The American Tobacco Company

The anti-smoking conspiracy began over a century ago. Skull & Bones members ring-led the creation of the American Tobacco Trust, to gather all the companies under anti-smoker control. But they knew that they couldn't just take over the tobacco companies and shut them down, because others would simply enter the field. So, they also created and built up enemies to persecute tobacco, particlarly the American Cancer Society, the Harvard School of Public Health, and the American Heart Association, and used these as proxies to create and control the federal health establishment (the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute, et al.) to manufacture fraudulent pseudo-science to deceive the public at taxpayer expense. The anti-smoker-controlled tobacco companies merely put up a phony pretense of fighting the anti-smoker-controlled "health" lobbies, and purposely throw lawsuits (that is, to those brought by the "right" plaintiffs) in order to financially intimidate potential entrants away from the tobacco industry.

The anti-smokers' fixation on James Buchanan Duke as the ruthless builder of the Tobacco Trust is just a smokescreen for the corrupt municipal railway and electricity barons, of whom William Collins Whitney (Skull & Bones 1863), was one. The whole gang of them was involved in the American Tobacco Company, and Whitney, with his main partner, Thomas F. Ryan, and his brother-in-law, Oliver H. Payne, played a central role. The Whitney's Northern Finance Corp. was a major stockholder at least until 1929.

"In 1884 James B. Duke moved to New York and opened a cigarette factory, intending to develop a tobacco market in the North. Shortly thereafter, he met Oliver Payne, who suggested that instead of fighting his North Carolina competitors, he buy them out. American Tobacco was the result." (Oliver Hazard Payne's business activities. Marist College Center for E-Business.) Payne himself had been the second largest refiner in Cleveland when Rockefeller bought him out, and he subsequently became one of the major partners of Standard Oil. In 1884, the partners began looking for ways to invest their money.

The company attributes American Tobacco's pricing to its use of the Bonsack machine, which other manufacturers declined to adopt. And: "J.B. Duke was then a handler of men, a professional executive rather than a financier. He owned far less than a controlling share in American Tobacco common. In 1897 Colonel Oliver Payne of Standard Oil cornered a working majority of the stock, and Duke told Payne he would sell his shares and start a new company if Payne's group desired it. Payne backed down and gave Duke a free hand from that point onward. Not that Duke was 'agin' the men who furnished capital. In fact, his principle motive was top bring into the American camp such well-connected men as Thomas Fortune Ryan, William C. Whitney, Anthony N. Brady and P.A.B. Widener." (Sold American! - The First Fifty Years. American Tobacco Company, 1954.)

As for these "well-connected men:" Between about 1880 and 1905, "A single group of six men -- Yerkes, Widener, Elkins, Dolan, Whitney, and Ryan -- combined the street railways, and in many cases the lighting companies, of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and at least a hundred towns and cities in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana, New Hampshire, and Maine. Either jointly or separately, they controlled the gas and electric lighting companies of Philadelphia, Reading, Harrisburg, Atlanta, Vicksburg, St. Augustine, Minneapolis, Omaha, Des Moines, Kansas City, Sioux City, Syracuse, and about seventy other communities. A single corporation developed nearly all the trolley lines and lighting companies of New Jersey, another controlled similar utilities in San Francisco and other cities on the Pacific Coast.... In New York, Thomas F. Ryan and William C. Whitney were the powerful, though invisible, powers in Tammany Hall... In Philadelphia, Widener and Elkins dominated the City Hall and also became part of the Quay machine of Pennsylvania." They made their fortunes in these fields through construction overcharges and stock market bubbles. (The Age of Big Business, A Chronicle of the Captains of Industry, by Burton J. Hendrick. Globusz Publishing. Chapter V, The Development of Public Utilities. Originally published in 1919 by Yale University Press.)

(America's Sixty Families - The Public-Utility Background of Wilson's Backers. By Ferdinand Lundberg. Vanguard Press 1937 & 1938.) Other exploits of Brady, William L. Elkins, Rockefeller, Ryan, Whitney, and Widener, plus Charles Evans Hughes.

"Thus in setting up the American Tobacco Company the artful allies Whitney and Ryan had begun by issuing to the public an initial capital of $10,000,000, which was increased in 1898 to $70,000,000; then finally, when they changed the company into a New Jersey corporation in 1909, they celebrated with a rousing capitalization of $180,000,000! According to one of the fantastic legends of Wall Street, Whitney and Ryan together had used little more than $50,000 in promoting the Tobacco Trust, and capturing its stock." (Chapter Sixteen, Concentration: The Great Trusts. In: The Robber Barons, by Matthew Josephson. Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1934.)

Richard Kluger in "Ashes to Ashes" (Alfred A. Knopf, 1996) strives to portray the Tobacco Trust as a one-man show of James Buchanan Duke. He claims that, in the 1890s, "[s]everal of American Tobacco's ranking directors, Lewis Ginter among them, argued that Duke was acting rashly and squandering company capital in reaching for control of the entire tobacco universe. These rebels approached the Standard Oil multimillionaire Oliver H. Payne, by then a prominent Wall Street investor, and sought his aid to wrest control of American Tobacco. Payne had an audience with Duke, who persuaded him of the necessity of these slashing tactics that, in various forms, Standard Oil itself had pioneered. Payne came on board as an ally of Duke, not to check him." Kluger also implied that Union Tobacco, headed by Thomas Fortune Ryan with Payne's brother-in-law Whitney as a director, was a potential competitor of American Tobacco. While "Vowing his hatred of predatory trusts in general and Duke in particular," Ryan actually tricked Liggett & Myers, which had refused to sell out to American, into selling out to him instead. Then, Union promptly turned around and "came into the fold." This was no doubt the plan in the first place.

Directory of Cigarette Brands, 1864-1988

Directory of Cigarette Brands 1864-1988. F. Delman, A.M. Marion Jr., J Umana, K Sukhra, eds. Tobacco Manufacturers Association of the United States, Inc., 1989 (Second Edition).

The American Tobacco Company, incorporated in 1889

"The tobacco growers fear that it means an organized effort on the part of the great manufacturers of the country to control the price of leaf tobacco. The charter passed the two branches of the Virginia legislature Wednesday without attracting any special attention, and Gov. Lee signed it along with a big batch of others. An attempt will be made pass a repealing bill." The incorporators of the company in 1889 were Lewis Ginter, John Pope, Thomas M. Jeffries, Milton Cayce, and James M. Boyd, "all prominent and leading tobacconists of Richmond." (The American Tobacco Company. Raleigh News and Observer, Dec. 25, 1889.)

Lewis Ginter

"As some of our readers will be anxious to know who Maj. Ginter is, we will state that before the war he was a silk merchant in the city of Richmond, and in the pursuit of his business went occasionally to Europe, was in Paris the night of the Revolution in 1848, when Louis Philipe was dethroned and France declared free. The Major says things were stormy that night." He served with the Confederacy in the Civil War. After the war, he was in the banking business in New York City, until "Black Friday," when he returned to Richmond to manufacture tobacco and cigarettes. (The Pender Monument Fund. Raleigh News and Observer, Oct. 10, 1883.) In 1860, he was with the firm of Ginter, Alvey & Arents, which imported goods from Europe. (Domestic News Items. New York Herald, May 11, 1860.) "At a round table in the Waldorf cafe last evening four friends sat in quiet converse. One was recently from Richmond, and his apparent familiarity with the inside history of the American Tobacco company made him unusually interesting." The speaker said that Ginter "is a bachelor, about 75 years old and in a feeble condition. If he should die just now, goodby Tobacco Trust!" "He went into the Tobacco Trust with his eyes open and a tremendous price for his business, and next to Duke himself is the leading spirit of what threatened to become the greatest of monopolies. After Ginter comes his man, John Pope. For years... John Pope has been one of the biggest men in the American Tobacco company. He was recognized as the personal representative of Mr. Ginter, and was made vice-president. He arrived at his present prosperity in a rather peculiar way. When Mr. Ginter was selling dry goods and notions in White street he made it his business to become acquainted with every employe in his store, as well as with the cartmen and shippers. Among the latter was a good-natured chap of the name of Pope, to whom he took a great fancy. Pope used to jump off his wagon to rush in for such goods as the firm had to go by express, and Mr. Ginter never failed to pass a word or two with him. When the old gentleman went to Richmond he took Pope along and pushed him to the front." (Ginter and Pope. From the New York Press. Milwaukee Journal, Feb. 21, 1896.) Ginter resigned in 1897, reportedly after his propositions were overruled. (Major Ginter's resignation. New York Times, May 2, 1897.) "It is said that John Dunlap, of New York, is Lewis Ginter's greatest chum, and his legal advisor as well. Mr. Ginter is the richest man in Virginia, and is just now about to retire to private life. One day he visited Dunlap and made the acquaintance of the latter's nephew, a boy of 10 or 12 years. 'Wouldn't you like to have a pony?' he asked. 'I couldn't very well,' replied the youngster, 'because I have no place to keep him. But I would like some pictures.' He meant cigarette pictures. Mr. Ginter went to the factory and had a complete set of all the pictures that had ever been used in his cigarettes got together, and he sent it to his small friend with an injunction never to smoke." (The Daily Picayune, New Orleans, Jun. 14, 1897, p. 4, col. E.) "Major Ginter was born in New York City in 1820, descending from an old German family which came to this country nearly two centuries ago. He went to Richmond as a clerk when seventeen years old, and after a short time opened the 'Yankee Notion House,' which was a landmark to the older citizens of that community. He served as Quartermaster in the Confederate Army with the rank of Major, being then a wealthy and prominent business man.After the war he came to New York as a member of the brokers' firm of Harrison, Goddin & Co. All of his accumulations were swept away on 'Black Friday,' and he went back to Richmond without a dollar and started in the cigarette business. He formed a partnership with Joseph Allen, who was making cigarettes on a small scale, the firm of Allen & Ginter then employing about a dozen hands." (Death of Lewis Ginter. New York Times, Oct. 3, 1897.) He left his home to his nieces, the Misses Arents; his country home, Westbrook, to his sister, Mrs. Young; and his stock farm to George Arents. His brother and a niece and nephew in Missouri were also remembered. The total value was estimated at $7 to 8 million. (Will of the Late Maj. Ginter. Raleigh News and Observer, Oct. 7, 1897.)

John Pope

John Pope, vice president of the American Tobacco Company, was "not quite 40" when he died at Lewis Ginter's residence. His malady was said to be laryngitis, from which he had suffered for quite some time. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. When he was fourteen years old, Lewis Ginter "found him a check boy in a New-York express office," and he went to Richmond in 1872 or 1873 with Ginter. He had a brother in Richmond and three sisters in Brooklyn. (Obituary. Boston Daily Advertiser, Apr. 9, 1896; Obituary Record. New York Times, Apr. 9, 1896.) His estate was valued at $1,750,000. George Pope was the executor. (A Tobacco Millionaire's Will. Charleston, S.C. Weekly News and Courier, Apr. 15, 1896.) He left 500 shares of American Tobacco preferred and 1000 shares common, plus $25,000 in other securities to his sisters, and $150,000 each to his sisters and brother, with his brother as the residuary legatee. (Will of John Pope. New York Evening Post, Apr. 14, 1896.) His brother, George P. Pope, gave much of his wealth to the Catholic Church, and was made a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory by Pope Leo XIII in 1902. (George P. Pope Dead. New York Times, Nov. 27, 1917.) John Pope of Allen & Ginter Tobacco was a nephew of William Wilberforce Mann. Mann was working on a universal language when he died. His library and effects were left to Lewis Ginter, who had supplied him with money for several years. (The Dead Recluse. New York Times, Feb. 24, 1885.) Mann was born in New Hampshire in 1808, and his parents took him to Georgia when he was young. He lived in Paris during the 1848 revolution, and married a French woman by whom he had a daughter, Marion [or Maria]. (The Dead Recluse's Daughter. New York Times, Feb. 25, 1885; William Wilberforce Mann. Papers, 1825-1897. Accession 26673, Personal Papers Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.).

The American Tobacco Company, 1890

"The American Tobacco Company, chartered in New Jersey last week, is said to represent an immense cigarette trust. Allen & Ginter, of this city [Richmond], Duke & Son, of Durham, N.C., Kinney Brothers of New York and Richmond, Goodwin of New York, and Bonsack's Cigarette Machine Works, of Lynchburg, are in the combination." (The Deadly Cigarette. The Los Angeles Times, Jan. 4, 1890.) "The scheme was to admit George Arentz [sic] and Albert Young, both friends and family connections of Mr. Ginter, and other wealthy New Yorkers. The object of this charter, Mr. Pope says, was to enable the works to retain their local interest, and reinforced by abundant means to keep from being pressed into the cigarette trust now spreading its strong arms over the entire continent. It is suggested now that the purchase may have been in the interest of the combination, and this belief is supplemented by the fact that Gov. [James Edwin] Campbell, of Ohio, is reported to have recently introduced to Major Ginter a wealthy Englishman who was very anxious to get control of the works." It was said to have $25,000,000 of "mostly English money." The managers of Allen & Ginter in New York and William S. Kimball & Co. of Rochester, N.Y., denied that they had been sold to the trust. (A Great Tobacco Deal. Raleigh News and Observer, Jan. 5, 1890.) From the Baltimore Sun, Jan. 23: The New Jersey incorporators were Lewis Ginter and John Pope of Richmond, Va., George Arents and James B. Duke of N.Y., Benjamin N. Duke and George W. Watts of Durham, N.C., Francis W. Kinney of N.J., William H. Butler and Charles J. Emory of Brooklyn, and William S. Kimball of Rochester. (The Great Cigarette Syndicate. Daily Evening Bulletin, San Francisco, Jan. 31, 1890.) [The Virginia charter was reported to have been repealed on Feb. 1.] Charles Head & Co. and Cordley & Co. of Boston sought to buy the company's preferred stock. (Boston Daily Advertiser, May 26, 1890, p. 3.)

The published directorate: Lewis Ginter, Richmond, Va.; John Pope, First Vice President, Richmond Va.; George Arents, New York City; James B. Duke, President, New York City; Benjamin N. Duke, Durham, N.C.; George W. Watts, Durham, N.C.; Francis S. Kinney, Butler, N.J.; W.H. Butler, Secretary, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Charles G. Emery, Treasurer, Brooklyn, N.Y.; William S. Kimball, Second Vice President, Rochester, N.Y. Stephen Little was the Controller. The Farmers Loan and Trust Company of New York was its registrar. (American Tobacco Company Display Ad. Milwaukee Sentinel, June 3, 1890.)

American Tobacco Co., 1891-98

From the Baltimore Sun: American Tobacco bought Marburg Bros. and G.W. Gail & Ax of Baltimore in 1891. (A Deal in Tobacco. Raleigh News and Observer, Apr. 24, 1891.) The National Tobacco Company of Louisville and the Whitlock Company of Richmond also joined the trust. (American Tobacco Company. Daily Inter Ocean, Jan. 29, 1892.) Directors elected were William H. Butler, John Pope and George W. Watts for two years, Benjamin N. Duke and George Arents for one year, and George W. Gale and William A. Marburg additional directors for one year. (Millions rolling around. New York Times, Jan. 28, 1892.) Arents, Duke, Gail, and Josiah Brown were elected for one year, and Pope, Watts and Butler for two years. (American Tobacco Company; and: Stock Quote 4. New York Times, Feb. 15, 1894.) Arents, Duke, Gail and Brown were re-elected. (American Tobacco Company's Meeting. New York Times, Apr. 16, 1895.)

A grand jury indicted President James B. Duke and directors Butler, Marburg, Louis Ginter, Arents, Gail, Benjamin N. Duke, Watts, Brown, and Charles G. Emery, alleging that in April 1889, the Allen & Ginter, Duke, Sons & Co., McKinney & Co., William S. Kimball & Co., and Goodwin & Co. combined as the American Tobacco Co., and obliged retail customers not to buy from other manufacturers. The evidence was presented by the National Cigarette Company, which manufactured Admiral cigarettes. (Tobacco men under indictment. New York Times, May 8, 1896.) Joseph H. Choate and W.W. Fuller were attorneys for American Tobacco, while Assistant District Attorney John D. Lindsay represented the state. New York's anti-trust law amending the 1893 law was signed by Gov. Morton that May. Cases were pending in Illinois and New Jersey as well. (Tobacco trust rights. New York Times, Nov. 18, 1896.) Their demurrer was dismissed. (Tobacco men to be tried. New York Times, Jan. 23, 1897.) The defendants were represented by Daniel G. Rollins, W.W. Fuller and Lucien Oudin. District Attorney Olcott and his assistants Carpenter and Hardwicke represented the prosecution. (American Tobacco Company. New York Times, June 8, 1897.) Josiah Brown, the Secretary of American Tobacco, was the only defendant in attendance. In all forty ballots, ten jurors voted for conviction and two for acquittal. Those two had asked whether American sold more cigarettes than its constituent companies had before the combination. The case was discharged. (Tobacco jurors disagree. New York Times, June 30, 1897.) William H. Butler resigned from the directorate of the American Tobacco Company to become president of the Union Tobacco Company, and Harrison Drummond was elected to fill his place. (A Tobacco Competitor. New York Times, Dec. 9, 1898.)

Harrison I. Drummond, Yale 1890

Harrison Irwin Drummond (1869-1920), Yale Ph.B. 1890, was born in Alton, Ill. After graduation, he joined the Drummond Tobacco Company, founded by his father, James Thomas Drummond, in St. Louis. He became president after his father died. He became first vice president and a director of the Continental Tobacco Company when it absorbed Drummond. He retired in 1901 and returned to St. Louis, where he was a director of the Merchants-Laclede National Bank and the Mississippi Valley Trust Company, and President of the Drummond Realty Trust Company. He moved to Pasadena, Cal. in 1906, and helped organize the Security National Bank. He had two brothers who graduated from Yale, James T. Drummond 1896 S and Charles R. Drummond ex-1899 S.; and a son, Harrison, non-graduate 1919 S. (Obituary Record of Yale Graduates, 1920-1921, pp. 223-224.) James T. Drummond was a vice president of Drummond Tobacco until 1901, then joined his brother at the Drummond Realty until 1902. He joined Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co. in 1912, and was its southwestern sales manager. (Obituary Record of Yale Graduates 1925-1926, p. 251.)

Benjamin N. Duke

Mrs. Benjamin N. Duke, Mrs. W.W. Fuller, Mrs. Walter H. Page, Mrs. Rufus L. Patterson and Mrs. T.B. Yuille were patronesses of the Noirth Carolina Society. (North Carolina Society Gives Dance. New York Times, Apr. 20, 1912.) Benjamin N. Duke was a brother of James B. Duke. His daughter, Mary L. Duke, married Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle less than two months after her brother, Angier Buchanan Duke, married Cordelia Drexel Biddle, the bridegroom's sister. "The bridesmaids were the misses Ellen Yuille, Florence Gilbert, and Caroline Fuller of this city; Yvonne Townsend of Washington, D.C., and Lucy Stokes and Anna Branson of Durham, S.C. [sic]... The ushers included Maurice Burke Roche, Evans Russell Tucker Jr., Henry Nichols Tucker, William Sturgis and Edwin Kane of New York; Pierpont Schreiber of Short Hills, N.J.; De Benneville Bell, Reginald Hutchinson, and Alfred Putnam of Philadelphia; and Lawrence Villas of Chicago." The New York guests included Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Dula, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver W. Harriman, Mr. and Mrs. George W. Hill, Mr. and Mrs. Percival S. Hill, Mr. and Mrs. Rufus L. Patterson, Mr. and Mrs. Clinton W. Toms, Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. Taft and his son, Walbridge S. Taft, and Mr. and Mrs. T.B.Yuille. The Philadelphia guests included Mrs. George Widener and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Widener, and Mr. and Mrs. Henry A. Berwind. Other guests were Judge R.T.W. Duke, William Eskridge Duke and Miss Mary Duke of Charlottesville, Va., Mrs. A.H. Stokes of Durham, N.C.; and Perry Belmont of Washington, D.C. ($500,000 in Gifts At Biddle Wedding. New York Times, Jun. 17, 1915.)

Benjamin Duke's son, Angier Biddle Duke, drowned in 1923. He had established a trust fund for his wife and their two children in 1919. The securties included: 5,000 United Drug Company, $250,000; 1,000 United States Steel preferred, $116,137; 1,000 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco preferred, $113,500; 1,000 Weyman-Bruton Company preferred, $106,045; 320 George W. Helme Company preferred, $33,965; 700 American Snuff preferred, $66,895; and additional stocks worth $63,343. The Guaranty Trust Company was the trustee. (Accounting Filed in A.B. Duke Trust. New York Times, Oct. 5, 1924.)

Angier Biddle Duke Jr., the grandson of Benjamin N. Duke, married Priscilla St. George, the granddaughter of George F. Baker Jr. (~1878-1937). Barbara Field was a bridesmaid, and Marshall Field Jr. [4th] was an usher. The guest list was lengthy. (Priscilla St. George Is Married To Angier B. Duke in Tuxedo Park. New York Times, Jan. 3, 1937.) Barbara and Marshall Jr. were the children of Marshall Field 3d, who financed the stockholders of Tobacco and Allied Stocks in their takeover of Philip Morris.

Thomas B. Yuille

"A member of an old Southern family, Mr. Yuille was born in Halifax County, Va. As a young man he became associated with the American Tobacco Company at Durham, N.C. In 1901 he came to the company's office here and in 1912 became a vice president of the company. Mr. Yuille continued as vice president of American Tobacco until 1916, when he resigned. Soon afterward he became president of the Universal Leaf Tobacco Company. In 1923 he was elected president of the Tobacco Products Corporation. Organizations with which he had been affiliated at various times as a director were the United Retail Stores Corporation, American Machine and Foundry Company, United Drug Company, First and Merchants Bank of Richmond, Va., United States Trust Company of Newark, Tobacco Products Export Corporation, Universal Leaf Tobacco Comapny, Inc., and Knollwood Manor, Inc." (Thomas B. Yuille Dead At Age of 64. New York Times, Nov. 23, 1934.) He married Nannie Williams Long in 1894, when he was the American Tobacco Company's representative in Clarksville, Va. (Another Wedding in Henderson. Raleigh News and Observer, Oct. 31, 1894.) In 1907, he was the head of the leaf buying department. (Fierce Tobacco Rivalry. New York Times, Nov. 26, 1907.) Yuille, William P. Gilmour, and and Williamson W. Fuller were executors of the estate of John B. Cobb of Stamford. (Cobb Estate is $4182,708. New York Times, Oct. 18, 1923.) He had a joint brokerage account with C.C. Dula of Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co. His daughter, Ellen, married William J. Sturgis of Bronxville, N.Y., the son of Rev. Joseph R. Sturgis of Virginia. Angier B. Duke was best man, and the ushers were Philip O. Mills, A.J. Drexel Biddle Jr., James A. Blair Jr., George B. Glaenzer [S&B 1907], Theodore S. Watson, Walbridge S. Taft [Yale 1907], Theodore P. Dixon [S&B 1907], and his brother, J. Steele Sturgis of Chicago. Guests included J.F. Horan, Jaquelin P. Taylor, and Mr. and Mrs. Albert H. Wiggin. (Sturgis-Yuille Wedding. New York Times, Oct. 9, 1915; Miss Ellen Yuille Weds W.J. Sturgis. New York Times, Nov. 18, 1915.) She remarried to Chicago broker Wolcott Blair, son of Watson F. Blair, in 1926. His daughter, [Susan] Burks Yuille, married Carroll Carstairs, Yale 1913, of New York and Philadelphia. (Miss Yuille Weds Carroll Carstairs. New York Times, Mar. 21, 1924.) Carroll Chevalier Carstairs was an art dealer in New York City. (Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Year 1948-1949, p. 69.) His daughter, Nancy Yuille, married Viscount Adare. (Miss Nancy Yuille Wed in Palm Beach. New York Times, Mar. 8, 1934.) His daughter, Melissa, married William C. Whitney's nephew, Harry Payne Bingham, in 1937.

Continental Tobacco Co., 1898

Incorporators of the Continental Tobacco Company: James B. Duke, John B. Cobb, Harrison I. Drummond, Mark Leopold, Frank H. Ray, Herbert L. Terrell, Oliver H. Payne, Thomas Atkinson, Pierre Lorillard Jr., James B. Hughes, C.H. Faucette, Paul Brown, Basil Doerhoefer, Grant B. Schley, and Oren Scotten. (The Continental Tobacco Co. New York Times, Dec. 11, 1898.)

American Tobacco Co., 1900

Directors of American Tobacco, 1900: R.L. Patterson (Sec.), H.D. Lee (Treas.), J.B. Duke (Pres.), T.F. Jeffries (VP), B.N. Duke, T.W. Watts, George Arents, J. Doerhoefer, O.H. Payne, J.B. Cobb (VP), H.I. Drummond, P.A.B. Widener, T.F. Ryan, Anthony N. Brady, W.W. Fuller, W.R. Harris (VP). (Moody's Manual of Industrial and Miscellaneous Securities, First Annual Number, 1900. John Moody, Editor. ?.C. Lewis Co.)

The Universal Tobacco Company, 1901-1904

William H. Butler, an organizer of the American Tobacco Company in 1890, and brother, George P. Butler, founded the Universal Tobacco Company, out of whose remains the Butler & Butler Tobacco Company was formed, and then acquired by American Tobacco. In 1912, he and his brother bought the Surbrug Company, manufacturing smoking tobacco in Hoboken, N.J., and the Khedivial Company, manufacturing cigarettes. The Tobacco Products Corporation was founded on this, which later acquired the New York City branch of Philip Morris.

Consolidated Tobacco Co., 1901

The Consolidated Tobacco Company was formed in 1901 to take over the common stock of the American and Continental Tobacco Companies. Directors were James B. Duke, Oliver H. Payne, Thomas F. Ryan, J.R. Cobb, W.W. Fuller, Grant B. Schley, Frank H. Ray, Anthony N. Brady, C.C. Dula, William R. Harris, P.A.B. Widener, Percival S. Hill, B.N. Duke, and Charles E. Halliwell. (Consolidated Tobacco Co. New York Times, June 7, 1901.) The American Snuff Company and the American Cigar Company were added as well. (Tobacco Trust Attacked. New York Times, May 29, 1902.) In the Northern Securities litigation, "It was recalled, as a coincidence, by some of those present, that on June 20 W. Bourke Cockran called the attention of District Attorney Jerome to failure to answer questions on the part of the Consolidated Tobacco Company. In reply to that letter De Lancey Nicoll also addressed the District Attorney, in the course of which letter he said, concerning the formation of the Consolidated Tobacco Company: 'All of the stockholders except those holding 12,000 shares of the American Tobacco Company, and an even larger proportion of the Continental Tobacco Company, accepted the offer and exchanged their stock for bonds. Most of these 12,000 shares were then assembled into a pool or a syndicate, on behalf of which four suits have been brought which, fom one standpoint or another, attack the validity of the American Tobacco Company's offer to purchase. Most of the persons interested in this pool are also connected with the Universal Tobacco Company, organized by Messrs. Cockran, William H. Butler, abnd others, as a rival for the American Tobacco Company in April 1901 and the suits which have are all under the direction or control of Mr. Cockran and his associates, one of whom at least is a gentleman well known in the financial world as a promoter of strike litigation.'" [Strike litigation constituted suits filed in order to reap a settlement.] (Got Stock Free To Bring Merger Suit. New York Times, Aug. 16, 1902; Tobacco Trust Case Submitted to Mr. Jerome. New York Times, Jun. 21, 1902.)

Charles E. Halliwell

In January 1899, the majority of stock of the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co. was sold to Mr. Butler of the Union Tobacco Company by Moses C. Wetmore, Charles E. Halliwell, Samuel T. McCormick, Mrs. Claude Kilpatrick, Mrs. John Fowler, and Mrs. John E. Liggett for $6.5 million cash. Wetmore was to continue as president and general manager for five years, and George S. Myers kept his shares. (Big Tobacco Deal. Morning Oregonian, Feb. 5, 1899.) Mrs. Charles E. Halliwell, wife of the First Vice President of the Continental Tobacco Company, was the daughter of James Ayres Brown, "a leading merchant of London." (Obituary Notes. New York Times, Mar. 13, 1902.) Their daughter Mabel married Holland Sacket Duell, Yale 1902, a lawyer from Syracuse. (Weddings of a Day. New York Times, Sep. 30, 1904.) Halliwell fell ill in 1905 and married his nurse, Miss Ruth Alice Cole. "In the American Tobacco Company Mr. Halliwell is second in importance only to James B. Duke. He is also a director of the American Peat Fuel Company, the American Snuff Company, Automatic Weighing Machine Company, International Cigar Machine Company, Kentucky Tobacco Product Company, Luhrman & Wilbern Tobacco Company, and the P. Lorillard Company. He is 55 years old, and his wealth has been estimated at $20,000,000." (Charles E. Halliwell Weds. New York Times, Oct. 5, 1906.) "Mr. Halliwell was in control of the Leggitt [sic] & Meyers Tobacco Company, in St. Louis, when James B. Duke set out to combine the big tobacco concerns," and made Halliwell an officer of the American Tobacco Company. He was said to be 50 years old. (Charles Halliwell Dead. Washington Post, May 7, 1907.) In 1909, C.E. Halliwell had $600 in dividends of American Tobacco preferred stock unclaimed since 1904. (American Tobacco Co., Fiscal Statement, Dec. 31, 1921.)

His widow married William Porter, who began as a cotton broker in Louisville, then "allied himself with the National Tobacco Company and then with the American Tobacco Company, becoming general manager of the sales department in this city. In 1903, Porter gave up the tobacco business, becoming a member of the Stock Exchange firm of Perkins, Erickson & Co." (Stock Exchange Man Hurt in Auto Wreck. New York Times, May 25, 1911.) Porter died, and she married Warren Clark Van Slyke, a well-known lawyer. She had received a quarter of Halliwell's $5 million estate in trust, with half to his daughter and a quarter to his son, Walter S. Halliwell. (Mrs. Porter to Wed Again. New York Times, Jun. 20, 1913.) Holland S. Duell's daughter Helen, Vassar 1927, married Thomas Witter Chrystie, Columbia 1924. (Holland Sackett Duell, B.A. 1902. Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Year 1942-1943, pp. 75-76.). They were the parents of American Health Foundation trustee Thomas L. Chrystie. (Mrs. Thomas W. Christie, Women's Civic Leader, 57. New York Times, Oct. 28, 1963.)

De Lancey Nicoll

American Tobacco Company acquires the Cuban trade, 1902

British-American Tobacco, 1902

The first board of directors of the British-American Tobacco Company: Sir William Henry Wills, J.B. Duke, J.B. Cobb, H.H. Wills, W.R. Harris, C.E. Lambert, W.W. Fuller, W.G. Player, C.C. Dula, Hugo von R. Cunliffe Owen, Percival S. Hill, Thomas Gracey, W.B. Ogden, Thomas Ogden, R.H. Walters, P.R. Walters, Percy Ogden, and Harold Roberts. J.B. Duke, R.H. Walters, and Thomas Ogden joined the board of the Imperial Tobacco Co. (The Tobacco War Ended. New York Times, Sep. 28, 1902.)

B.A.T. Industries An historical note, by Laurie Dennett, 1987.

AT in 1906: "Of the common stock, $35.5 million [of $40.2 million] was owned by fifty-two people, and the ten largest stockholders owned 63%. These included six directors - James and Benjamin Duke, Thomas Fortune Ryan, Anthony Brady, O.H. Payne and P.A.B. Widener - along with the Wall Street firm of Moore & Schley, Grant B. Schley himself, and the Whitney and Elkins estates. Among those owning $100,000 or more in common stock were Percival Hill, George Arents, R.J. Reynolds, Pierre Lorillard and R.A. Patterson, originator of the Lucky Strike smoking tobacco." (Sold American! American Tobacco Company, 1954, p.37.)

William James Wallace of the Central Trust-associated Butler law firm represented the American Tobacco Company in the Sherman Anti-Trust suit. Another attorney for American was De Lancey Nicoll, whose sister later married Thomas F. Ryan.

U.S. Marshalls served papers on James B. Duke, Caleb C. Dula, Percival Hill, Thomas J. Maloney, William R. Harris, William H. McAllister, Benjamin N. Duke, Herbert D. Kingsbury, William W. Fuller, Robert C. Dula, George C. Allen, and Rufus L. Patterson at the office of the American Tobacco Company. Thomas F. Ryan, Anthony N. Brady, H.M. Hanna, Pierre Lorillard, Grant B. Schley, P.A.B. Widener and a half dozen others were out of town. (Tobacco men subpoenaed. New York Times, July 19, 1907.)

American Tobacco Company, 1911

"Court Convinced of Correctness of Its Construction of Sherman Acts as Applied to the Standard Oil Company - Finds Undisputed Facts Sufficient to Convict Tobacco Company - Court Below to Control Trust's Dissolution." (Reaffirms Rule of Reason in Tobacco Trust Case. New York Times, May 30, 1911.) SIC. The strange antics of the Butler brothers and their friends seem to have escaped the Court's notice. They are not among the 29 defendants.

The Directors and four others owned 77% of the common stock: A.N. Brady 33,334 shares; O.H. Payne 33,334; P.A.B. Widener 33,000; Moore & Schley 31,452; Thomas F. Ryan 30,000; W.C. Whitney estate 29,034; J.B. Duke 25,000; B.N. Duke 14,000; W.L. Elkins estate 13,233; G.B. Schley 12,200. Most also held large amounts of preferred stock. Other holders of common stock: Gertrude Whitney 6,667; W.R. Harris 6,567; G.W. Watts 6,500; H.M. Hanna 5,500; Paul Brown 5,200; C.E. Halliwell, 4,600; C.C. Dula 4,108; R.B. Dula 4,100; J.B. Cobb 4,002; W.W. Fuller 4,000; S. Siegman 3,350; H.P. Whitney 3,300; W.B. Dickerman 3,035; P.S. Hill 2,427; George Arents 2,300; R.K. Smith 2,000; C.N. Strotz 2,000; Sidmon McHir 1,933; Homan & Co. 1805; W.H. McAlister 1,800; Wolf Bros. & Co. 1,575; George Blumenthal 1,470; C.A. Griscom 1,433; B.H. Homan 1,334; R.J. Reynolds 1,333; R.A.C Smith 1,333; P. Lorillard 1,300; Dominick & Dominick 1,230; T.J. Maloney 1,167; R.L. Patterson 1,100; Charles D. Barney & Co., James G. Butler, G.D. Casilear, Sarah P. Duke, Laura M. Kimball, D.S. Lamont estate, S.I. Peters, A.W. Smith, J.H. Smith, Mrs. A. Woerishoeffer, F.B. Mitchell, and M.E. Dickerman, 1,000 each. "Those named owned together 355,065 shares out of a total outstanding of 402,424 shares, par value $40,242,200." The preferred stock amounted to $78,089,100. The company's lawyers included W.W. Fuller, De Lancey Nicoll, Lewis Cass Ledyard, and Alton B. Parker. (Tobacco Plan Goes Now Before Court. New York Times, Aug. 25, 1911.)

Robert A.C. Smith

After the breakup of the American Tobacco Company, its Preferred Stock was deposited at the Central Trust. The Committee was J.N. Wallace, Chairman; Frederick Strauss, Charles D. Norton, Harry Bronner, and Ernest Iselin; F.L. Babcock, Secretary, and Adrian H. Larkin, Counsel. American Tobacco Company Bonds were deposited at the Guaranty Trust. (Display Ad 17. New York Times, Aug. 2, 1911 p. 11.) Charles D. Norton was a Vice President of the First National Bank. As of Dec. 31, 1911, the American Tobacco Company had $26,750,742.63 in cash accounts, including $6,737,506.69 at the Guaranty Trust Co., $4,349,521.51 at the Farmers Loan & Trust Co., $3,326,049.64 at the Central Trust Co., $2,500,000.00 at J.P. Morgan & Co., and $2,303,628.00 at the National City Bank, and amounts between one and two million dollars at the Chase National Bank, the National Shawmut Bank, the National Bank of Commerce, and the Fourth Street National Bank; and lesser amounts at other banks. (Fiscal Statements, The American Tobacco Co., Dec. 31, 1911.)

Breakup of American Tobacco, 1912

James B. Duke resigned as president of the American Tobacco Company, and became head of the British-American Tobacco Co. He was replaced by Percival S. Hill, former president of the American Cigar Company and Vice President of American. The new directors of American Tobacco were M.W. Reed, T.J. Walker, J.M.W. Hicks, J. Fletcher, P.J. Hanlon, J.T. Wilcox, M.C. Patterosn, E.S. Edwards, George W. Hill, and W.H. O'Brien. Edwards, Hanlon, George W. Hill, Patterson, and T.B. Yuille were elected Vice Presidents, and Junius W. Parker succeeded Williamson W. Fuller as general counsel. Of the original 27-member board, seven resigned to go with P. Lorillard and Liggett & Myers. C.C. Dula, R.B. Dula, R.D. Lewis, and W.R. Irby became directors of L&M, and T.J. Maloney, Herbert D. Kingsbury, and R.K. Smith joined the board of Lorillard. Dula became President of L&M, and Maloney the President of Lorillard. (Duke Goes Out As American Tobacco Head. New York Times, Feb. 15, 1912.) In 1922, these three firms were accused of conspiring with numerous jobbers' associations to keep tobacco prices high, while R.J. Reynolds was exonerated (Tobacco Price Plot Laid to Three Big Firms. New York Times, Jan. 19, 1922.)

American Tobacco Company, 1917

Major stockholders in the American Tobacco Company in 1917: Estate of A.N. Brady [misspelled "Brandy"], p.8; J.B. Duke, p.32; Estate of Mrs. W.L. Elkins, p.35; L.C. Ledyard & P. Whitney, p.73; Moore & Schley, p. 88; Northern Finance Corp., p. 95; O.H. Payne, p. 99; T.F. Ryan, p.112; A.L. Sylvester, p. 128; Western Reserve University, p. 142; H.P. Whitney, p. 148. Directors: James C. Brady, John C. Engelhard, Daniel Hall, Percival S. Hill, George W. Hill, Charles S. Keene, Julius H. Mahler, Walter B. O'Brien, Charles A. Penn, Morton W. Reed, Allis L. Sylvester, and Josiah T. Wilcox, pp. 154-6.

Charles A. Penn

Charles Ashby Penn, born 1868 in Patrick County, Va., was the son of the founder of the F.R. Penn Tobacco Company, where he was employed until it was taken over by the American Tobacco Company in 1912. He was involved in the creation of Lucky Strike cigarettes in 1916. (C.A. Penn Is Dead; Expert on Tobacco. New York Times, Oct. 23, 1931.) According to American Tobacco's tributes, F.R. Penn Tobacco was acquired in 1903. Charles A. Penn was its active head, and he became a director of American Tobacco in 1914 and vice president in 1916, and continued in these offices until his death. (Charles Penn Is Lauded in Resolutions. Danville, Va. Bee, Oct. 30, 1931.)

In 1918, Ryan, Brady, and Widener were among the 30 richest Americans. (The First Rich List. B.C. Forbes, Sep. 27, 2002.)

American Tobacco Company, 1919

Directors of the American Tobacco Company elected for a one-year term on March 12, 1919: James C. Brady, Frederic W. da Costa, Daniel Hall, Percival S. Hill, George W. Hill, Charles S. Keene, James E. Lipscomb, Julius H. Mahler, Charles F. Neiley, Walter H. O'Brien, Charles A. Penn, Morton W. Reed, A. L. Sylvester, Josiah T. Wilcox. (The American Tobacco Company, Series C 1, (B-14) Minute Book #23.)

American Tobacco Company, 1920

Some large stockholders in March 1920: N.W. Aldrich 2050 pfd; G. Arents Jr. 3200 pfd, 950 com; Annie A. Arents, Farmers Loan & Trust, trustee, 1360 pfd; D. Humphries U W of G. Arents, Farmers Loan & Trust, trustee, 2630 pfd; Estate of A.N. Brady 7401 pfd; P. Brown 2000 pfd 3000 com; Citizens Savings & Trust Co. 1900 pfd; E.W. Clucas 1200 pfd; J.P. Dalton 7925 com; Denny, Pomroy & Co. 2935 pfd; M.H. Duell 1670 com; Estate of Wm. L. Elkins 10000 pfd, 12500 com; Harriman & Co. 7500 com; G.H. Haskell 4600 pfd; J.W.W. Hicks 1200 pfd; P.S. Hill 1412 com; Mrs. A.L. Hill 1400 com; G.W. Hill 2150 com; T. Hitchcock 1500 pfd; J.P. Hoes 1179 pfd; Home Insurance Co. 2000 pfd; M.P. Jacobs 3300 pfd; L.M. Kimball 4402 pfd; L.N. Kramer 1000 pfd; Lakeside Hospital 1190 pfd; Lindenwood Female College 3544 pfd; Maben & Co. 1215 pfd; A. Marburg 1140 pfd; G.G. Mason 2000 pfd; Melville Securities Co. 6300 pfd; Mercantile Trust Co. 1600 pfd; E.C. Moore Jr. 1000 pfd; Wm. P. Morgan 1200 com; Municipal Gas Co. of the City of Albany 1166 pfd; Northern Finance Corp. 20340 pfd; J.W. Ogden 2000 pfd; J.H. Ottley 1000 pfd; U.W. of O.H. Payne for O.C. Paget 1317 pfd; U.W. of O.H. Payne for D.W. Paget 1317 pfd; S.T. Peters 1000 com; C.R.R. Putnam 1000 pfd; Wm. H. Sage 3000 pfd 700 com; St. Louis Children's Hospital of St. Louis, Mo. 1047 pfd; Mrs. H. Schroder 500 pfd 507 com; C. Soby 1434 pfd; A.L. Sylvester 2000 com; M.E.W. Terrell 1000 pfd; O.W. Watts 7000 pfd; Western Reserve University 2366 pfd; L.P. Witte 2802 pfd; J.A. Woolley 1200 pfd. 526,997 preferred shares and 402,242 common had equal voting power. There were 8814 stockholders. Directors were Frederic M. da Costa, George W. Hill, Percival S. Hill, Charles S. Keene, James E. Lipscomb, Julius H. Mahler, Charles F. Nalley, Walter H. O'Brien, Charles A. Penn, Morton W. Reed, A.L. Sylvester, Josiah T. Wilcox, Thomas W. Harris, and Tullis T. Harkrader. (The American Tobacco Company, Series C 1, (B-15) Minute Book #24, pp. 74-144.)

American Tobacco Company, 1924

Major stockholders in 1924: E.B. Aldrich etc.; A.A. Arents and G.J. Arents, Jr; H.M. Arnold, p.4; Paul Brown, p.9; Estate of A.N. Brady, p.10; William L. Elkins Trust, p.19; Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., p.20; G.H. Haskell, p.26; A.W. Hill; Mrs. Hill, p.28; M.P. Jacobs, p.30; N.S Jonas, p.31; G.G. Mason, p.39; Moore & Schley, p.41; H.E. Mumford, p.42; Northern Finance Corp., p.44; Paine, Webber & Co., p.45; P.B. Reuter, p.49; Safe Deposit & Trust Co. of Baltimore; A.G.C. Sage, p. 53; L.D. Smith & Co., p.55; Mrs. S.V. Watts; H.P. Whitney; the P.A.B. Widener Estate, p.63; L.P. Witte, p.65. Directors: Frederic M. da Costa (Aud), Tullis T. Harkrader, Thomas W. Harris, George W. Hill, Percival S. Hill, Charles S. Keens, James E. Lipscomb, Julius H. Mahler, Arthur C. Mower, Charles F. Neiley, Paul A. Noell, Charles A. Penn, A.L. Sylvester, Jesse R. Taylor (Treas), p.71.

American Tobacco Company, 1926

Directors elected April 7, 1926, for one year: John E. Archbell, Donald Geddes, Tullis T. Harkrader, Thomas W. Harris. George W. Hill, Charles S. Keene, James E. Lipscomb, Arthur C. Mower, Charles F. Neiley, Paul A. Noell, Junius Parker, Charles A. Penn, James H. Perkins, A.L. Sylvester, Jesse R. Taylor. (American Tobacco Company Minute Book, Series B1 C-24, pp. 161-163.) Perkins was the President of the Farmers Loan and Trust Company of New York.

Donald Geddes

Donald Grant Geddes joined Clark, Dodge & Co. after it merged with his original firm, Chase & Higgins. He was a general partner of the firm from 1899 to 1939, and a limited partner until his death. He became a member of the New York Stock Exchange in 1899, and was a member of the Exchange's Board of Governors from 1904 to 1922, and an advisory governor from 1934 to 1937, when he gave up his seat; then he held a seat again from 1942 to 1945. He was a director of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, the American Tobacco Company, Consolidated Edison, International Mercantile Marine, Chemical Bank and Trust Company, Western Union Telegraph Company and Celanese Corporation of American. (Donald G. Geddes, Broker 59 Years. New York Times, New York Times, Nov. 19, 1949.) His father-in-law, Eugene Lascelles Maxwell, was a member of the railway machinists' supply firm of Manning, Maxwell & Moore. (The Obituary Record. New York Times, Feb. 11, 1895; A Day's Weddings. New York Times, Nov. 2, 1899.) Donald Geddes joined the board of the St. Paul railroad after Peter Geddes retired. William Rockefeller was a longtime director. (St. Paul Re-Elects Board. New York Times, Sep. 29, 1912.) Donald G. Geddes and the United States Trust Company were trustees of the trusts for William Rockefeller's daughters, Mrs. Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge and Mrs. Emma Rockefeller McAlpin. (Report on Estate of William Rockefeller. Jan. 28, 1939.) His son, Gerald Maxwell Geddes, was with Clark, Dodge & Co. until his retirement, and his son Eugene M. Geddes was board chairman of Clark, Dodge. (Judith Hariss Wed to Broker. New York Tmes, Oct. 3, 1972.) Clark, Dodge & Co. was acquired by Kidder, Peabody in 1974, and E. Maxwell Geddes Jr. became a vice president of Kidder, Peabody. (Sara Geddes Has Wedding. New York Times, May 31, 1987.)

American Tobacco Company, 1929

Major stockholders of ATCO in 1929: W.L. Elkins Estate, p.10; Fidelity, Phila. Tr. Co., p.12; Farmers' Loan & Tr. Co., p.11; A.W., G.W., C.M., and J.S. Hill, p.28; A. Iselin & Co., p.32; N.Y. Life Ins. Co. and NY Botanical Garden, p.55; Northern Finance Corp., p.56; C.A. Penn, p. 60; A.L. Sylvester, p.81; P.A.B. Widener Estate, p.93. Directors: John K. Fletcher, Donald Geddes, Thomas W. Harris, Tullis T. Harkrader, Frank W. Harwood, George W. Hill, Charles S. Keens, James E. Lipscomb Jr., Arthur C. Mower, Charles P. Neiley, Junius Parker, Charles A. Penn, James H. Perkins, Vincent Riggio, William D. Stocks, and Thomas R. Taylor, pp.102-4.

American Tobacco Company, 1930s

Edward Lasker and American Tobacco: "Mr. Lasker attended St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., while his father [Albert D. Lasker] was chairman of the United States Shipping Board. He was graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and in 1933 from Yale University. Following his graduation from Yale he was associated with J. Wix, London, the English branch of the American Tobacco Company, and now is connected with the New York office of Lord & Thomas." (Troth Announced of Caral Gimbel. New York Times, Nov. 29, 1934, pg. 36.) In the Tobacco Documents Online, there is correspondence between ATC and J. Wix in 1932 and after 1935, but none during 1933 and 1934. Edward Lasker became a director of Philip Morris in 1960.

Directors of ATC, 1936: Richard J. Boylan (Sec.), James R. Coon (Aud.), John A. Crowe, C. Huntley Gibson, Patrick H. Gorman, Paul M. Hahn (VP), Tullis T. Harkrader, Edmund A. Harvey (Treas.), George W. Hill (Pres.), George W. Hill Jr., James E. Lipscomb Jr., Charles F. Neiley (VP), William H. Ogsbury, Fred B. Reuter, Rowland W. Richards, and Frank V. Riggio (VP). In 1938, Hiram R. Hanmer, and in 1940, Orpheus D. Baxalys joined the board, while Richards left.

American Tobacco Company cash on deposit with banks, Dec. 31, 1937: $6.5 million at the Guaranty Trust Company of New York; $3.9 million at the Chase National Bank; $3.2 million at the National City Bank; $2.4 million at the Bankers Trust Company; $1.9 million at the Central Hanover Bank and Trust; $1.2 million at the Manufacturers Trust Company, and lesser amounts at other institutions. (ATC Fiscal Statement, Dec. 31, 1937.)

John R. Latham

"John R. Latham, former president of American Cigarette and Cigar Co. and creator of American Tobacco's 'Sold American!' radio jingle in the 1930s, died February 21 at his home in White Creek, N.Y. He was 72. Latham began his career at Young & Rubicam advertising agency in the late 1920s. upon graduation from Lehigh University. He became known as the Father of the Radio Jingle after he sold the idea of a tobacco auctioneer's voice in a commercial to American Tobacco's flamboyant chief executive, George Washington Hill. At one point in the 1930s, Lucky Strike was the nation's best-selling cigarette, achieving the honor by outselling R.J. Reynolds' Camel and Liggett & Myers' Chesterfield. Latham became president of American Cigarette and Cigar, an American Tobacco subsidiary, in 1938 and introduced Pall Mall, the first king size cigarette to be marketed nationally. During the Second World War, Latham was a Marine Corps major, assigned to the Office of War Information. After the war, he joined Curtis Publishing Co. as a sales executive and then returned to the tobacco business as advertising manager of Philip Morris. During the 1950s, he created the Philip Morris country music radio show, which toured the South and Middle West. He left the tobacco business for good in 1960, when he became senior vice president of a Warner Lambert Pharmaceutical Co. subsidiary. In later years, he was a securities broker in New York and at the time of his death was affiliated with the financial firm, R..L. Day Co." (Obituaries. Tobacco International, Apr. 4, 1980, p. 79.) His wife, Louise, worked in the creative department of J. Walter Thompson for 21 years. (Latham, Louise Stunkard. New York Times, Jan. 6, 2002.)

On Aug. 8, 1942, the radio program "Your Hit Parade" did "a command performance at the request of the U.S. Government through the Office of War Information." (Radio Continuity. Lucky Strike, Your Hit Parade, July-Dec. 1942.) Also serving in the OWI were Clifton R. Read, who was the first publicity director for the American Society for the Control of Cancer and later the media and information director of the American Cancer Society; and William B. Lewis, Chief of the OWI Domestic Radio Bureau who became chairman of the ACS.

American Tobacco Company, 1940s

Directors of the American Tobacco Company, 1942: Orpheus D. Baxalys, Richard J. Boylan (Sec), James R. Coon (Aud), John A. Crowe, Preston L. Fowler, C. Huntley Gibson, Patrick H. Gorman, Paul M. Hahn (VP), Hiram R. Hanmer, Tullis T. Harkrader, Edmund A. Harvey (Treas), George W. Hill (Pres.), George W. Hill Jr. (VP), James E. Lipscomb Jr., William H. Ogsbury, Fred B. Reuter (Asst Treas). Transfer Agent: Guaranty Trust Company of New York; Registrar: City Bank Farmers Trust Co.

Harry L. Hilyard, a former vice president of the Guaranty Trust Company of New York, was elected a director, replacing Tullis T. Harkrader, who died. (American Tobacco Earns $22,534,201. New York Times, Mar. 1, 1944.)

American Tobacco Company, 1950s

Amendment No. 1 to Form S-1, Prospectus of American Tobacco Company, 1,075,685 Shares of Common Stock, (par value $25), $50,000,000 Twenty-Five Year __ Percent Debentures, Dated Feb. 1, 1952, Due Feb. 1, 1977. Morgan Stanley was the largest underwriter at 4.00%, with about 15 others over 2%.

Prospectus, the American Tobacco Company, 1,075,685 Shares Common Stock (Par Value $25), $50,000,000 Twenty-Five Year % Debentures, by Morgan Stanley, March 5, 1952. Directors, p. 23-24.

Notice of Special Meeting of stockholders to vote on the merger of American Cigarette and Cigar Co. with American Tobacco Co., Oct. 26, 1953.

Six new vice presidents: Virgil D. Hager, vice president of manufacturing; John A. Crowe, senior vicepresident, manufacture and leaf; A. LeRoy Jansen, continuing as controller; Harry L. Hilyard, continuing as treasurer; Robert B. Walker, director of sales; Alfred F. Bowden, former assistant to the president, to be director of public relations. All were directors of the company. (One of 6 New Officers Of American Tobacco. New York Times, Apr. 8, 1957.)

American Tobacco Company, 1960s

1962 Tobacco Industry Research Council Scientific Advisory Board Meeting

"1. The Scientific Advisory Board meeting this Friday was attended by Carl Thompson. They made more grants and analized what has been accomplished.

"2. Ogden White, Chairman of the Finance Committee of Sloan Kettering and Memorial Hospital reported that the R. J. Reynolds Company had agreed to grant a $100 thousand to Sloan Kettering. It could indicate that Reynolds feels here's a little protection or TIRC hasn't done too much. Reynolds wanted a raw products center for the industry, claiming that TIRC should be interested in agriculture as well as health (They control 35 - 40% of the TIRC funds). American Tobacco vetoed this because they couldn't be connected with any leaf industry. Reynolds then bought a farm and formed their own raw products research center. Sloan Kettering will be the logical one to investigate cancer claims. P. Lorillard has been giving $25,000 for years without any fanfare. They are going to approach other tobacco companies, automotive companies, milk companies, and anyone else with an interest in the cancer controversy. Right now we are committed to the TIRC concept. Reynolds by working with Sloan Kettering might see developments as they come about. They might get a new dimension to their research. Mr. Wynder will be out in April with a paper which says there is something in filters which is selective and safe. The agency was alerted that this paper might come out and asked to think of anything which might be exploitable. The marketing department has been alerted to play on the selectrate trademark of Marlboro. There is talk that the FCC might lift the ban on health claims in ads." (From James Bowling Area, Philip Morris, Mar. 13, 1962.) Ogden White joined the board of directors of Liggett & Myers in 1968.

American Tobacco Company, 1970s

American Tobacco Company 1972 Financial Statement. Their largest deposit of cash in banks was at the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York, $1,567,209.36. They also had large deposits of cash at the Northern Trust Company, Chicago, the Chase Manhattan Bank, the First National City Bank, and Republic National Bank of Dallas.

American Brands Proxy and Annual Report, Dec. 31, 1978. Dividends receivable from investments in stocks of other companies, p. 55.

1979 merger of American Tobacco and FDS Holding Company, of Springfield, Illinois. FDS was created in 1970 by the Franklin Insurance Company, several Wisconsin residents were large holders of American $6.00 Convertible Preferred Stock: the First Wisconsin Trust Company of Milwaukee, as trustee of various trusts for Clarise F. Turer, 29.14%; Ida Soref of Milwaukee, 24.28%; Ruth S. Coleman of Milwaukee, 24.28%; Ruth S. Gorenstein of Whitefish Bay, 17.32%. Mark Sumner, of Herz, Levin, Teper, Chernof & Sumner, S.C., 9.16%; and Ralph Gorenstein of Whitefish Bay, 8.16%. The Harris Trust & Savings Bank of Chicago and Roberta S. Gorenstein were co-trustees of 10.88%, and Mark Sklar of Phoenix, Ariz. held 11.88%. All directors and officers of American as a group held 0.48% of Common Stock. (Milton Soref was the president of Master Lock Company, a division of American Brands. He died in 1973.) The First National Bank of Chicago was the transfer agent for $2.67 and $2.75 Preferred Stocks only.

Robert K. Heimann, the president since 1969 and CEO since 1973, retired at the end of 1980. Virginius B. Lougee III was elected president and CEO of American Brands, and continued as president and CEO of American Tobacco. Edward W. Whittemore was elected chairman and CEO of American Brands.

In 1982, the Chubb Corporation owned 7.8% of voting stock.

In 1983, the Chubb Corporation owned 5.4% of voting stock.

Anthony N. Brady

"The Anthony N. Brady here mentioned was a traction magnate, who, beginning as a clerk in Albany, had by means of legislative manipulation giving richly valuable railway and other franchises, accumulated an estate of $90,000,000." (Chapter 36, Governor Sulzer's Impeachment and Tammany's Defeat 1913-1914. In: The History of Tammany Hall, by Gustavus Myers. New York, 1901, with additions, 1917.)

"...Anthony Brady was one of Thomas Edison's business partners, and left at his death one of the largest personal fortunes that had ever been accumulated." (Profiles: Westchester County. New Yorker, Nov. 13, 1978.)

Anthony N. Brady and James N. Wallace, his longtime crony at the Central Trust Company of New York, were among the five voting Trustees elected to control the stock of General Motors for five years. (Voting Trustees for General Motors. New York Times, Oct. 23, 1910.) Brady was elected a director of GM. (General Motors New Board. New York Times, Nov. 16, 1910.)

"...A man who for years fulfilled the functions of one of Mr. Brady's financial advisors said that the minimum value of his estate was $75,000,000, and that a maximum estimate would be considerably in excess of $100,000. This amounts to putting Mr. Brady's wealth almost on a par with that of the late J.P. Morgan." His largest holdings were in the American Tobacco Company. After its dismemberment in 1911, he and the other defendants were forbidden to increase their holdings; however, Brady was believed to have not sold any of it, either. Their value was estimated at $31 million.

In addition, he held stock in Brooklyn Rapid Transit, power properties in Tennessee and Georgia, and Japanese lighting plants, "especially in Tokio." "The investments so far enumerated, concerning which definite information is available, foot up at least $54,000,000, and they take no accouint of several companies with which Mr. Brady's name was especially connected as a large, and in some cases, almost the sole owner. Among those in which his interest was very large were the Consolidated Gas Company and its subsidiary, the New York Edison Company, and the Commonwealth-Edison Company of Chicago and the People's Gas, Light and Coke Company of that city. In Albany, Troy, and Utica, the gas and electric companies are understood to have been practically owned by him.

"As indicating the extent of his holdings in corporations of this class, he was not only a Director but President of the following: New York Edison Company, Electric Illuminating Company of Brooklyn, Kings County Electric Light and Power Company, Memphis Consolidated Gas and Electric Company, Municipal Gas Company of Albany, and Utica Gas and Electric Company. He was Vice President of the People's Gas Company in Chicago and a director in the Indiana Lighting Company, New Amsterdam Gas Company, New York Mutual Gas Light Company, Troy Gas Company, United Electric Light and Power Company of Baltimore, and Westchester Lighting Company.

"In the transportation field in and around Brooklyn Mr. Brady was Chairman of the board of each of these: Brooklyn Rapid Transit, Brooklyn Heights Railroad, Brooklyn, Queens County & Suburban, Brooklyn Union Elevated, and Nassau Electric. He was also a Director in the Canarsie Railroad, Coney Island & Gravesend, Sea Beach Railway, and South Brooklyn Railway. Most of these, of course, are subsidiaries of the B.R.T. Mr. Brady was also a Director, however, in the Hudson & Manhattan Company and the Hudson Companies. In the automobile field his interest in the General Motors Company was large enough to entitle him to a Directorship.

"Mr. Brady's rubber interests were represented by Directorships in the United States Rubber Company, the General Rubber Company, and the Rubber Goods Manufacturing Company. On the European trip on which he died Mr. Brady was planning to expand his interests to the oil fields of Mexico.

"Only two bank Directorships were held by Mr. Brady, one in the Maryland National Bank and the other in the National Commercial Bank of Albany. His miscellaneous investments carried Directorhips in the Atlantic Coast Lumber Company, the British-Columbia Copper Company, Consolidated Car Heating Company, Consolidated Telegraph and Electric Subway Company, Durham Coal and Iron Company, Electric Storage Battery Company, Helderberg Cement Company, National Surety Company, New Niquero Sugar Company, New York Air Brake Company, Transit Development Company, Union Bleaching and Finishing Company, Union Carbide Company, and the United States Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry Company." (Brady's Fortune May Be $100,000,000. New York Times, Aug. 6, 1913.)

The Anthony Brady Memorial Laboratory at Yale was funded from Brady's estate. It opened in 1917. Medical School Dean George Blumer recruited Milton Winternitz as Anthony N. Brady Professor of Pathology. (1911-1921. Medicine at Yale, 1901-1951.)

James Cox Brady, Scroll & Key 1904 (1882-1927)

Brady inherited 1/6th of Anthony Brady's wealth; he was a director of American Tobacco in 1917 and 1919. He was a Yale graduate (1904), and a member of its Scroll & Key Society. In 1917, he sold 20 of his racehorses for $22,365, and donated the proceeds to the Red Cross. "He was a large benefactor of the Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital, of which he was a Director at the time of his death." He was also a trustee and director of the Central Union Trust Company of New York [~1918-1927], vice president of the Brooklyn Edison Company and a director of several other utility companies, and a director of the Chrysler Corporation. He and other members of his family established the Anthony N. Brady Memorial building at the Yale medical school. Matthew S. Sloan, President of the Brooklyn Edison Company, and G.W. Davison, President of Central Union Trust Company, expressed their regrets. (James Cox Brady, Financier, Dead. New York Times, Nov. 11, 1927.) He left a quarter of his fortune to his widow and third wife, Helen McMahon Brady, and the rest to his four daughters and one son. His brother Nicholas F. Brady, Walter P. Chrysler, and William G. [sic - V.] Griffin were executors of his estate. (James C. Brady Left $55,000,000 To Family. New York Times, Nov. 29, 1927.) Mrs. James C. Brady; her sister, Mrs C.S. Ransom; and his sister, Mrs. E. Palmer Gavit of Albany, were all killed together in the wreck of a speeding train while returning from the funeral of Patrick Garvan. (Daughter and Daughter-in-Law of A.N. Brady Killed. New York Times, Oct. 4, 1912.) He was married again to Lady Victoria Mary Pery of Ireland, who died in 1918; and then to Helen McMahon, the sister of John T. McMahon, Yale 1926. His sister, Marcia, was Mrs. Carll Tucker, Yale 1904, and Luther Tucker [Skull & Bones] 1931, was a nephew. (Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of Graduates of the Undergraduate Schools Deceased During the Year 1927-28, pages 169-171.) His widow later married Charles Suydam Cutting, whose brother, R. Fulton Cutting, was a major benefactor of the American Society for the Control of Cancer. (Mrs. James Brady To Be Bride Today. New York Times, Jul. 2, 1932.)

In 1919, James C. Brady took a $7 million check from Edey & Co., brokers, for the sale of American Tobacco Company stocks held in the trusts from the Anthony N. Brady estate. Nicholas F. and James Cox Brady, along with the Central Union Trust Company, were the trustees of the estate, and Mrs. Carll Tucker and Mrs. Francis P. Garvan sought to have them removed. They invested in New Jersey Standard Oil at seven percent, which was reduced by taxes to only 2½ percent. "During 1919, said the witness, the trustees had on deposit with the Central Union Trust Company a daily deposit of $1,332,200. At one time the deposit was $4,500,000. In 1920 the average was $816,800. Interest was at 2 per cent, because some of the money was being put out on call through stock brokers." (Brady Explains $7,000,000 Sale. New York Times, Jan. 10, 1924.) The suit was settled. Cadwallader, Wickersham & Taft, and Guthrie, Jerome, Rand, & [chief counsel Isidor J.] Kresel were attorneys for the contestants; Samuel A. Beardsley signed for the executors and trustees, former Gov. Nathan L. Miller was of counsel for the trustees, while Dean, King & Smith represented Francis P. Garvan. (Heirs Settle Over Brady Estate. New York Times, Feb. 27, 1924.)

James C. Brady formed the Brady Security and Realty Corporation in 1923, with William V. Griffin as his business manager. The corporation comprised the financial interests of his widow, his brother, and his children. (Appeal Brady Estate Tax. New York Times, Nov. 24, 1929; State Keeps Up Fight For Brady Estate Tax. New York Times, June 14, 1930.) Griffin was one of the original financiers of Time, Inc., in 1923.

Brady was a horse-related buddy of pharmaceutical magnate Charles Pfizer, and purchased 180 acres adjoining Pfizer's estate in 1911. Story of Hamilton Farm. About U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation.) The farm was named for his first wife, Elizabeth Jane Hamilton, who was killed in a railroad wreck in 1912. Guglielmo Marconi and his transmitting station were also neighbors. (Somerset County History. D.T. McBride Website.)

Marcia Brady (Mrs. Carll Tucker, Yale 1904)

Carll Tucker was a son of Luther Henry Tucker [Yale 1855], editor of The Country Gentleman, an agricultural journal, that was founded by his grandfather, Luther Tucker. His two sons were the Rev. Luther Tucker [S&B 1931], pastor of the Indian Hill church, a Presbyterian and general Protestant church near Cincinnati, and Carll Tucker Jr. [S&B 1947], a Mount Kisco newspaper Publisher. The Tuckers lived in Elihu Root's former mansion at 733 Park Avenue. (Carll Tucker, 74, A Clubman Here. New York Times, Jul. 30, 1956.) His brother, Luther H. Tucker, Yale 1891, was managing editor of journal until 1911, then an executive of the Morris Plan Industrial Bank of Albany, and a trustee of the Albany Medical College and Albany Hospital. (Obituary Record of Graduates of the Undergraduate Schools Deceased during the Year 1950-1951, p18.) Luther H. Tucker 1855 died in Albany in 1897. (Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Academical Year ending in June, 1897, pp. 29-30.) His brother, Gilbert M. Tucker, Williams College 1867, became editor-in-chief from 1897 until 1911, when it was sold to the Curtis Publishing Company of Philadelphia. (Gilbert M. Tucker, Editor, Dies at 85. New York Times, Jan. 14, 1932.) Mrs. Carll Tucker was a patroness of a fundraiser for the New York Cancer Institute (Jewel Fashion Show Aids War on Cancer. New York Times, May 1, 1934), and was a member of the social service committee of the Memorial Hospital when it opened its gift shop. (Tea for Cancer Hospital. New York Times, Nov. 2, 1934.) Carll Tucker was a vice president of the Presbyterian Hospital. (Heads Merged Hospitals. New York Times, Oct. 9, 1945.)

Nicholas Frederic Brady (1878-1930)

"In his story of his father's activities and business relationships, Mr. Brady said: 'The President of the Central Trust Company was James M. [sic] Wallace, my father's close personal and business friend, intimately acquainted with my father's business activities. He was my father's confidant and advisor. The preceding President had been Frederick P. Olcott of Albany, who had given my father his first real financial backing. My father had always felt that he had a great deal to do with the building up of the trust company. He had his office there. He kept his securities there for years without so much as a receipt to show for them." (Brady Says Father Trained Him In Job. New York Times, Jan. 18, 1924.)

Nicholas Brady graduated from Yale University in 1899, and became associated with his father's interests. His first position was at Edison Electric Illuminating Company, later merged with the New Gas, Electric Light, Heat and Power Company to form the New York Edison Company. He succeeded his father as its president on his death in 1913. At his death he was a director of numerous gas and electric companies, and also the Chrysler Corporation, National City Bank of New York and affiliates, and Farmers Loan - City Bank and Trust Company. He was a member of the national advisory committee of the Yale Human Welfare Group, which created the Institute of Human Relations. He was a founder of the Knights of Malta in the United States in 1918. At his death, he had suffered from arthritis complicated by a heart condition. Mrs. Brady was the sister of Edward J. Garvan, Yale 1894, Francis P. Garvan, Yale 1897 [who financed the Cancer Society's official organ], and John S. Garvan, Yale 1902. (N.F. Brady Dies At 51 After Long Illness. New York Times, May 28, 1930; Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of Graduates of the Undergraduate Schools Deceased During the Year 1929-30, pages 161-166.) His widow, Genevieve Brady, who later married William J. Babington Macaulay, the Irish Free State Minister to the Vatican, left a bequest of $68,824 to Pope Pius XII, "who was a close friend of Mrs. Macaulay and who was entertained at her home on his visit to this country when he was Cardinal Pacelli, Papal Secretary of State." She left shares valued at $172,061 to Archbishop John G. Murray of St. Paul, Minn., and $137,500 each to the Sisters of Mercy of the Diocese of Hartford, the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, the Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart, the Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues at Wernersville, Penn., and the Society of the Helpers of the Holy Souls. Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen of the Catholic University of Washington, DC, got $68,824. Mr. Macauley got an even $1,000,000. Her sister and James Cox Brady Jr. received $480,000. The greater part of the estate was in securities valued at $5,477,569; with cash of $198,489 including an account of $170,035 in the Central Hanover Bank and Trust Company. ($6,299,000 Net Left By Mrs. Macaulay. New York Times, Jan. 29, 1941.)

The Lyndon Larouche website implicates Nicholas Brady and William F. Buckley, Sr. (father of William F. Buckley Jr., Skull & Bones 1950, and grandfather of Christopher Taylor Buckley, S&B 1975) in helping to incite the Cristeros Rebellion in Mexico. (Synarchism, the Spanish Falange, and the Nazis, by William F. Wertz, Jr. Executive Intelligence Review, July 25, 2003.)

James Cox Brady Jr. (1907-1971)

He was the only son of James Cox Brady (~1882-1927). He married Eliot Chace, daughter of Malcolm G. Chace, a director of the Chase National Bank. His sister Jane (Mrs. F.S. Moseley Jr.) was matron of honor; and the ushers included her husband, Reeve Schley, and Paul Mellon of Washington. (Eliot Chace Weds J. Cox Brady Jr. New York Times, Jul. 7, 1929.) Her grandfather was Arnold Buffum Chace, Chancellor of Brown University. (Dr. Arnold B. Chace of Providence Dead. New York Times, Feb. 29, 1932.) Brady was head of the New York Racing Association from 1961 to 1969. "From an uncle, Nicholas F. Brady, he inherited the directorship of 50 companies. And when his father died at the age of 45, he left an estate valued at more than $25-million. It included a company he had founded, Purolator Products, the maker of oil filters." He graduated from Yale in 1929, and served in the South Pacific during World War II. (James Cox Brady Dead At 63. New York Times, May 25, 1971.) He was a member of Scroll & Key. (Sixty Men Tapped For Yale Societies. New York Times, May 18, 1928.) He was an usher at the wedding of Chauncey Keep Hubbard, Scroll & Key 1929, the son of E. Kent Hubbard, to Virginia Drake, daughter of James Frank Drake, president of the Gulf Oil Company. (Drake-Hubbard. New York Times, Aug. 25, 1935; Elaborate Bridal for Miss Drake. New York Times, Dec. 24, 1935.) His daughter, Elizabeth Hamilton Brady, married Reuben Francis Richards, the son of Tobacco and Allied Stocks director Junius A. Richards. (Elizabeth Brady Bride in Peapack. New York Times, Dec. 13, 1953.) He was a director of the Bankers Trust Company from 1951 until approximately 1964.

Nicholas Frederick Brady (1930- present)

Nicholas Frederick Brady was the son of Nicholas Frederic Brady. He graduated from Yale in 1952. He was chairman of the Board of Dillon, Read & Co., and a director of NCR Corp., the MITRE Corp., and the H.J. Heinz Company. He was in the US Senate (R-NJ) from April to December, 1982, and Secretary of the Treasury from 1988 to 1993. His successor in the US Senate in 1982 was anti-smoker Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

Nicholas F. Brady was best man for his brother, James Cox Brady (Scroll & Keys 1957), who married Joan Babcock, a great-great-granddaughter of Samuel D. Babcock, the founder of the Guaranty Trust. Allen Wardwell 2d and Reeve Schley 3d were his ushers. (Wedding June 27 For Joan Babcock. New York Times, Jun. 2, 1957; L.I. Nuptials Held for Joan Babcock. New York Times, Jun. 28, 1957.)

Nicholas Frederick Brady Jr. married Leigh Topping, the great-granddaughter of tobacco financier Daniel G. Reid. He was a regional vice president in Atlanta of the Purolator Courier Corporation. She graduated from Emory University, and was until recently a financial analyst in the Atlanta office of the Bankers Trust Company. (Leigh Topping Is the Bride Of N. F. Brady Jr. in Atlanta. New York Times, May 31, 1987.)

In 1993, during the ABC network's hysterical campaign of lies about secondhand smoke and the tobacco industry, Brady was a director of that despicable company.

Benjamin N. Duke

Benjamin N. Duke and others filed notice of their intention to organize the Bankers Trust Company of New York. The other incorporators were D. Crawford Clark, Bayard Dominick, Albert E. Goodhart, Herman C.E. Hoskier, Francis H. Leggett, Almeric H. Paget, William G. Park, Gilbert M. Plympton, Henry S. Redmond, William Schall, John W. Simpson, Clarence H. Wildes, and John Walter Wood Jr. (The Bankers' Trust Company. New York Times, Aug. 11, 1899; The Bankers' Trust Company. New York Times, Sep. 21, 1899.) Louis V. Bright (Vice Pres.), D. Crawford Clark, George Coppell, Bayard Dominick, John F. Dryden, Benjamin N. Duke, George W. Ely (Pres.), Albert E. Goodhart, Edwin Gould, Edmund T. Halsey, William H. Hollister, Percival Knauth, Francis H. Leggett (Vice Pres.), Almeric H. Paget, William G. Park, Gilbert M. Plympton, William Schall Jr., John W. Simpson, Francis S. Smithers, Ransom H. Thomas, and J. Walter Wood Jr. were directors. (Display Ad. Nov. 1, 1899; Display Ad, Jan. 2, 1900.) Its president, George William Ely, had been a secretary of the New York Stock Exchange for over 25 years. (New position for G.W. Ely. New York Times, Aug. 31, 1899.) The company was absorbed by the Atlantic Trust Co. The Atlantic Trust had lobbied to make it easier to form trust companies. (Trust companies combine. New York Times. Nov. 21, 1900.)

Paul M. Hahn

Paul M. Hahn (1895-1963) joined the law firm of Stanchfield & Levy in 1918 and became a partner in 1926. He first worked on their American Tobacco account in 1929; he joined the firm as a director and assistant to President George Washington Hill in 1931, and was President of American Tobacco from 1950 to 1963. (Paul M. Hahn, by Neil Loynachan. The Tobacco Leaf, Jan. 5, 1963.)

George Washington Hill

George W. Hill, Vice President, American Tobacco Co., was a director of the Seaboard National Bank in 1923. Elliott Averett, Vice President of United Cigar Stores, was a fellow director. (Display Ad 44. New York Times, Apr. 8, 1923 p. E14.)

Thomas F. Ryan

Thomas Fortune Ryan (1851-1928) was born in Virginia, and worked in a Baltimore dry goods commission firm until his employer and father-in-law, John J. Barry, retired. In 1870, he came to New York and was employed as a clerk in a Wall Street brokerage firm. In 1874, he became a member of the Stock Exchange. "Early in that decade he formed the partnership which was to play so great a part in his life and in the financial history of the next thirty years. He became acquainted with William Collins Whitney, then a power in Wall Street, and the older man early realized the genius of young Ryan, gradually entrusting him with more and more important work, and finally forming an equal partnership which lasted until Whitney's death. Two other figures played a prominent part in the career of Mr. Ryan. They are Elihu Root and Paul D. Cravath, the lawyers who handled the intricte legal affairs which his many transactions involved." In 1885, he gave up his brokerage business and began the reoganization of street railways with Whitney, Anthony N. Brady, and John Dolan. In 1886, this group united with the Philadelphia syndicate of P.A.B. Widener and William L. Elkins. In the early 1890s he formed the Union Tobacco Company, which acquired the Blackwell-Bull Durham Company and later Liggett & Myers. "Gradually the syndicate absorbed other competing concerns, and by 1901 represent 80 percent of the United States trade. In that year Mr. Ryan, who had been the dominant power throughout, formed a syndicate under the New Jersey laws known as the Consolidated Tobacco Company, which controlled practically all the common stock of the American Tobacco Company, the name of the syndicate into which all the earlier companies had merged." In 1902, the group obtained control of a British firm, Ogden's Ltd., and attempted to expand into England. A British firm, the Imperial Tobacco Company, headed by Sir Charles Willis, attempted to expand into the U.S. They negotiated an agreement that gave American an unrestricted field in the U.S. and its possessions, plus Cuba and Canada, and a two-thirds interest in the British-American Company, which handled markets outside the U.S. and British interests.In 1905, he settled the feuding at the Equitable Life Insurance Co. by purchasing the controlling interest from James Hazen Hyde. The transaction took place in the offices of the Morton Trust, which Ryan controlled, with lawyers Elihu Root and Samuel Untermyer participating. The Equitable's stock was placed in the hands of three trustees, who were former President Grover Cleveland, Justice Morgan J. O'Brien, and George Westinghouse; and former Navy Secretary Paul Morton [whose sons-in-law, Charles H. Sabin and William C. Potter, were subsequently presidents of the Guaranty Trust after its merger with the Morton Trust], was made president. (How Ryan Rose In Wall Street. New York Times, Nov. 24, 1928.) Robert Livingston Cutting Jr., an uncle of ASCC benefactor R. Fulton Cutting, was another of Ryan's early business partners. (Copartnership Notices. New-York Times, Apr. 4, 1882 p. 7.)

Thomas F. Ryan was a founder of the Société Internationale Forestière et Minière du Congo (International Forestry and Mining Company of the Congo, aka "Forminière"), created to develop the mining fields. Economic writer Isaac F. Marcosson said that the King had made the deal with them because he wanted the process for extracting rubber from the guayule shrub, which was held by the International Rubber Company, a Ryan-Guggenheim-Rockefeller concern. The Crown of Belgium received half the shares of Forminière; the other half was divided between the King and the Société Générale, a semi-governmental bank of Belgium; and Thomas F. Ryan. "Later Mr. Ryan admitted Daniel Guggenheim, Harry Payne Whitney, John Hays Hammond, and Senator [Nelson W.] Aldrich as associates in the enterprise." The directors of the American Congo Company were William H. Page of Page, Crawford & Tuska, attorneys for the Continental Rubber Co.; A. Chester Beatty a of the Guggenheim staff of mining engineers; and J.G. Whitley, Consul General of the Congo Free State to the U.S. The Independence Belge named Thomas F. Ryan, Edward B. Aldrich, the two Guggenheims, Harry Payne Whitney, John D. Rockefeller Jr., and Bernard M. Baruch as chief stockholders. (Details of the Ryan Congo Concesions. New York Times, Dec. 14, 1906; Ryan Was A Partner of King Leopold II. New York Times, Nov. 24, 1928.)

The 1916 Tobacco Summit

In 1916, Ryan gave a dinner at his Fifth Avenue home: "His guests included United States Senator Oscar W. Underwood [D-Ala.], Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, Francis L. Stetson, Henry Clay Frick, Frank S. Witherbee, Charles Schwab, James B. Duke, Morgan J. O'Brien, Alexander J. Hemphill, C.C. Dula, John B. Dennis, Justice Francis K. Pendleton, John D. Archbold, Theodore P. Shonts, John D. Ryan, Daniel Guggenheim. J. Sargeant Cram, R.A.C. Smith, Francis L. Hine, Bernard M. Baruch, Charles B. Alexander, Henry Clews, Fairfax Landstreet, W.W. Fuller, Paul D. Cravath, Daniel G. Reid, James S. Alexander, Junius Parker, Percival S. Hill, De Lancey Nicoll, August D. Juilliard, William C. Potter, John D. Prince, Hugo Cunliffe-Owen, and Valentine P. Snyder." (Thomas F. Ryan Is Host. New York Times, Feb. 18, 1916.) Cravath was T.F. Ryan's attorney, Duke and Cunliffe-Owen were executives of British-American Tobacco, and Hill was president of the American Tobacco Company, for which Nicoll was an attorney and Parker was a large stockholder. Frick, Hine, J.D. Ryan, and Reid were associated with the Tobacco Products Corporation, a predecessor of Philip Morris; J.D. Ryan, Reid, Stetson, Hemphill, Guggenheim, Juilliard, Potter and Snyder with the Guaranty Trust, and Dula was President of Liggett & Myers Tobacco and a director of the Guaranty Trust. Butler was the President of Columbia University, where Prince was a professor. In 1909, the school received $2,250,000, from the will of John Stewart Kennedy, and members of Butler's family got bequests as well. (How They'll Spend Kennedy Millions. New York Times, Nov. 7, 1909.)

Union Tobacco - Delaware

G.J. Whelan and the Schulte cigar store interests incorporated Union Tobacco in Delaware, as a subsidiary of the Union and United Tobacco Company. Whelan and Ryan were the largest stockholders. (Union Tobacco Co. Formed. New York Times, Jul. 16, 1927; T.F. Ryan in Union Tobacco. New York Times, Aug. 2, 1927.) In 1929, the Union Tobacco Company, which had leased the right to manufacture several brands from the American Tobacco Company, voted to surrender the lease and continue as strictly a stock holding company. It held 98 shares of Philip Morris Consolidated Class A, $1,775; 1,895 shares of Philip Morris Consolidated common, $9,742; 32,300 shares of Philip Morris & Co. Ltd., $628,832; 61,100 shares of Tobacco Products Corporation Class A stock, $1,381,341; 372,200 shares of Tobacco Products Corporation common, $7,568,247; 75,000 shares of Union Cigar Co., $382,275; and 300 shares of United Cigar Stores common, $8,338, along with stock in North American Match Co. and Lion Match Co. Jesse R. Taylor was the president. (Union Tobacco Quits Commodity Trade. New York Times, Dec. 29, 1929.)

Ryan's first wife, Ida, was a major benefector of Catholic charities and was made a Countess of the Holy Roman Empire in 1907. The $200,000 she left to be divided among her sons was held at the Central Union Trust until their 30th birthdays. (Final Accounting on Ryan Estate. New York Times, Dec. 23, 1920.) His second wife was the sister of DeLancey Nicoll, attorney for the American Tobacco Company in 1910, and her second husband, the late Cornelius C. Cuyler, was T. DeWitt Cuyler's brother. (Thos. Fortune Ryan Weds Mrs. Cuyler. New York Times, Oct. 30, 1917.) Ryan's son, Allan, was indignant that his father had remarried only twelve days after his mother died, and they were still not on speaking terms when his father died. In 1920, Allan A. Ryan obtained a corner on Stutz Motors, was expelled from the Stock Exchange, and went bankrupt.

In 1943, an investigation by the O.S.S. determined that the Forminiere mines were the primary source of industrial diamonds which were being smuggled to the Third Reich. The investigator discovered "'that a full year's supply of diamonds had reached Germany from Forminiere through Red Cross parcels.' The shipment of several million carats of diamonds through the parcels that were regularly sent from the Congo to Nazi-occupied Belgium required considerable organization and support in the intervening areas.... With the end of the war in 1945, the OSS was dissolved, and the question of 'dealing with the enemy' was never resolved." (Chapter 9, Diamonds For Hitler. In: The Diamond Invention, by Edward Jay Epstein.) The author blames the De Beers cartel and its "Jewish Connection."

Paul D. Cravath

Paul Drennan Cravath graduated from Oberlin College in 1882. He was the son of a Congregational minister, Rev. Erastus Milo Cravath, a founder and president 1875-1900 of Fisk University. His brother, Erastus M. Cravath Jr., Yale 1894, was associated with the Trinidad Asphalt Co. and the Bermudez Asphalt Mines, Trinidad. (Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Year 1938-1939, pp. 85-86; and: Cravath, Paul Drennan (14 July 1861-1 July 1940). American National Biography Online.)

Allan A. Ryan Jr.

Allan Aloysius Ryan, Thomas F. Ryan's grandson, declined election to Scroll & Keys (Yale Tap Day Brings Honors To Juniors. New York Times, May 18, 1923.) Ushers at his wedding included Charles Dewey Hilles Jr., Thomas Frederick David Haines, Clifton Samuel Thompson, and Edwin Foster Blair, all Skull & Bones 1924; James T. Babb, Elihu Club '24; and Charles H. Sabin Jr. (Janet Newbold Weds A.A. Ryan Jr. New York Times, Feb. 6, 1929.) During World War II, Hilles was a vice president of International Telephone & Telegraph, which helped Hitler during the war, as well as a director of the American Cancer Society. In 1952, Hilles was elected a director of the Royal Typewriter Company, of which Allan A. Ryan was chairman. (Executive Changes. New York Times, Jan. 16, 1952.) Allan A. Ryan was the chairman of Forminière when it halted production in Kasai Province in 1962, blaming lack of law and order. "A group of Americans of the Ryan and Guggenheim families own one of the largest share blocks in the $10,000,000 company." Ryan was also chairman of the Royal McBee Corporation, formed from the merger of the McBee Company, a leading producer of punch cards and data processing equipment, with Royal Typewriter. (Forminiere Ceases Production in Congo. New York Times, Jul. 14, 1902.) Ryan's obituary says that he graduated from Princeton University in 1924. He started on Wall Street immediately after graduating, and got a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in 1930. He was a director of the Royal Typewriter Company from 1932 to 1954 and its chairman, and the chairman of Royal McBee until 1965, when it merged with Litton Industries. (Allan Ryan, Ex-State Senator. By Alfred E. Clark. New York Times, Oct. 16, 1981.) Kingsley Kunhardt, a vice president of the Guaranty Trust, was a director of Royal Typewriter and Royal McBee.

Allan A. Ryan Jr. was a member of the Federal Broadcasting Corporation, which acquired the commercial and program presentation rights of New York City radio station WMCA. The group included John T. Adams; Howard G. Cushing; Major Talbot O. Freeman; Walter S. Mack Jr., later the president of Pepsi-Cola; A. Newbold Morris; Paul Nitze; James K. Norris, Clendenin J. Ryan Jr.; Robert Thayer; Bethuel M. Webster, who was later counsel to Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co.; and John Hay Whitney, with former N.Y. Governor Alfred E. Smith as chairman. (Smith Heads Board of New WMCA Group. New York Times, Aug. 28, 1933.) Ryan's first wife, Janet Newbold, divorced him in 1936 and married William Rhinelander Stewart; who died. She then married James S. Bush, Skull & Bones 1922. (Mrs. Stewart's Wedding to Jim Bush of St. Louis. By Mary Van Rensselaer Thayer. Washington Post, Aug. 4, 1948.) Janet Newbold's father, Fleming Newbold, was President of The Evening Star Company in Washington, DC. (Mrs. Stewart Wed To James S. Bush. New York Times, Aug. 15, 1948.) Bush was the brother of Prescott S. Bush, S&B 1917.

Allan A. Ryan III, Skull & Bones 1953

Janet Newbold Ryan Stewart Bush was the mother of Allan A. Ryan III, Skull & Bones 1953, who was with the investment banking firm of Smith, Barney & Co. (Miss B.A. Redmond Becomes Fiance. New York Times, Jun. 7, 1957.) Ushers at his wedding included Russell W. Meyer, Thruston Ballard Morton Jr., and Tilghman B. Evans [T. Boyd Evans], all Skull & Bones 1954, and Jonathan J. Bush, Skull & Bones 1953. (Barbara Ann Redmond Is Bride of Allen Ryan 3d, Yale Alumnus. New York Times, Nov. 3, 1957.) Morton was Executive in Residence at the College of Business & Public Administration of the University of Louisville, and a director of the Kroger Company from 1968 to 2001. He was the son of the US Representative (1947-53) and Senator (1957-68) from Kentucky, Thruston Ballard Morton, Yale 1929. Jonathan James Bush is the brother of former President George Herbert Walker Bush.

Fortune P. Ryan

Fortune Peter Ryan, Allan A. Ryan's brother, went directly from Yale University to the New York Curb Exchange. He joined Royal Typewriter Company in 1934 in the New York Service Department, and eventually became assistant to the president. He was appointed Vice President in charge of advertising in 1948, and president in 1951. He was elected president of the $100-million a year Royal McBee Corporation in 1960. He was also a trustee of Lenox Hill Hospital. (Royal McBee Corp. Promotes Fortune P. Ryan to Presidency. New York Times, Jun. 25, 1960.)

Grant Barney Schley

Grant B. Schley (1845-1917) was head of the New York brokerage firm of Moore & Schley. In 1881 he began working as a clerk at Wells, Butterfield & Co. in Syracuse, and after the firm was combined into Adams Express Company, he was sent to the money order department in New York. In 1874, after meeting George F. Baker, a director of American Express who was President of the First National Bank, he became a clerk in the First National. In 1879, he married Baker's sister, Elizabeth. After six years there, he resigned to go into the brokerage business with Ernest Groesbeck, as Groesbeck & Schley. In 1885, he became a partner of John G. Moore, who entered the brokerage business "at the suggestion of a number of capitalists who were associated with him in the Mutual Telegraph Company." Schley was a director of the American Smelting and Refining Company, the Chihuahua Mining Company, the Coal Creek Mining and Manufacturing Company, the Electric Storage Battery Company, the Elliott-Fisher Company, the Northern Pacific Railway, the Pittsburgh Coal Company, and the Republic Iron and Steel Company. (Grant B. Schley, Financier, Dead. New York Times, Nov. 23, 1917.) Grant B. Schley and Oliver H. Payne were directors of the Manhattan Trust Company (Display Ad 15. New York Times, Jan. 21, 1901 p. WF8.) Schley and Payne were also directors of the Chase National Bank (Annual Bank Elections. New York Times, Jan. 13, 1904.)

Reeve Schley

Reeve Schley was the son of Grant Schley's brother, William T. Schley (1840-1912), an attorney for the New York Central Railroad. Reeve Schley graduated from Yale in 1903 and was a Fellow of the Yale Corporation in 1942. Reeve Schley practiced law with Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett for twelve years, until resigning to become a vice president of the Chase National Bank. He was vice president until 1946 and a director from 1920 to 1933. He was Eastern treasurer of the Republican National Committee from 1918 to 1920, and president of the American-Russian Chamber of Commerce in 1929, of which Allen Wardwell, Yale 1895, was president. He was chairman of the Howe Sound Company, and a director of General Dynamics Corporation, the Atlas Corporation, the United States Guarantee Company, the Chihuahua Mining Company, and Potosi Mining Company. In 1956, he was elected chairman of the Underwood Corporation, and he was chairman and a director of the Somerville Trust Company until his death. (Reeve Schley, 79, Retired Banker. New York Times, Jun. 27, 1960.) Reeve Schley Jr. [Wolf's Head 1931] was an usher at the wedding of John Holbrook [Scroll & Key 1931]. Reeve Schley's daughter, Eleanor Prentice Schley, married Webster B. Todd, and they were the parents of anti-smoker New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman. Nicholas Brady was a ribbon bearer at the wedding. (Miss Schley Bride of Webster B. Todd. New York Times, Oct. 11, 1933.)

The Schley family developed the Township of Far Hills, which had a deed covenant prohibiting the sale or use of alcoholic beverages on the property. Reeve Schley was mayor from 1924 to 1937. (History of the Borough of Far Hills, by Anne O'Brien.)

Reeve Schley 3d and Allen Wardwell 2d were ushers for James Cox Brady (Scroll & Keys 1957), who married Joan Babcock, a great-great-granddaughter of Samuel D. Babcock. Nicholas F. Brady was best man for his brother. (Wedding June 27 For Joan Babcock. New York Times, Jun. 2, 1957; L.I. Nuptials Held for Joan Babcock. New York Times, Jun. 28, 1957.)

cast 05-11-09