STOCK CERTIFICATE FOR TEN SHARES OF THE SEA ISLAND COMPANY: "INCORPORATED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. SEA ISLAND COMPANY, CAPITAL $300,000. THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT ISAAC GIBBARD IS ENTITLED TO TEN SHARES OF THE CAPITAL STOCK OF THE SEA ISLAND COMPANY (NOT LIABLE TO ASSESSMENTS) AND TRANSFERABLE ONLY ON THE BOOKS OF THE COMPANY IN PERSON OR BY ATTORNEY ON THE SURRENDER OF THIS CERTIFICATE. DATED NEW YORK, AUGUST 25, 1865. [signed] C.C. PUFFER, SECRETARY. [signed] WM. G. MARKHAM, PRESIDENT.

New York: Major & Knapp Eng. & Lith. Co. 449 Broadway, 1865. Elegantly engraved oblong broadsheet, 8" x 10-1/2". Printed using several different fonts, vignette of eagle standing on banner with wings outstretched at head of certificate, two smaller vignettes of Black laborers picking cotton at left and bottom center. Entire certificate surrounded with decorative border. Within the borders: "3,000 SHARES" and "SHARES $100 EACH. Twenty-five cent revenue stamp at top left corner. Signatures of C[harles] C. Puffer, Secretary, and W[illiam] G. Markham, President. On verso is form for transfer of shares. Fine.

Sea Island cotton was a long-fiber cotton grown on the "sea islands, along the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Texas. Its fine, uniform texture and silk luster rendered it the most desirable of cotton. Thousands of acres of cotton fields became available near the end of the Civil War when plantation owners fled before the Union Army and newly free Black workers deserted their plantations.
Northern businessmen sought these desirable plantations. The Sea Island Company, also known as the Sea Island Cotton Company, was organized by Northern businessman William G. Markham, a cattle and sheep breeder, with a three million dollar capitalization and the aim to relaunch these "Sea Island" plantations with salaried Black labor. The Sea Island Company later merged with the U.S. Cotton Company around 1867.
While the laborers were to be paid, the two vignettes of Black men collecting cotton are nearly identical to antebellum images of slaves found on Southern and Confederate bank notes. [Puffer-Markham Family Papers, William L. Clements Library, The University of Michigan.]
William Guy Markham [1836-1922] was part of an extended family business active in selling wheat, cattle, sheep, and cotton. In 1858 he began breeding Durham cattle, establishing himself as one of the most successful cattle dealers throughout America. In 1872, he plunged himself into the American Merino sheep industry and took the business worldwide. [Puffer-Markham Family Papers, William L. Clements Library, The University of Michigan.]
Isaac Gibbard [1834-1911], born in England came to New York State with his parents, and from Genesee College [now Syracuse University] in 1859. Ordained a Methodist deacon, he became chaplain of the 143 New York State Volunteers during the Civil War. In 1883, Governor Grover Cleveland, appointed Gibbard to the Board of Managers of the State Industrial School in Rochester; he later served as the board's president from 1892 to 1906.
Charles Chenery Puffer [1841-1915] was a bank cashier and financier with the Shelburne Falls Bank of Massachusetts before managing plantations for the Sea Island Cotton Company in Columbia, South Carolina. He was the brother-in-law of William Guy Markham. A Columbia carpetbagger, Puffer campaigned for the local Republican party while actively supporting Governor Daniel H. Chamberlain. He later moved north and owned a dairy farm in Avon, New York, with Markham. [Puffer-Markham Family Papers, William L. Clements Library, The University of Michigan.].