Edward H. Harriman transferred Sterling Iron and Railway Co. - 1892 dated Railroad Mining Stock Certificate

This 1892 stock is transferred to Harriman but not signed. Superb graphics by American Bank Note Co., NY. Very Rare!

Edward Henry Harriman (1848-1909) was a prominent railroad executive and capitalist. He was born to an Episcopal clergyman and began his career as a Wall Street office boy at the age of fourteen. By the age of twenty-one, he had acquired a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. In addition to his involvement in the stock market, Harriman engaged in banking and insurance ventures and owned a steamship line that operated routes to the Orient. Harriman was born on February 20, 1848, in Hempstead, New York, to Orlando Harriman, Sr., and Cornelia Neilson. He had a brother named Orlando Harriman, Jr. His lineage includes his great-grandfather, William Harriman, who emigrated from England in 1795 and established himself as a successful businessman and trader. During his youth, Harriman spent a summer working at the Greenwood Iron Furnace, located in an area that would later become Harriman State Park. He left school at the age of fourteen to work as an errand boy on Wall Street, following in the footsteps of his uncle, Oliver Harriman, who had previously built a career in the financial district. By the time he reached twenty-two, he had become a member of the New York Stock Exchange.

The Sterling Iron and Railway Company, located in Ramapo (Rockland County), New York, operated under various names from its inception in 1736 until 1923. The company’s origins can be traced back to 1736 when Cornelius Board and Timothy Ward acquired 150 acres of the Sterling tract and established a bloomery and forge, producing the first iron at Sterling. Four years later, Board divested his interest in the venture to Ward. Following this change in ownership, the ironworks was managed by several individuals, including William Smith, James Burling, William Hawxhurst, and Abel Noble.