11792. Farmers & Merchants Bank (Henderson, NC)

Bank Information

Episode Type
Suspension → Closure
Bank Type
state
Start Date
April 1, 1924*
Location
Henderson, North Carolina (36.325, -78.416)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
5b6a73b3

Response Measures

None

Description

Bank closed permanently April 15, 1924 and remained in liquidation for many years; articles discuss liquidation, asset sales, and final dividend payments. No contemporaneous run is described in the provided articles, only suspension/closure and receivership/liquidation activity.

Events (5)
1. April 1, 1924* Receivership
Newspaper Excerpt
K. L. Burton, who was named receiver shortly after the bank failed, made quick work in paying dividends within a comparatively short time after the closing.
Source
newspapers
2. April 15, 1924 Suspension
Cause Details
Article notes the bank closed on April 15, 1924 but does not specify a triggering rumor, correspondent failure, or government action; liquidation and stockholder assessment followed.
Newspaper Excerpt
The bank was closed April 15, 1924
Source
newspapers
3. July 9, 1936 Other
Newspaper Excerpt
Another small dividend will probably be paid to depositors of the old Farmers & Merchants Bank of Henderson, which closed in April, 1924 and which is still in liquidation
Source
newspapers
4. September 23, 1936 Other
Newspaper Excerpt
Assets of the old Farmers & Merchants Bank, which closed April 15, 1924, were sold at public auction ... Assets consisted mostly of old notes
Source
newspapers
5. January 6, 1937 Other
Newspaper Excerpt
Depositors in the old Farmers & Merchants Bank of Henderson, which closed its doors April 15, 1924, received in their mail today checks for their seventh and final dividend in the liquidation of the bank's assets.
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (4)
1. July 9, 1936 Henderson Daily Dispatch Henderson, NC
Article from Henderson Daily Dispatch, July 9, 1936

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

ANOTHER DIVIDEND LIKELY FOR BANK State Liquidator Expects To Pay Old F. & M. Depositors More Another small dividend will probobly be paid to depositors of the old Farmers & Merchants Bank of Henderson, which closed in April, 1924 and which is still in liquidation, it was learned today from the State Banking Department. The department advised that it expected to wind up the liquidation in the next 60 to 90 days. It has already paid 90 percent to depositors of record on the closing date. A few assets of the bank and some property held by it remain to be disposed of at a court sale, and this is expected to be arranged at an early date. For more than 12 years the bank has been in the process of liquidation. K. L. Burton, who was named receiver shortly after the bank failed, made quick work in paying dividends within a comparatively short time after the closing. An act of the 1935 General Assembly provided that completion of liquidation proceedings in all State banks in the State not already at that time in the hands of the banking department should the placed in its hands for the winding up of the affairs. B. H. Perry is attorney in Henderson for the State Banking Department in handling the final disposition of the old Farmers & Merchants Bank's affairs.

2. September 10, 1936 Henderson Daily Dispatch Henderson, NC
Article from Henderson Daily Dispatch, September 10, 1936

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

REMAINING ASSETS OF BANK ON BLOCK State Bank Department To Sell Notes and Property of Old F. & M. Remaining assets of the old Farmers & Merchants Bank of Henderson will be sold at auction by the State Banking Department within the next few weeks, and formal notice of the sale will be given through the Daily Dispatch tomorrow. The face value of the assets runs far up into the thousands of dollars. They consist of notes, judgments and a few real estate sites. The bank closed in April, 1924, and has been in the process of liquidation ever since that time, more than 12 years. Under an act of the legislature of several years ago, the State Banking Department, under the direction of Gurney P. Hood, State bank commissioner, was instructed to take over the completion of the liquidation work for all State banks that closed before it came into being. The old F. & M. bank here was one. The liquidation period of 12 years since its close is one of the longest of any closed bank in the State that has not been finally worked out. Bank officials hope that the sale, together with other funds that might become available, will produce sufficient funds to make one more final payment on the liabilities to depositors of the old bank at the time it closed. Payments so far have amounted to 90 percent, which is considered a good record. Most of the payments were made within a comparatively short time after the close. Stockholders were assessed shortly after the bank failed, this supplying funds for the largest single payment to depositors.

3. September 23, 1936 Henderson Daily Dispatch Henderson, NC
Article from Henderson Daily Dispatch, September 23, 1936

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

OLD BANK ASSETS BID BY M'DUFFEE Notes and Some Office Fixtures Bring $1,025 at Court House Sale Assets of the old Farmers & Merchants Bank, which closed April 15, 1924, were sold at public auction at the court house door here today by G. Harold Myrick, liquidating agent of the State Banking Department, and were bid in by D. P. McDuffee, attorney, for $1,025. The assets consisted mostly of old notes, but there was a trifling of office fixtures and two adding machines McDuffee started the bidding for the assets in a lump sum at $672, and they were run up to $1,025, at which figure the bidding ceased and the sale was made. Each item was sold separately, but in the aggregate amounted to much less than when sold in a lump, and the sale was ordered complete in the grouping. The bank was closed more than 12 years ago. In all, it paid depositors 90 percent under the receivership of K. L. Burton before he turned the matter over to the State Banking Department. While there may not be sufficient assets in cash to pay the remaining ten percent to the depositors, it considered certain that an additional distribution will be made before the receivership is finally completed and the procedure fully closed out.

4. January 6, 1937 Henderson Daily Dispatch Henderson, NC
Article from Henderson Daily Dispatch, January 6, 1937

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

FINAL DIVIDEND ON F. & M. BANK PAID State Banking Department Sends Checks to Depositors Here IS LONG LIQUIDATION Bank Closed April 15, 1924, Nearly 13 Years Ago; Total Payment to Depositors Is Now 94 1-4 Percent Depositors in the old Farmers & Merchants Bank of Henderson, which closed its doors doors April 15, 1924, received in their mail today checks for their seventh and final dividend in the liquidation of the bank's assets. Today's checks represented a payment of 4 1-4 percent of deposits at the time the bank closed, and made a total of 94 1-4 percent paid in all, the 90 percent having been distributed some years ago. The checks received by depositors today were sent by the State Bank Department, which has been closing out the receivership for the past year or so. At the time the bank closed it had deposits of approximately $300,000 and a capital of $125,000. Its first receivership was administered by the then newly-formed Bank of Vance, which functioned for several years for the purpose of liiquidating the assets. That bank was voluntarily liquidated when it had served its purpose. Checks received today by depositors were payable on the Citizens Bank & Trust Company of Henderson and were dated November 2, 1936. After the close of the Farmers & Merchants Bank, April 15, 1924, a one hundred percent assessment was levied against stockholders, and nearly all of this was paid. A few shares were held by people who could not be found and a few by insolvent persons. Some contested the levy in the courts on the ground that it was made before other assets had been exhausted. They carried the issue to the State Supreme Court and lost, and most of them then paid the sums assessed. The liquidation, so far as depositors and stockholders are concerned, now is a thing of the past, and will be written up by the State Bank Department as closed as soon as checks are cleared and other formalities attended to. Lacking three months, the final closing of the liquidation comes thirteen years after the old bank ceased to do ibusiness.