'Remarkable' is the only word I can think of to describe the range of reactions to my special report, “The Oldest Family Businesses in America,” which appeared in the Winter issue of Family Business. The article generated over 150 news articles in publications such as New York’s Newsday, The Phila delphia Inquirer, The Washington Times, and Continental Airlines’ in-flight magazine. Press coverage of the report reached 35 states and the District of Columbia, and clips still arrive in my office daily.
As inevitably happens, one or two of the report’s findings on the oldest continuously operating family business in each state were out of date almost the second they appeared in print. The nation’s fourth largest brewer, Stroh’s Beer (founded 1850), which I had listed as the oldest family business in Michigan, was sold to the Pabst and Miller brewing companies just as the Winter issue was released. Thus, Monarch Hydraulics, established in 1856, replaces Stroh’s as the oldest continuing family business in Michigan.
The study was carried out by a team at the Institute for Family Enterprise at Bryant College in Smithfield, Rhode Island. (The original article can be viewed on this magazine’s Web site, www.fambus pub.com).
Due to the heavy media coverage, our report met with a few challenges, though not as many as I had anticipated. For example, Garretson Farm in Iowa notified my staff that it was older than the Shaff Family Farm, even though both farms had been honored by the State of Iowa in 1996 for having been founded in 1837. While the Shaff Family Farm appears to have been founded in December 1837, it was sold in 1845 and then repurchased by the family the following year. That break in ownership meant it did not qualify as the oldest family business in the state according to our criteria. In contrast, we were able to verify that the Garretson Farm was established in August 1837 and has been in the family since then.
Various readers in Idaho protested that we had perpetuated an error when we named the Wilson Farm as the oldest family business in that state. In a June 24, 1990, article, The Idaho Statesman reported the Wilson Farm had been established in 1820. The farm’s current owners, Marcia LaFay and Marion Patoray, provided signed verification to our staff that this was the correct founding date. The readers who wrote to us, however, said the Wilson Farm had actually been founded in 1880. The Idaho Statesman, moreover, acknowledged it had erred about the date. As we continue to sort out the Idaho situation, it is beginning to appear that the Haworth Farm, founded in 1861, may have a more ironclad claim. The current owners display at plaque on their front lawn from the governor declaring Haworth Farm the oldest family business in Idaho.
Some interesting discoveries came my way thanks to the wide range of reactions to the Family Business report. Despite its sometimes dubious public image, for example, the press seemed to me marvelously helpful and cooperative; reporters called us with new leads and tested our study results on the local level.
For example, in Virginia, our research pointed to Suter Handcrafted Furniture (1839) as the state’s oldest family bus iness. A news article about the study in The Daily News Record of Harrisonburg, Virginia, unearthed two family enterprises with even earlier founding dates: Bear Funeral Home in Churchville (1812) and a furniture manufacturer, E.A. Clore Sons Inc., in Culpepper (1830). And just as we were digesting this new information, we were told about two really old Virginia prospects, the Stuart Land Co. of Virginia in Rosedale, founded in 1774, and Shirley Plantation in Charles City, established in 1638.
As of this writing, I’ve been unable to induce either of these companies to provide written verification that the business conforms to our study’s requirements. If Shirley Plantation is able to confirm its founding date and its family business status, we would have to crown a new champion as “the oldest of the old” in America. The farm would nip Tuttle Market Gardens of New Hampshire (1640) by a nose. Until that confirmation, however, Tuttle will stand as the oldest continuous family business still operating in the United States.
We also learned that pride in being considered a state’s “oldest family business” often seems to motivate owners to cling to that distinction in the face of mergers and buyouts. Gardner & Son Funeral Home in Indiana (1816) insisted to us that it is still a family firm even though we discovered—after publication—that the business had been sold to Keystone Group Holdings in 1998. The Stone & Thomas Department Store in West Virginia (1847) verified its family business status on June 10, 1998, only nine days before announcing the sale of the company. I guess good press is hard to find these days, and when you’ve got it you want to keep it.
As we continue our research, we’re likely to get more unexpected calls. While I was drafting this article, I received one from William S. Patout III, who wanted to report that his sugar-refining business in Louisiana, M.A. Patout & Son Ltd. (1791), was some 50 years older than our choice in that state, Antoine’s Restaurant in New Orleans (1840). Antoine’s had won by default over the Parlange Plantation (1750), which had declined to submit verification of its heritage. We are now trying to confirm the Patout claim.
I have a feeling that for a long time to come, I will be learning about family enterprises that are eager to be listed as the oldest in their state. Who knows, maybe the Parlange family will one day be motivated to confirm the continuity of their family’s plantation. Each new discovery will make our listings more accurate and surely add to the rich history of the story of family business in America.
William T. O’Hara is founder and executive director of the Institute for Family Enterprise at Bryant College in Smithfield, RI.