 |
| 1907 Large-Size $10 Gold Certificate |
 |
| 1907 $10 Gold Certificate |
United States banknotes Ten Dollar Gold Certificate, Series of 1907
Obverse: Portrait of Michael Hillegas at the center of the bill. Michael Hillegas (April 22, 1729 – September 29, 1804) was the first Treasurer of the United States. As you might expect, gold certificates have a gold seal, gold X, and gold serial numbers printed on them.
Reverse: The Great Seal of the United States printed in vibrant gold ink—just in case anyone doubted the note was redeemable in gold.
Signatures: (as depicted) Gabe E. Parker, Register of the Treasury and John Burke, Treasurer of the United States.
Printer & Engraver: Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
1907 gold certificates have a very similar design to ten dollar gold certificates from 1922.
Inscriptions: Gold Certificate - This Certifies That There Have Been Deposited In The Treasury Of The United States Of America Ten Dollars In Gold Coin Payable To The Bearer On Demand - Series of 1907 - Act of July 12 1882 - Act of March 4 1907 - Register Of The Treasury - Treasurer Of The United States - Amer Septent Sigil Thesaur - The United States of America Ten Dollars
United States Gold Certificates, Series 1907
1907 10 Dollar Bill Gold Certificate 1907 1000 Dollar Bill Gold Certificate
Michael Hillegas
Michael Hillegas (April 22, 1729 – September 29, 1804) was the first Treasurer of the United States.
Hillegas was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Margaret Schiebenstock (1710 – July 21, 1770) and George Michael Hillegass (February 14, 1696 – October 30, 1749), an immigrant from Germany and a well-to-do merchant involved in iron and sugar. Soon Michael thus had the freedom and resources to participate in local politics. He married Henrietta Boude on May 10, 1753, at Christ Church in Philadelphia, and they went on to have many children. Hillegas was a member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly from 1765 to 1775 and served as treasurer of the Committee of Safety under Benjamin Franklin in 1774.
On July 29, 1775, Hillegas and fellow patriot George Clymer were appointed by the Continental Congress to share the office of Treasurer of the United Colonies. Because Hillegas edited the Declaration of Independence, when the Declaration of Independence was signed, Clymer's signature appeared on the document.
After Clymer's resignation on August 6, 1776, Hillegas assumed sole ownership of the office, which he held throughout the remainder of the American Revolution, using much of his own fortune to support the cause. His son, Samuel Hillegas, was also given the authority to sign new currency, known as "Continentals." Hillegas also served briefly as quartermaster to the army and served on occasional commissions. On September 9, 1776, the Continental Congress officially changed the name of the country to the United States of America, but Hillegas's title did not officially change until March 1778. On September 11, 1789, Congress created the Treasury Department, and Alexander Hamilton took the oath of office as the first Secretary of the Treasury. On that same date, Hillegas tendered his resignation, and Samuel Meredith was appointed Treasurer.
Hillegas was also an early member of the American Philosophical Society, along with Franklin. He died in Philadelphia and is buried near Franklin in Christ Church Burial Ground. Late in the 19th century, his descendants petitioned to have his portrait appear on the ten-dollar gold certificate in the series issued in the years 1907 and 1922.
United States 10 Dollar Bills
United States 10 Dollar Bill, Gold Certificate, Series 1907
10 Dollar Bill : United States Military Payment Certificates US MPC
Gabe Parker (1878 - 1953) became known as “Great Seal Parker” after his service as chairman of the committee appointed to oversee the design of the Great Seal of the State of Oklahoma. He worked closely with the artists on the project and even penciled a sketch of the seal that was ultimately approved.
Oklahoma numbers Gabe Edward Parker among her native sons, his birth having occurred at Fort Towson, Choctaw County, September 29, 1878, his parents being John Clay and Eliza Emily (Willis) Parker. The father was born in Boyle County, Kentucky, and was descended from English, Scotch-Irish and French Huguenot ancestry. He belonged to a wealthy and prominent family but his fortune was lost during the period of the Civil war and he made his way westward to retrieve his lost possessions. In the Indian Territory he met and wedded Miss Eliza Emily Willis, a quarter blood Choctaw Indian, who was born at Fort Towson in the same house in which occurred the birth of Mr. Parker of this review. She was a lady of liberal culture and education and was a teacher in the Choctaw schools, in which her son, Gabe E., received his early training. Mr. and Mrs. John C. Parker became parents of nine children, but only four are living: Gabe E., James W., Lucile and Georgia. The family home was established on a ranch near Nelson, Oklahoma, when Gabe E. Parker was but a year and a half old. There the father became a prominent stockman and agriculturist and both he and his wife continued to reside on the old homestead until called to their final rest. Their son, James W., is still on the farm, having the management of the ranch. He wedded Edna Reed and they have become parents of two children. The daughter Lucile is employed in Washington, D. C., and Georgia makes her home with her brother.
Mr. Parker acknowledges a considerable indebtedness to the Choctaws for his education as they contributed the tribal funds to defray his college expenses. He attended Spencer Academy, from which he was graduated in 1894 and then became a student in Henry Kendall College, then at Muskogee but now at Tulsa, in which he won the Bachelor of Science degree and was also valedictorian of his class, that of 1899. It was his early ambition to become a member of the bar but owing to his mother’s death he did not carry out his plans of preparing for the legal profession. Instead, after attending the Kansas State Normal School for a term, he accepted the position of assistant teacher at the Spencer Academy in the fall of 1899. Three months later he was advanced to the position of Superintendent of that school and there remained until the academy was destroyed by fire in July, 1900. In the fall of that year he was transferred to Armstrong Academy, a school for Choctaw boys, remaining as principal teacher and in July, 1904 becoming Superintendent of the institution. He was filling the position in September, 1913, when he received appointment to the office of registrar of the United States treasury at Washington, D. C., there entering upon his duties on the 1st of October. He remained in the national capital until December 31, 1914, when he resigned his position, having been appointed on the 22d of the same month as Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes, taking up the duties of this office on the 1st of January, 1915. Two weeks later the Long Branch Daily Record wrote of him as follows: “Through the devious trail of politics Gabe E. Parker, a one-eighth blood Choctaw Indian, has just achieved the ambition of his life. Without solicitation or even knowledge on his part he was taken from the principalship of an Indian boys’ school in Oklahoma and made registrar of the United States treasury. Mr. Parker gave up his chosen work-that of helping his own people to become competent, self-reliant, contributing men and women only after a struggle. Now he is about to return to Oklahoma as Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes, with broader opportunity than ever before to accomplish the task he had originally set for himself. The job Mr. Parker goes to fill in Oklahoma is a big one. It involves the welfare of one hundred and two thousand Indians of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole and Cherokee tribes, who desire to become citizens in fact as well as in name. Under the constitution of Oklahoma they are citizens of the state. They are wards of the nation so long as the government retains a control in trust of the fifteen million acres of their land, including the richest oil fields of the world and four hundred and fifty thousand acres of coal and asphalt lands. Mr. Parker’s job is to carry out the policies of the present administration and to discharge into full and complete citizenship as many of these one hundred and two thousand Indians as are ready for the change, or may become so under his direction. This policy is a new one, and, in a sense, a revolutionary one in view of the policy of the government pursued up to this time. Mr. Parker promises to approach it cautiously. * * * If enthusiasm for the work at hand is an asset Mr. Parker is one of the best equipped men for his new job that could be found anywhere. He exudes it and with difficulty tries to suppress it, but it is there. * * * Mr. Parker believes in his people. He believes in the government of the nation and the state and in their intentions toward them. He designed the seal of the great state of Oklahoma, which symbolizes the ‘sisterhood of states’ and intermingles the former seals of Oklahoma territory and of the Five Civilized Tribes of the Indian territory. He is known as `Great Seal’ Parker for this achievement. He served on many important committees in the constitutional convention of Oklahoma with special reference to the Indians, the schools and taxation, and declined to enter politics when his work was through. As between the two phases of the Indian question, the personal and the property phases, Mr. Parker desires to emphasize the personal as preeminently important. As a school teacher he was deeply interested in solving problems which would bring his charges to a full and complete realization of the responsibilities of citizenship, and he endeavored to give them such a practical application of their book learning as would accomplish that purpose. Mt. Parker is a man whose earnestness of purpose sticks out of every word and deed. The policy of this administration toward his people is his policy because he believes in it. Whether right or wrong, it is certain to have a genuine test under his administration in Oklahoma.”
The above was written at the outset of his work as Superintendent. His labors in this particular measured up to the highest standards and won him high encomium from the tribesmen and from the general public. His work was far-reaching, beneficial and resultant and he continued in the office until the 31st of May, 1921.
Mr. Parker was married December 25, 1900, to Miss Louise Elizabeth George, a native of Topeka, Kansas, who had been his classmate at Spencer Academy and who was later a teacher in that institution. Mr. and Mrs. Parker have one son, Gabe E., Jr. Since his retirement from office Mr. Parker has given his entire attention to the management of an important business enterprise known as the Muskogee Ice Cream Company, of which he is President and general manager. He also has farming and stock raising interests and is likewise financially interested in banks of the state. Fraternally he is a Mason, who has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and has become a member of the Mystic Shrine. He has always voted with the Democratic Party and has ever been thoroughly informed concerning the vital questions and issues before the public. His religious belief is that of the Presbyterian Church and his life has been actuated by the highest principles and ideals. His labors have been most wisely and conscientiously directed along lines leading to public progress and improvement for those of Indian birth and parentage and for the entire public as well. The worth of his work is widely acknowledged and he is today one of the most honored and valued residents of Oklahoma.