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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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]

References

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  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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