay Holloway
Copyright Cataloger
Library of Congress
Washington, DC
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