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Adolphus W. Green

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Adolphus W. Green
Born
Adolphus Williamson Green

(1843-01-14)January 14, 1843
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedMarch 8, 1917 (1917-03-09) (aged 74)
New York, New York, U.S.
EducationBoston Latin School
Alma materHarvard University
Occupation(s)Attorney, businessman
Political partyDemocratic Party
SpouseEsther Walsh
Children1 son, 5 daughters

Adolphus Williamson Green (January 14, 1843 – March 8, 1917) was an American attorney and businessman. He was the co-founder of the National Biscuit Company (now known as Nabisco, owned by Mondelēz International) in 1898. A year later, in 1899, he was the first person to sell packaged biscuits. He served as the President of the National Biscuit Company from 1905 to 1917.

Early life

Adolphus Williamson Green was born on January 14, 1843, in Boston, Massachusetts.[1][2][3] His ancestors had immigrated to the United States from Ireland.[4]

Green was educated in Boston public schools, including the Boston Latin School, from which he graduated in 1859.[2][5] He entered Harvard University in 1859, graduating in 1863.[3][6]

Career

Green started as the Principal of a high school in Groton, Massachusetts in 1864.[2][6] In 1865, he became second assistant librarian at the New York Mercantile Library.[2][5] From 1867 to 1869, he was promoted to full librarian.[2][5] From 1869 to 1873, he worked for Evarts, Southmayd & Choate, a law firm co-founded by William M. Evarts, Charles Ferdinand Southmayd and Joseph Hodges Choate.[2][5] He was admitted to the New York State Bar Association in 1873.[2][5]

Green moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1873,[2] and began practicing as an attorney in Chicago.[7] In 1886, he became the attorney of the South Park Commissioners.[2][8] Later, he was the attorney of the Chicago Board of Trade.[2][8]

Green was the co-founder of the American Biscuit and Manufacturing Company in 1890,[5][9] by merging forty bakeries across the Midwest.[1] He was also a co-founder of the United States Baking Company.[5][9] By 1898, Green merged both companies with the Chicago-based New York Biscuit Company, which owned twenty-three bakeries from ten states on the East Coast.[4] The merger of a hundred and fourteen bakeries led to the National Biscuit Company,[1] co-founded by Green alongside Philip Danforth Armour, a meatpacking magnate, and Senator Frank Orren Lowden of Illinois.[4]

Green first served as the general counsel of the National Biscuit Company, and later as the Chairman of its Board of Directors.[6] In 1899, he was the first person to sell packaged biscuits instead of selling them in bulk.[3] Green went on to serve as the President of the National Biscuit Company from 1905 to 1917.[3] Under his leadership, the company marketed Uneeda biscuits, animal crackers and Oreos.[1] Green encouraged his employees to buy stocks, refused to hire children in his factories, and provided affordable meals.[4] However, he was opposed to strikes and organized labor.[4]

Political activity

Green was a delegate to the 1892 Democratic National Convention.[2] He supported Grover Cleveland in the 1892 United States presidential election.[2]

Personal life

Green married Esther Walsh, the daughter of Charles Walsh of Chicago, on June 3, 1879.[10] Esther was a philanthropist,[11][12] attending fundraisers for Barnard College,[13] among other causes.

Six of their children survived to adulthood: a son, John Russell Green, and five daughters: Mrs Orville Browning Carrott (Jane),[14] Mrs Bushrod Brush Howard (Esther Margaret), Mrs Norman Putnam Ream (Mary),[15] Mrs Lucius Pond Ordway, Jr. (Josephine), and Mrs Nelson S. Talbott (Elizabeth).[3][16]

In Chicago, they resided at 4935 Greenwood Avenue.[17] When they moved to New York City, they resided at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.[3] They also maintained a country estate in Belle Haven, a neighborhood of Greenwich, Connecticut.[18][19] They summered in Europe in 1897.[20] They attended the inauguration ball for the re-election of President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905.[21][22]

Esther predeceased him, dying on October 18, 1912, in Greenwich, Connecticut.[23]

Death and legacy

Green died on March 8, 1917.[1][3][6] He was seventy-four years old.[24] His funeral took place at St. Mary's Church in Greenwich, Connecticut on March 10, 1917.[3][25] At the time of his death, he was worth US$2,400,000.[26]

The National Biscuit Company, now known as Nabisco, is a subsidiary owned by Mondelēz International.[7]

There is a reference to him in the popular idle game Cookie Clicker.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Adolphus W. Green: National Biscuit Company: 1905 - 1917". Harvard Business School: Great American Business Leaders Of The Twentieth Century. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Green's Great Work And How It Was Done". The Atlanta Constitution. March 20, 1904. p. 5. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Adolphus Williamson Green". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. March 9, 1917. p. 3. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c d e Wagenknecht, Edward (1982). American Profile, 1900-1909. Amherst, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press. pp. 150–152. ISBN 978-0870233517. American biscuit and manufacturing company.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "Lawyer's Uneeda Biscuit. Adolphus W. Green of Chicago, Originated the Idea". The St Louis Republic. March 26, 1904. p. 16. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b c d "Cracker Co. Head Is Dead". Boston Post. March 9, 1917. p. 1. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b "our founders". Mondelēz International. Archived from the original on October 16, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  8. ^ a b "Man Who Made Unedo Biscuit Famous Dies". The Leanvenworth Weekly Times. Leavenworth, Kansas. March 15, 1917. p. 8. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b "Success Achieved By Push And Ideas: Forceful Career of Adolphus Williamson Green, Head of the National Biscuit Company". The Salt Lake Tribune. April 3, 1904. p. 5. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "National Biscuit Head Dies: A. W. Green Succumbs to Complication of Diseases in New York Hotel". The News-Palladium. Benton Harbor, Michigan. March 9, 1917. p. 8. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Entertainments for Charity". The New York Times. January 13, 1907. p. 26. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "The Social Whirl". The New York Times. December 1, 1907. p. 53. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Masquerade At The Plaza.: Knickerbocker Dance for the Benefit of Banard Scholarship Fund". The New York Times. February 1, 1908. p. 9. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "In the Society World". Chicago Daily Tribune. March 19, 1906. p. 11. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Ream-Green Wedding". Chicago Daily Tribune. June 3, 1916. p. 14. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Adolphus W. Green, National Biscuit Co. President, Is Dead: Aged Attorney Originated Airtight Package Sales Schemes". New York Tribune. March 9, 1917. p. 7. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Weddings Announced For The Near Future". Chicago Inter Ocean. July 23, 1905. p. 41. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Telegraph Tips". The Washington Herald. September 25, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Wild Race With Death Is Won By Physician". The Pittsburgh Post. September 14, 1912. p. 1. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "All Aboard For Europe". Chicago Inter Ocean. July 14, 1897. p. 1. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Rare Display of Gowns and Gems at Inauguration Ball". The Washington Post. March 5, 1905. p. 4. Retrieved August 26, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Ballroom Scene A Picture Of Rare Beauty And Regal Splendor". The Washington Times. March 5, 1905. p. 6. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Thorium Fails To Save. Mrs Adolphus W. Green Dies Despite Use of Rare Chemical". The Sun. October 19, 1912. p. 28. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "A. W. Green Dies In East: President of National Biscuit Company Succumbs at New York". Belvidere Daily Republican. Belvidere, Illinois. March 9, 1917. p. 4. Retrieved December 24, 2002 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "Died". The Sun. March 9, 1917. p. 7. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ "Personal". The Boston Post. July 22, 1918. p. 10. Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
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