GOVERNOR CHARLES EDISON - STOCK CERTIFICATE SIGNED 10/13/1926 - HFSID 32226

CHARLES EDISON
Charles Edison, son of Thomas Edison, signed this certificate for 250 shares in the Edison Portland Cement Company in 1926, the year he became president of Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
Stock Certificate signed: "Charles Edison" as President and "H.F. Miller" as Treasurer of The Edison Portland Cement Company, 11x7½, 4¼x7½ receipt portion affixed at left margin. New Jersey, 1926 October 13. Certificate No. 1880, certifying that "Adelaide M. Aylsworth and Irving Investment & Trust Company of East Orange, Executors of and Trustees under the Last Will and Testament of J.W. Aylsworth, Deceased is the owner of Two Hundred and Fifty shares of the common capital stock of the Edison Portland Cement Company...." Part of a capitalization of 300,000 shares: 240,000 shares of common stock at $[illegible] each; 60,000 shares of preferred stock at $50 each. This stock (original Certificate No. 1203) was transferred from Thomas A. Edison on November 19, 1926. On verso, stock is transferred by Aylsworth to Thomas A. Edison Inc. on March 27, 1929. CHARLES EDISON (1890-1969, born in West Orange, New Jersey), the eldest of the two sons of inventor THOMAS A. EDISON (1847-1931, born in Milan, Ohio) and his second wife, Mina Miller, briefly served as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Secretary of the Navy in 1940 before being elected Governor of New Jersey (1941-1944). The year after this stock certificate was signed, he became President of Thomas A. Edison, Inc., serving until the company was sold in 1959. The Edison Portland Cement Company, organized by Thomas Edison on April 15, 1899, was the fourth largest producer of cement in the U.S. by the mid-1920s. In the winter of 1901, the inventor had supervised construction of the Edison Portland Cement Company works at Stewartsville, New Jersey, near large limestone deposits. An explosion at the company's coal grinding plant in 1903 resulted in the death of eight workers, including Chief Engineer Edward A. Darling, and the closure of the plant for redesign. By 1905, the company was producing 3,000 barrels of cement per day. Three years later, Edison signed a cross-licensing agreement with the North American Portland Cement Company for mutual use of important cement patents. Slightly creased, light folds at left margin of certificate. Cancellation holes touch signatures, printed and handwritten (unknown hand) cancellations at center portion. Certificate is lightly rippled at left edge where receipt portion is affixed. Receipt portion lightly nicked at upper left edge and lower left blank corner. 7x2-inch sheet affixed to receipt portion at upper margin. Verso is lightly stained. Overall, fine condition.