JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER SR. - STOCK CERTIFICATE SIGNED 08/10/1883 CO-SIGNED BY: HENRY M. FLAGLER, JABEZ ABEL BOSTWICK - HFSID 347984

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER and HENRY FLAGLER
The businessmen who retired in the same year signed this stock certificate concerning 20 shares
Stock Certificate signed: "J.D. Rockefeller" as President, "H M Flagler" as Secretary and "JA Bostwick" as Treasurer, 15x7½. New York, 1883 August 10. Certificate No. 713 certifying "that Walter B. Mossman is entitled to Twenty Shares in the equity to the property held by the Trustees of the Standard Oil Trust...." Original transfer certificate, dated 1892 April 9, affixed ?. Each share was valued at $100. Vignette of the U.S. Capitol building at top center, giving the shareholder the false impression that the U.S. government had something to do with the Trust. John D. Rockefeller and Henry M. Flagler, as President and Secretary of the Board of Trustees, signed this 10-share certificate of the Standard Oil Trust in 1883, the year following the formation of this, the first industrial monopoly in U.S. history. The Standard Oil Trust Agreement, created in January 1882, placed all stocks and properties of over a dozen oil companies (including Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company of Ohio) into a trust, of which Rockefeller owned over a third of the combined holdings, under the control of nine trustees. The trust was dissolved by court decree in 1892. The constituents continued to operate in unison by informal agreement, forming a holding company, Standard Oil of New Jersey, in 1899. The U.S. Supreme Court finally broke the trust in 1911; that year Rockefeller stepped down as Standard's perfunctory head. Patriarch of the Rockefeller family JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER SR. (1839-1937) established his first oil refinery in 1863 near Cleveland, Ohio. His enterprise became the largest in the region within three years; he incorporated the Standard Oil Company of Ohio in 1870 and bought out all of his major competitors by 1872. From 1885 to 1910, he founded four philanthropic institutions, eventually contributing more than one-half billion dollars.  A grain merchant in Bellevue, Ohio in the 1850s, HENRY M. FLAGLER (1830-1913) joined John D. Rockefeller in business, investing borrowed money in his oil refining company in 1867. Flagler was active in the company, which became Standard Oil Company in 1870, serving as Vice President and later Director until 1911, the year both retired from the oil business. Flagler organized the Florida East Coast Railway in 1886, extending the line to Miami, where he built great seaside resort hotels (1892-1896), stimulating the growth of Florida's tourist industry. Handwritten cancellation (unknown hand) at left margin. Mid-vertical fold, not at signatures. Slightly soiled. Fine condition. Framed in the Gallery of History style: 34½x23½.