The dismal state of the economy and the rapid pace of market changes have made family business dynasties an endangered species. Sustaining a family firm through challenging times involves intelligence, vision, strategy, teambuilding, innovation, fortitude, training and luck.
The American family enterprises listed here have leveraged these attributes to keep their operations running for 155 years or more. (Because of “ties”—multiple companies founded in the same year—we've included more than 100 companies in this edition of our “Family Business 100.”) They have withstood a series of economic ups and downs that included the Great Depression of the 1930s. They've also survived fires, wars, premature deaths, family feuds, unfavorable regulations, ruthless competition and a host of other threats.
Courtney Cole, who along with her sister, Monica Peck, owns W. Hare & Son Inc., an auto dealer in Noblesville, Ind. (tied for #69), says their ancestors' legacy helps the sixth-generation siblings keep their challenges in perspective. “We've only been in a recession,” Cole notes. “They went through a depression and two world wars.” At its founding in 1847, the company was a wagon, buggy and carriage dealer; it began selling cars in 1912.
Lucretia Mali stepped in to run Henry W.T. Mali & Company (#42), a New York maker of billiard supplies founded in 1826, after the death of her husband, CEO Frederick J. Mali, in 2007. “I didn't think about it; I just did it,” she recalls. “There was a need, and I did what I could to fill it.”
Many routes to success
Each of these families, capitalizing on its unique set of strengths, developed its own recipe for longevity. While many are continuing their founder's line of business, others have added to their list of offerings, grown through acquisition or ventured in new directions.
Thomas H. Bentley III reassessed his family enterprise in 2007-08, as the construction industry suffered a severe downturn. The Bentley Company, founded in 1848 and based in Milwaukee (tied for #72), was Wisconsin's oldest general contracting business. Its portfolio included many historic landmarks and churches. Seeing few signs of a rebound, Bentley wound down the construction business. Today, Bentley Management Group focuses on development. The family also operates Bentley World-Packaging Ltd., an export and military packaging firm.
“You have to be very nimble,” Bentley says. “The business environment has gotten far more challenging; the status quo doesn't work.”
Bentley's son Todd has worked for the family enterprise for nearly a decade. Both father and son say Todd's presence was reassuring to employees during the company's transition. “My involvement has let people know that we're in this for the long haul,” Todd Bentley says.
Farms and funeral homes
About a quarter (26) of the businesses on our list are farms or orchards. But these properties are not necessarily the founding family's main source of income. Jay Pickering of Pickering Hill Farms in Avon, Ohio (#64), for example, is a teacher; Susan Little of Little Farm in Newburyport, Mass. (#3) owns a bookstore.
Some owners of historic family farms rent out their land rather than farm it themselves. Conversely, Richard Conckin and Linda Concklin Hill of the Orchards of Concklin in Pomona, N.Y. (#11) sold most of their land to the county, retaining a five-acre parcel with greenhouses. They are now tenant farmers with a long-term lease.
Alan Blumhorst, fifth-generation owner of a Nashville, Ill., farm that was founded in 1851, re-engineered the business to pursue his personal passion. Blumhorst never cared for pig farming, his father's way of making a livelihood on the land. When he took over the farm, Blumhorst acquired a menagerie of exotic animals, from alpacas to a zebra. In 2002, he opened the Rainbow Ranch Petting Zoo on the family property (tied for #83).
Faced with declining profitability in 1971, the Daniels family established a campground on their Massachusetts farm, which dates from 1759. Today Normandy Farms (#18) is a 450-campsite resort. At Slaughterton (#8), a Sudlersville, Md., farm established in 1684 as a tobacco plantation, Julie and Jimmy Reynolds use wheat grown on the premises to bake bread sold by their Magnolia Bread Company.
There has always been a market for funeral services, so it's not surprising that the Family Business 100 includes 16 funeral homes. John D. Bachman, eighth-generation operator of Bachman Funeral Home in Strasburg, Pa. (#20), has the ledger book kept by Johannes Bachman, who founded the business in 1769. Bachman now serves descendants of the people on the original ledger. “They seem to be as proud of it as I am,” he says.
Most old funeral homes followed a similar evolutionary path: The founder began as a furniture maker, then made wooden coffins for his customers and eventually provided funeral services. Two Pennsylvania families have continued both businesses: Teeters Furniture/Teeters Funeral Chapel in Hawley, Pa. (tied for #76) and Faller's Furniture/Faller Funeral Homes Inc. in Clarion, Pa. (tied for #69). The Fallers also have an antiques store.
Smaller firms predominate
“Grow or die” is the mantra in today's business environment, but most of these hardy survivors have stayed small, with few relatives in management and a modest number of employees. R.C. Perine & Son, a one-man machine shop in Topeka, Kan. (tied for #106), has been operated solely by Mike Perine since his father, Jim, died in 2008.
Only one member of the Family Business 100 (John Wiley & Sons, #32) is publicly traded. Levi Strauss & Co. (tied for #88) is one of the few household names.
Some businesses on our list have “pruned the family tree” to concentrate ownership in one or two branches. Others are owned by a group of cousins. When the family is in its fifth generation or older, that cousin consortium can be quite large.
Menasha Corporation (tied for #79), based in Neenah, Wis., has operations in packaging, logistics and marketing and is controlled by about 150 descendants of founder Elisha Smith. “First of all, you really have to make an effort to hold the family together,” says Sylvia Shepard, chair of the Smith Family Council. “Having a family governance system is important in connecting as a business-owning family,” she says.
In order for a large ownership team to function smoothly, Shepard notes, “The company needs to grow so the shareholders have enough of a stake in it to feel connected.”
Menasha has had a non-family CEO for more than 20 years. “There's something that's very liberating about that,” Shepard says. “There's a sense that you can own the company without having to continue to run it.”
While many of the historic businesses on our list tout their family legacy, others downplay the family factor. Still others shun publicity completely; 17 of the enterprises on our list don't have websites.
Several business owners know the enterprise will not continue as a family company after their tenure has ended—either they have no children or their offspring are uninterested in taking over. Others, facing declining sales and other challenges, are quietly looking for a buyer.
Fifth-generation pharmacist Terry Thompson of Thompson Rexall Drug Co. in Spring Valley, Ill. (tied for #55), says he accepts that he's the end of the line. “It's inevitable, one way or another,” says Thompson, 64.
A family business can't survive without family commitment, notes sixth-generation member William T. Bear III of Bear Funeral Home in Churchville, Va. (#33). “Our ranks have thinned out as the years have gone by,” Bear says, “but the existing family members are willing to support each other and willing to support the business as an extension of the family. You don't necessarily see that expectation today.”
We welcome information on historic family businesses we may have inadvertently overlooked. Please contact Editor-in-Chief Barbara Spector at bspector@familybusinessmagazine.com.
America's oldest jeweler has a new owner
Its website still touts the store as “America's oldest jeweler,” and the founder's great-great-great-granddaughter still works behind the counter. But Bixler's, opened by Revolutionary War veteran Christian Bixler III in 1785, is no longer owned by the founding family. And it's no longer based in Easton, Pa., where Christian Bixler first put out his -shingle.
In 2006, sixth-generation owner Joyce Mitman Welken sold Bixler's to Mark Maurer, owner of Avalon, Maurer & Bash, a jeweler based in Whitehall Township, Pa. In 2009, Bixler's sold its building on Easton's Centre Square—its third location in the city, opened in 1925 by third-generation member C. Willis Bixler. The store has since moved to a 3,000-square-foot showroom in Allentown, Pa.
Like many businesses in small downtowns, Bixler's found it “tougher and tougher” to attract customers to its historic headquarters, Welken says. “We did what we had to do.”
The decision to sell the business was “very, very emotional,” says Welken, 63. But there was no family member to continue the legacy, she explains. Welken has no children. Her brother, Phil Mitman, Easton's former mayor, had not been involved in the store's operations since 1997, and none of his children was interested in taking over, she says.
Although she no longer has an ownership stake, “I'm still a partner and working here as a family member,” Welken says. “What was important to me was to continue the name and the legacy of America's oldest jeweler.” The new store houses memorabilia from Bixler's long history.
The merger with Avalon, Maurer & Bash, which was founded in 1981, made sense from a business standpoint because it enabled Bixler's to add new brands, such as David Yurman, to its product offerings. The two jewelers had offered complementary products but had never competed for the same customer base, Welken says.
Welken's mother, Kathryn Bixler Mitman, who passed away at age 96 in February 2011, was “very pleased” with the decision to sell the store to a friend who would keep its name, Welken says. “She thought it was a good move.”
Companies removed from the list
St. John Milling Co. (Watauga, TN, founded 1778): Closed May 28, 2011. A press release issued by the family owners said they plan to establish a foundation, whose direction has yet to be determined. “We don't know exactly where we'll end up,” the release said, “but we still want to be an active part of society and help people, but from a different place.”
Bixler's (Easton, PA, founded 1785): Sixth-generation family member Joyce Welken sold the business to Mark Maurer, owner of Whitehall Township, Pa., jeweler Avalon Maurer & Bash, in 2006. See facing page for more information.
Hayes' Coffees (Oak Park, IL, founded 1787): The company was sold to a customer several years ago.
Marshall Elevator (Pittsburgh, PA, founded 1818): The company was sold to competitor Otis Elevator Co. in July 2011.
Shaff Family Farm (Camanche, IA, founded 1837): We could not confirm that the farm continues to operate.
Baumann Safe Co. (St. Louis, MO, founded 1843): The company was sold to a longtime employee and his wife in 2009.
Teas Nursery (Bellaire, TX, founded 1843): After the death of fourth-generation member John F. Teas at age 74 in 2009, the business closed in 2010. A note on its website says, “The property has been sold to a new family, the Rubenstein Foundation, to create a city park in Bellaire.”
Flood Co. (Cleveland, OH, founded 1847): The painting contractor was acquired in 2006 by Akzo Nobel, a multinational company based in the Netherlands that specializes in paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals.
Schneidereith & Sons (Baltimore, MD, founded 1849): The printing company was acquired by Annapolis, Md.-based Whitmore Print Group in 2005.
Rod McLellan Company (San Mateo, CA, founded 1850): The provider of soil and landscape products was acquired by the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company in 2005.
Corning (Corning, NY, founded 1851): The founding Houghton family's ownership stake is down to only about 2%.
Breitbach's Country Dining (Balltown, IA, founded 1852): Although Jacob Breitbach, great-great-grandfather of the present owner, worked for the restaurant's original owner, he did not purchase the restaurant until 1862. This makes the family enterprise a few years too “new” for our list.
Luyties Pharmacal Co. (St. Louis, MO, founded 1853): The company has not been owned by the founding family for years. It moved from St. Louis to Vermont in 2001. Its St. Louis headquarters building, which dates from 1915, has been converted to condominiums.
Holman's Funeral Service (Portland, OR, founded 1854): After the death of Margaret Holman, widow of fourth-generation owner Howard Holman, in 2005, longtime employee Daniel Holmes acquired the business.
Quinn Funeral Home (Warwick, RI): Although previous editions of our Family Business 100 list had reported the business as having been founded in 1854, a history on the funeral home's website says it was established by Patrick Quinn in 1857. Thus, it is too “new” for our list.
Penner Angus Ranch (Mill Creek, OK, founded 1855): Owner Dwain D. “Son” Penner died childless in 2001. We could not confirm that the ranch is still owned by the founding family.
Monarch Hydraulics (Grand Rapids, MI, founded 1856): The business was acquired by German company Bucher Hydraulics in 2001.
America's oldest farm trains young farmers while awaiting sale
Tuttle Farm, a 135-acre property in Dover, N.H., that has been cultivated by descendants of the founder since 1632, made headlines nationwide last summer when 11th-generation siblings Becky, Will and Lucy Tuttle announced they were putting it up for sale.
A year later, America's oldest farm still had not been sold. An Aug. 16, 2011, Associated Press report said the farm's asking price, originally set at $3.35 million, had been dropped to $2.55 million.
In early August, the Tuttles laid off all their non-family employees and closed their farm store, Tuttle's Red Barn. They continued selling a reduced selection of produce from a stand near the store's entrance through the end of the season. (The Tuttles did not return calls seeking comment for this report.)
Though these developments appear grim, a new generation of farmers has been raising crops on the property—though they're not related to the Tuttles. A non-profit organization, the New Hampshire Institute of Agriculture and Forestry (NHIAF), has recruited and trained new young farmers who have been growing crops on the property in an initiative that was launched in the summer of 2010.
“Our purpose is to overcome barriers for farmers, especially family farmers,” says Suzanne Brown, NHIAF's founder and executive director. Aspiring farmers who didn't inherit farmland often find it economically unfeasible to enter the profession, and in today's challenging times the hurdles are even higher, she notes.
Brown's goal is to sustain New Hampshire's centuries-long tradition of working the land. “Agriculture is a special thing here in our state,” she says. “It's the glue that's held us together for a long time.”
NHIAF serves as an agricultural business incubator for people in their 20s and early 30s, who have been getting hands-on experience as farmers in residence on the Tuttle property.
“The Tuttle family are special people,” says Brown. “I've really enjoyed working with them. They are so supportive of what we're doing.”
Brown says she has been working with the Tuttles and their broker to find a buyer who will maintain the property as an agricultural business and allow NHIAF to continue to nurture new farmers on the site.
— B.S.