The Family Business 100: America’s oldest family companies
PAGE 5
* Denotes new listing
83 (tie) 1851
C.H. Guenther & Son Inc.
Guenther family
Food products/San Antonio, TX
www.chguenther.com
Carl Hilmar Guenther came to the U.S. from Germany in 1848. In 1851, at age 22, he opened a flour mill in Fredericksburg, Texas, and later moved it to San Antonio. Guenther lived next door to the mill and raised seven children. Today the company makes convenience mixes and other products under the names Pioneer Brand, La Paloma White Wings and Morrison. The founder’s house, built in 1859, has been restored as a restaurant, banquet facility, museum and gift shop. The family-owned company is run by non-family managers.
83 (tie) 1851
Mager & Gougelman Inc.
Gougelmann family
Ocularists/New York, NY
www.artificial-eyes.com
Swiss-born Peter Gougelmann founded the company in New York City as a custom fabricator of glass ocular prostheses following years of training and practice in Europe. After his sudden death in 1894, his sons Walter and Pierre succeeded him. After Walter died, Pierre took in two partners, Henry and George Mager. Pierre Gougelmann’s brother Paul joined the company as well. The last of the Mager brothers died in 1929. Pierre and Paul were joined by other family members. Pierre’s son Henry Gougelmann, the current owner and president, joined in 1950. Henry’s children, fourth-generation members Andrew and David Gouglemann, are ocularists at the company; his daughter Laura has worked there as office manger and medical billing consultant. Henry Gougelmann was a co-founder of the American Society of Ocularists.
83 (tie) 1851
Rainbow Ranch Petting Zoo & Exotic Farm*
Blumhorst family
Petting zoo/Nashville, IL
www.rainbowranchzoo.com
Johann Mangenalker immigrated to Illinois from Germany and started a farm. Five generations have lived on the ranch. The barn that houses the larger animals (horses, cows, etc.) is the original, built with wooden pegs instead of nails. Fifth-generation member Alan Blumhorst, whose father raised pigs on the farm, opened a petting zoo in 2002. Animals on view include alpacas, llamas, donkeys, sheep, peacocks, potbelly pigs, emus, swans, camels and a zebra. Blumhorst also raises exotic animals. A cousin rents part of the farm and raises crops.
83 (tie) 1851
Shaw Media
Shaw family
Newspapers, online publications/Dixon, IL
www.shawmedia.com
Twenty-year-old Benjamin Flower Shaw became owner and editor of The Dixon Telegraph and Herald, a fledgling newspaper, in 1851. He and 11 other newspaper editors met with Abraham Lincoln in 1856 to form the Republican Party in Illinois in response to concerns over slavery. When Shaw’s son Eustace E. Shaw died at age 42 in 1902 his widow, Mabel S. Shaw, became the Telegraph’s publisher. She incorporated the business in the 1930s and put it into a family trust. Today Mabel’s great-grandson Tom Shaw is CEO; his two sons work at the company. In 2010 the company changed its name to Shaw Media to reflect its growth in online content distribution as well as newspapers. The company publishes 60 print and online titles in Illinois and Iowa.
87 1852
Bradner Central Company*
Bull family
Paper distributor/Elk Grove Village, IL
www.bradner.com
Cousins Josiah H. Bradner and George Cotton Smith founded the company in a one-room storefront in Chicago. They made early deliveries via horse-drawn drays and delivery boys. By 1856, they were delivering to surrounding states by train. Over the years, Bradner Smith & Company had ownership in paper mills and converters and started sales organizations focused on the forms industry. The sales organizations combined are now known as Bradner National, distributing paper to commercial printers in addition to forms and direct-mail printers. Majority ownership remains with the Bull family, descendants of founders Bradner and Smith. Fifth-generation member Richard S. Bull III is chairman and CEO of the parent company, Bradner Central Company, which has been based in Elk Village, Ill., since 2000.
88 (tie) 1853
Hicks Nurseries
Hicks family
Horticulture/Westbury, NY
www.hicksnurseries.com
The Hicks family began farming on Long Island in the late 17th century. In 1853, Isaac Hicks started selling trees to neighbors. His son Edward patented equipment for moving big trees to Long Island estates. Edward’s son Henry was a college-trained horticulturist. Henry’s sons William and Edward kept the business going through the Depression. William began selling pre-dug plants around 1930, marking the beginning of a cash-and-carry business that evolved into garden centers. Edward’s son Alfred (Fred) converted the nursery into a retailing and growing operation in the 1960s. Fred’s children Karen and Stephen are sixth-generation managers.
88 (tie) 1853
King Ranch
Kleberg family
Agribusiness/Houston, TX
www.king-ranch.com
>Founder Richard King stowed away on a ship heading out of New York at age 11 to escape indentured servitude to a jeweler. He became a steamboat captain on the Alabama and Florida rivers. After moving to South Texas, he founded a steamboat line with a friend. In the mid-19th century, he and business partner Gideon “Legs” Lewis purchased a 15,500-acre Mexican land grant then known as the Rincon de Santa Gertrudis. He began building the King Ranch while continuing to operate his steamboat business during the Civil War. During a drought, King bought cattle from Mexican townspeople and offered them food, shelter and income if they worked his ranch. By the end of the Civil War, King Ranch had grown to 146,000 acres; it’s now 825,000 acres. King invested in building railroads, packinghouses, ice plants and harbor improvements in addition to breeding cattle and horses. Lawyer Robert Justus Kleberg came to work for King and married his daughter, Alice, in 1886, the year after Richard King died. Kleberg and King’s widow, Henrietta, worked to further develop and consolidate King Ranch. Two of Robert and Alice Kleberg’s children took over the ranch in the early 20th century. In 1934, Alice King Kleberg consolidated much of the ranch property into a corporation, with her children as stockholders. Today, King Ranch is a family-owned and family-governed company run by non-family managers and headquartered in Houston. Operations include cattle breeding and production, horses, wildlife management and recreation, production of agricultural commodities, turfgrass farms, minerals development and retail businesses.
88 (tie) 1853
Levi Strauss & Co.
Haas family
Apparel/San Francisco, CA
www.levistrauss.com
Bavarian immigrant Levi Strauss set up a dry goods house in San Francisco in 1853. In 1873, with tailor Jacob Davis, Strauss invented blue jeans. They used metal rivets to keep the pockets from ripping. Strauss, a bachelor, left the business to four nephews—Jacob, Sigmund, Louis and Abraham Stern—the children of his sister Fanny and her husband, David Stern. They ran the company until 1928 and were succeeded by Walter Haas Sr., a son-in-law of Jacob Stern, and Haas’s brother-in-law, Daniel Koshland Sr. During the 1960s and 1970s under the leadership of Jay Walter Haas Sr., Peter Haas Sr., Paul Glasco and George P. Simkins Sr., the company expanded its fashion offerings. The company attempted employee ownership and public stock ownership but went private in a leveraged buyout in 1996. The company is now owned almost entirely by family members of several descendants of Levi Strauss via a voting trust.
88 (tie) 1853
Lonsdale Farm
Lonsdale family
Cattle, agriculture/Stuart, IA
John and Britanne Lonsdale founded the farm, where John stressed “Three C’s: Corn, Clover, Cows.” They also established a mill to produce woolen blankets and other goods. The mill served as a stop on the Underground Railroad and operated until World War I. Fifth-generation member Jim Lonsdale and his wife, Mary, now own the farm and rent farmland (corn, soybeans, hay) and pasture. Their cousins Steve and Karen Lansdale own and occupy the original 1861 farmhouse built by John and Britanne.
88 (tie) 1853
Marcus Paint Co./Performance Powders
Marcus family
Coating manufacturer/Louisville, KY
www.marcuspaint.com
Herman Marcus founded the business in 1853, selling paint in wooden barrels. Today the company manufactures custom industrial coatings and has manufacturing facilities in Kentucky and Tennessee. The family has old product labels printed in German to accommodate Lousiville’s large German population. Fifth-generation cousins Steve Marcus and Terri Marcus run the business.
88 (tie) 1853
Wagner Printing Co.
Wagner family
Printing/Chicago, IL
www.wpco.com
Wilhelm Wagner, a Lutheran pastor, came to the U.S. from Germany in 1851 after being convicted of high treason for organizing meetings where peasants learned to read and discussed democracy. In 1853, he founded a German-language newspaper in Freeport, Ill., and wrote all the copy himself. He covered the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858. His son William started working with him at age 12 when the paper was founded. In 1891 William took on sons Albert, Oscar and Frederic as partners and changed the company’s name to W.H. Wagner & Sons, Printers and Publishers; they entered the commercial printing business. The company incorporated as W.H. Wagner & Sons Company in 1912. Amid the war in 1917 the German newspaper folded; the company concentrated on commercial printing and was renamed the Wagner Printing Company. Today three divisions offer commercial printing, graphic design, copywriting and web design in Chicago and Freeport. Sixth-generation brothers Matthew (CEO), Eric (CFO) and William (director of sales and marketing) lead the company.
94 (tie) 1854
N.H. Bragg
Bragg, Eames families
Industrial, safety, janitorial supplies/Bangor, ME
www.nhbragg.com
Norris Hubbard Bragg and Sumner Basford founded Bragg & Basford, a blacksmith supply business, in 1854 in downtown Bangor, Maine. By 1863, Bragg was running the company himself. In 1867, his older son Norris Everett Bragg joined, and the company name was changed to N.H. Bragg & Son. When younger son Charles joined after Norris Hubbard’s death, the name changed again to N.H. Bragg & Sons. In 1905 the company incorporated, with Charles as president and his son Franklin Everett Bragg as treasurer; by this time it was selling Model T Ford parts. It added welding cylinders in the 1950s. Charles F. Bragg became president after the death of his father, Franklin. He was succeeded upon his retirement in 1980 by his nephew G. Clifton Eames. Today the company is run by fifth-generation president John Bragg. Sixth-generation member Jon Eames is vice president and general manager.
94 (tie) 1854
Noble & Cooley
Jones family
Drum manufacturer/Granville, MA
www.noblecooley.com
Co-founder James P. Cooley produced marching snares for the Union Army during the Civil War and an eight-foot-diameter bass drum for Ulysses S. Grant’s first presidential campaign (1868). For many years, the company primarily made toy drums. In 1980, the founder’s great-great-great-grandson Jay Jones, then the vice president working alongside his father, decided to re-enter professional drum making, using a steam bending machine that had survived a company fire in 1889. The company’s toy business foundered after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Today president Jay Jones works with his wife, Carol, and their 27-year-old son, Nick; they are the only employees.
94 (tie) 1854
Pumphrey Funeral Home
Pumphrey family
Funeral services/Rockville, MD
www.pumphreyfuneralhome.com
Rockville cabinetmaker William Ellican Pumphrey began building coffins in the 1830s and entered the undertaking business in 1854. His son, William Reuben Pumphrey, concentrated on embalming and stopped making coffins; he also started an ambulance service. Third-generation member William Reuben Pumphrey Jr. entered the business in 1910 and headed it during the post-World War I flu epidemic in Maryland. Fourth-generation leader Robert A. Pumphrey Sr. built a crematorium in 1987. Son William R. Pumphrey took over after his father’s death later that year. The current leader, sixth-generation member William A. Pumphrey, joined in 1998.
94 (tie) 1854
Times-Union Newspaper/Reub Williams & Sons Inc.
Williams family
Newspaper/Warsaw, IN
www.timesuniononline.com
Civil War General Reuben Williams founded a weekly newspaper, the Northern Indianian, in 1854. In the 1930s, the Williams family merged the Northern Indianian with two daily newspapers: the Union and the Daily Times. The paper was renamed the Times-Union in 1942. Fourth-generation member Lane Williams Hartel is the publisher; members of the fifth generation are involved on the corporate level. Today in addition to owning the Times-Union, the only daily newspaper in Kosciusko County, Ind., the family prints the South Whitley Tribune-News, which is owned by a former Times-Union staffer. The family sold its radio stations in the late 1980s.
94 (tie) 1854
Wagner Quality Shoes
Wagner family
Shoe retailer/Pittsburgh, PA
Shoemaker Peter Wagner founded the business in 1854. The family transitioned into retailing. Fifth-generation owner Gregory Wagner runs the business; his father, Myron Wagner Jr., is semi-retired. They also operate two stores in shopping malls under a different name. In addition to running the family business, Gregory Wagner owns The Shoe Fly shoe stores in Central Pennsylvania along with a partner.
99 (tie) 1855
Davis Funeral Chapel Inc.
Moulden family
Funeral services/Leavenworth, KS
www.davisfuneralchapelinc.com
Founder J.B. Davis arrived in Leavenworth in 1855 among a group of free-staters moving to Kansas to Kentucky to support the anti-slavery cause there. He and his son Thaddeus began making furniture, coffins, burial cases and sewing machines and eventually gravitated to funeral services. Thaddeus’s son James opened a formal funeral home in 1909 and served as Leavenworth’s mayor in the 1920s. He was succeeded by his daughter Margaret Moulden and her husband, C.E. Moulden. They won contracts to bury deceased prisoners from the federal prison in Leavenworth and the state prison in Lansing, Kan. Today fifth-generation member Davis Moulden and his wife, Debbie, run the business with their daughter, Hope Hundley.
99 (tie) 1855
N.P. Dodge Co.
Dodge family
Real estate, builder services, land development, insurance/Omaha, NE
www.npdodge.com
Brothers Grenville and Nathan Phillips Dodge left Massachusetts to homestead in Douglas County, Neb., in 1853 and founded a land office in 1855. They surveyed land in Nebraska and Iowa and represented eastern investors seeking to purchase real estate as new territories opened. Grenville became a Civil War general and helped found the Union Pacific Railroad; N.P. stayed in the land-sale business. He was followed by four generations of namesakes. N.P. Dodge II moved the company to Omaha in 1900. N.P. Dodge III (Phil) expanded the business into residential construction, insurance, mortgage lending and residential sales. Current leader N.P. Dodge IV (Sandy) has added property management, title services and corporate relocation while expanding residential sales, land development and insurance. N.P. Dodge V (Nate) oversees N.P. Dodge Property Management Company and is president of Omaha Title and Escrow.
99 (tie) 1855
Laird Norton Co. LLC
Laird, Norton families
Financial services, real estate, investing/Seattle, WA
www.lairdnorton.com
Founded by brothers James and Matthew Norton and their cousin William Laird in Winona, Minn., the company started out by logging and milling white pine. In the early 1900s, the company and members of the Laird family were instrumental in the founding of major lumber companies in the West, including Weyerhauser Company, the Potlach Corporation and Boise-Payette Lumber. Today Laird Norton encompasses three types of businesses: financial services, real estate and next-generation investments. The company named its first non-family CEO in 2001. Fifth-generation family member Marie K. Mentor holds the title of family president; she facilitates communication with more than 400 family members.
99 (tie) 1855
Lane Funeral Homes
Lane family
Funeral services, ambulance service/Youngstown, OH
www.lanefuneralhomes.com
William H Burford, born in Wales, moved to America and settled in Scranton, Pa., in 1851. He came to Mineral Ridge, Ohio, in 1855, and opened a furniture building and undertaking business. His son W.R. Burford succeeded him in 1884. In 1887 W.R. Burford married a widow, Margaret Daniels Lane. Stepson Joseph Burford Lane succeeded his stepfather in 1912; he transitioned the business from furniture and undertaking to funeral services only. Upon his death in 1950 his son Joseph O. Lane succeeded him. In the late 1970s the family established the Lane LifeTrans Paramedic Ambulance service and became a franchise holder of Rock of Ages Monuments. Fifth-generation leader Joseph D. Lane, who is also an attorney, took the helm after his father’s death in 2002.
99 (tie) 1855
Schoedinger Funeral and Cremation Service
Schoedinger family
Funeral services/Columbus, OH
www.schoedinger.com
Philip Schoedinger came to the U.S. from Germany in 1829 and began making caskets in 1855. He established Schoedinger & Brown in 1865. His sons George J. and J. Albert joined him and soon added an automobile hearse; the bell tower of their first funeral chapel remains a city landmark. George J.’s sons Fred and George R. joined the business, which was then known as Schoedinger & Co. George R.’s sons George Jr., Robert and John joined in the 1930s. Today members of the fifth and sixth generations run the business, which operates numerous funeral chapels in central Ohio.
99 (tie) 1855
Sears Manufacturing
Sears family
Specialized seating/Davenport, IA
www.searsseating.com
Isaac Howe Sears began manufacturing leather and canvas goods—including harnesses, saddles, buggy whips and pup tents—for the agricultural industry in 1855. The company began producing agricultural and industrial seats in 1947. In 1965, it introduced the first mechanical suspension for the agricultural market; in 1981, it entered the heavy-duty truck seating market. It expanded its operations to Europe in 1976 and is now a global company. Fifth-generation member Jim Sears is the CEO; his brother Steve Sears is chief strategic officer.
99 (tie) 1855
H.C. Wood Inc.
Wood family
Cemetery memorials, benches, restoration/Lansdowne, PA
www.hcwood.com
Aaron Wood founded the business in 1855. The company produces granite monuments, sculpture, headstones, mausoleums and cast bronze. It also provides restoration services and produces cornerstones, benches and home and garden stonework. Harvard C. Wood III, great-grandson of the founder, is president; Harvard C. Wood IV is vice president.
106 (tie) 1856
Laufersweiler Funeral Home
Laufersweiler family
Funeral services/Fort Dodge, IA
=www.laufersweilerfuneralhome.com
Conrad Laufersweiler founded the funeral home in 1856. It has been based in its current location (its third) since 1952. The current president, fourth-generation member Joe Laufersweiler, purchased the business from his father, Welch Laufersweiler, in 1979. Joe’s nephews Mark and Luke Laufersweiler are mortuary school graduates and active partners in the business.
106 (tie) 1856
A.Y. McDonald Mfg. Co.*
McDonald family
Plumbing supplies, water pumps, gas meter supplies/Dubuque, IA
www.aymcdonald.com
Founder Andrew Young McDonald, born in Scotland, was orphaned as a child and began an apprenticeship as a plumber at age 14. He moved with his aunt to America in 1854 and opened a small plumbing shop in Dubuque in 1856. In the 1870s, A.Y. realized that the pump business was more lucrative than plumbing. He opened his first factory and iron foundry in 1877 and expanded it in 1882; in 1883, he entered the plumbing wholesale business. He stopped down as president in 1889 and was succeeded by his nephew John Morrison II; the name of the company was changed to A.Y. McDonald & Morrison Mfg. Co. When Morrison retired in 1909, A.Y.’s sons A.Y. McDonald II (president) and J.M. McDonald (secretary and treasurer) took over. They started an oil equipment specialty line of valves and fittings in 1912. The first wholesale plumbing supply branch opened in 1915. Third-generation member Delos McDonald became president in 1944, succeeding A.Y.’s son-in-law, Ira Whitney. When Delos retired in 1959 another third-generation member, John McDonald II, took over until 1962. Four members of the fourth generation assumed leadership roles in 1985. Fourth-generation member John McDonald III is now A.Y. McDonald’s chairman of the board. Today fifth-generation member Michael B. McDonald is president. Other fifth-generation members active in the company are Robert Delos McDonald II, vice president of sales; Scott Knapp, vice president of marketing; and Sarah Hasken, corporate secretary.
106 (tie) 1856
R.C. Perine & Son
Perine family
Machine shop/Topeka, KS
Aaron B. Perine opened a blacksmith shop, Perine Plow Works (later Perine Iron Works), and passed it to two of his five sons, Loring Lewis (L.L.) Perine and Raymond Charles (R.C.) Perine. The two siblings parted ways after a quarrel, and R.C. Perine started his own welding business. His son John ran the welding machine operation. Jim Perine (d. 2008), R.C.’s grandson, started in the business after high school and worked alongside his son, Mike Perine, who now runs the operation as a one-man shop.