{"id":419,"date":"2025-09-09T15:54:30","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T15:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/librarycompany.org\/librarycompanypapersproject\/?p=419"},"modified":"2025-09-09T15:54:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T15:54:31","slug":"history-of-share-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/librarycompany.org\/librarycompanypapersproject\/2025\/09\/09\/history-of-share-16\/","title":{"rendered":"History of Share #16"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Library Company share #16 was first issued to David Bush (circa 1707-1792)<\/strong> on November 22, 1731.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1731, Bush was obviously acquainted with Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) and his fellow Junto members. That group drew up \u201cArticles of Agreement\u201d on July 1, 1731 to found a library, and Bush was among the first group of shares issued four months later. These subscribers each invested forty shillings and \u201cpromised to pay ten shillings a year thereafter to buy books and maintain a shareholder\u2019s library.\u201d[i]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He apparently gifted at least one title to the Library Company: Robert Beverley\u2019s History of Virginia.<\/em>[ii]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of his life, Bush was a merchant and a justice of the peace based in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1785, he wrote a letter to fellow Library Company shareholder Benjamin Franklin to celebrate Franklin\u2019s return to the U.S. In the letter, Bush noted that they hadn\u2019t seen each other for many years, and fondly reminisced about \u201cOur small Club.\u201d[iii]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Bush\u2019s 1792 will, he bequeathed his Library Company share to his \u201cson David Bush, during his life . . . and his heirs, who shall be called David after him, or the next oldest son who shall be called David by either George or John Bush . . . wishing it may remain in the family name David Bush.\u201d[iv]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Library Company records give no indication that the share was transferred to Bush\u2019s son David or other namesake after his death. But as he wished, the share remained in the name of \u201cDavid Bush\u201d for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The share was eventually sold by \u201cestate administrator\u201d and Library Company Librarian John J. Smith, Jr. (1798-1881) to Rev. Charles Philip Krauth (1797-1867)<\/strong> on June 7, 1830.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Krauth was a Lutheran pastor. By the time he purchased this Library Company share, he was a trustee of the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and in 1834, he became the first president of what is today Gettysburg College.[v]<\/p>\n\n\n

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Image: <\/em>Charles Philip Krauth<\/a>. Courtesy of Gettysburg College.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certainly, the Library Company was not very convenient for a resident of Gettysburg. Krauth sold the share to William Norris (1802-1867)<\/strong> on September 5, 1834.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norris was a builder of steam locomotives. The 1835-1836 Philadelphia directory lists his occupation as simply \u201cAmerica steam carriage co.\u201d Indeed, he had founded that company with Major Stephen H. Long. When his partner left the company, Norris renamed the business \u201cNorris Locomotive Works.\u201d It was one of the dominant builder of locomotives in the U.S. from the 1830s into the 1860s.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Image: Detail from <\/em>Locomotive Steam Engine of William Norris, Philadelphia<\/a> (Philadelphia, 1838). Courtesy of Boston Public Library.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norris maintained his Library Company share for the next twelve years. His attorney O. A. Norris eventually sold the share on his behalf on April 5, 1845 to Enoch C. Wines (1806-1879)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wines had been working as a teacher at Central High School for about a decade, but the year before he acquired this share, he had founded a boarding school in Burlington, New Jersey. Wines maintained his Library Company share for the three years he served as that school\u2019s principal. Later in life, he became a minister and eventually dedicated his life to improving conditions for prisoners.[vi]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wines sold the share to John Rice (1812-1880)<\/strong> on December 8, 1848.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rice was a successful builder and real estate investor in Philadelphia. By the time he purchased this share, he had been a member of the Carpenter\u2019s Company for nine years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He built a number of notable buildings, including the armory at Broad and Race Streets; the building that became the Mercantile Library; a number of banks and markets; and private homes like the Ogontz mansion owned by financier Jay Cooke (1821-1905). He also served on the Public Building Commission as well as the Parks Commission, among other roles.[vii]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years before his death, Rice sold a parcel of land to the Library Company at Juniper and Locust Streets. That land, combined with several other parcels, became the home of the Library Company\u2019s second, circulating branch. The branch building, designed by architect Frank Furness (1839-1912), opened on February 24, 1880<\/a> \u2013 just one day after Rice\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Image: Detail from 1871 indenture in <\/em>Deeds, Agreement, and Other Documents Related to Juniper and Locust Property – John Rice to Library Company (12482.F.313), box 11, folder 7, Library Company of Philadelphia records (MSS00270).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John sold his Library Company share to his daughter Evelyn Rice Sibley (1851-1929)<\/strong> on January 8, 1880. The Library Company\u2019s records indicate that she was still \u201cEvelyn Rice\u201d on the date of the transaction, but she married later that year and became Evelyn Sibley.[viii]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Library Company records provide no further information about Evelyn, but she maintained her Library Company share for forty-nine years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After her death, Evelyn\u2019s executrix and daughter Christine Sibley Frazier (1883-1969) <\/strong>transferred the share from her mother\u2019s estate to herself on March 5, 1931.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Library Company records indicate that Frazier relinquished the share on July 1, 1947.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Share History:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n