Charles Anderson Dana (1819 - 1897)

Newspaper publisher. As a reporter for the New York Tribune he gained nationwide fame in the 1840s when he filed widely reprinted stories from Europe on several revolutionary movements. From 1849 to 1862 he was Managing Editor, resigning over personality conflicts with Editor Horace Greeley. Dana was then hired by the War Department to investigate […]

Marcus Daly (1841 - 1900)

Business Tycoon. He is remembered as one of the three “Copper Kings” of Butte, Montana, the others being William Andrews Clark and F. Augustus Heinze. Born in Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan, Ireland he emigrated to the US in 1856, arriving in New York City, New York. He then moved west, finding work in the mines of […]

Henry Curtner (1830 - 1917)

Businessman. He arrived in California on October 20, 1852 with $20.00 in his pocket and worked for farms wages. Later he bought land in Centerville and quickly began to achieve his status as a millionaire, vast land owner and one of The Valley’s greatest philanthropists. A successful land owner, in 1868 he purchased Rancho Tularcitos […]

John Bacon Curtis (1827 - 1897)

Businessman and Inventor. He began manufacturing chewing gum out of sap from spruce trees in 1848, and became wealthy after  it became popular with the public. (bio by: Russ Dodge)

Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis (1850 - 1933)

Newspaper Publisher. He founded in 1883 the magazine that became “The Ladies Home Journal”. He owned several daily newspapers in his lifetime, included in the New York Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer, and founded the Curtis Publishing Company.  Family links:  Parents:  Cyrus Libby Curtis (1822 – 1885)  Spouses:  Louisa Knapp Curtis (1851 – 1910)  Kate […]

John Curr (1970 - 1970)

Business magnate. Co-founder of Sibley, Lindsay & Curr, for over a hundred years one of the most successful department stores in the U.S. Sibley’s was eventually bought out by Kaufmanns in the late 20th century.  (bio by: Mount Hope NY)

Sir Samuel Cunard (1788 - 1865)

Canadian pioneer of regular transatlantic steam navigation. The son of a United Empire Loyalist, he became a leading businessman of Nova Scotia and engaged in banking, lumbering, shipping, and shipbuilding enterprises. His fleet at one time numbered some 40 vessels. He was interested in the development of steam navigation and owned shares in the Royal […]

Joseph Stephen “J.S.” Cullinan (1860 - 1937)

Founder of Texaco. Joseph Cullinan was born December 31, 1860 near Sharon, Pennsylvania. He started working in the oil fields of Pennsylvania at the age of fourteen, learning all aspects of the industry from the ground up. In 1882 he began work with a company offshoot of Standard Oil and worked there as a manager […]

Sophie Cubbison (1890 - 1982)

Businesswoman. Long before women became regulars in the corporate world, Mrs. Cubbison — Sophie Huchting Cubbison — parlayed her knack for baking and her home economics degree into a successful company that still bears her name. “Mrs. Cubbison’s” pre-packaged stuffing and dressing mixes are a fixture in grocery stores throughout the western United States. Cubbison, […]

Wayman Crow (1808 - 1885)

Crow began an apprenticeship in a dry goods business at the age of 12. When the company expanded years later, Wayman was given control & interest in a new branch. After moving to St. Louis, Crow established a wholesale dry goods business known as Crow, Hargadine & Company. He was president of the Chamber of […]

Edmund Crosse (1804 - 1862)

Entrepreneur. Co-founder of Crosse & Blackwell. He met Thomas Blackwell in 1819 when they were apprentices at the same firm, West and Wyatt, which produced pickles, sauces and condiments. They bought out their employer in 1829 and renamed the company after themselves, expanding their line of goods by purchasing new recipes from top chefs. Two […]

William Henry Crocker (1861 - 1937)

Businessman Magnate. William Crocker founded and later became president of Crocker National Bank. When much of San Francisco was destroyed by the quake and fire of 1906, Crocker and his bank were major forces in financing reconstruction. Crocker was a University of California regent for nearly thirty years and funded the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory’s second […]

Edwin Bryant Crocker (1818 - 1875)

Lawyer, Businessman. Born in Jamesville, New York, Crocker graduated from the Rensselaer Institute in 1833 and briefly worked as a civil engineer before pursuing a career as a successful lawyer. Shortly after his marriage to Margaret Rhoades in 1852, he moved to California where he joined his younger brother, Charles, in Sacramento. A founding member […]

Charles “Chas” Crocker (1822 - 1888)

Nineteenth Century businessman and railroad baron.  Best known as the founder of the Central Pacific Railroad, Charles Crocker was born into a Troy, New York farm family in 1822. When he was fourteen, his family moved West to Iowa, where young Crocker struck out independently, doing farm, iron forge and sawmill work. Swept up in […]

Mabel L. Criss (1881 - 1978)

Founder (with her husband) of Mutual of Omaha Insurance Companies. They are buried together in their family mausoleum.  Family links:  Spouse:  Clair C. Criss (1879 – 1952)* *Calculated relationship

Clair C. Criss (1879 - 1952)

Doctor and founder (with his wife) of Mutual of Omaha Insurance Companies. They are buried together in their family mausoleum.  Family links:  Parents:  James Lewis Criss (1846 – 1918)  Sevilla M Wodell Criss (____ – 1924)  Spouse:  Mabel L. Criss (1881 – 1978)  Siblings:  Clair C. Criss (1879 – 1952)  Floyd Earl Criss (1881 – […]

Edward Creighton (1820 - 1874)

Edward Creighton was Nebraska’s wealthiest citizen in 1862. Founded Omaha’s First National Bank and was it’s first president. Through much of the 1860’s, he battled with members of The U.S. Congress to establish Omaha as the get the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad (after his death, Council Bluffs, Iowa was given that designation […]

John Cornelius Crean (1925 - 2007)

Philanthropist, Entrepreneur. Founded Fleetwood Enterprises manufactured housing company that became an industry leader and later becoming a large producer of recreational vehicles. His humor and limitless generosity was widely known and he often opened his Newport Beach home to host charity events. He also made large donations to the Crystal Cathedral, Hoag Hospital, the Orange […]

Charles Struckman Coyle (1908 - 1996)

Charles S. Coyle, a 50-year resident of University City, Missouri, grew up in the Central West End. He was a graduate of The Principia and the University of Wisconsin and worked in management at Ralston Purina Co. for 20 years. He left to found the Folkestone Press, which published books on local history and architecture. […]

John B. Cowle (1826 - 1914)

Owner of Globe Iron Works which became part of Cleveland Shipbuilding.  Treasurer of Cleveland Drydock Co.  Later affiliated with Universal Machine and Boiler Co.  Two ore freighters were named after him, one in 1902 (Sank,1909, Lake Superior), one in 1910 (renamed Harry L. Allen, sank, 1960’s). (bio by: Joyce)

Joshua Lionel Cowen (1887 - 1965)

Inventor, Toy Train Manufacturer, Businessman. Born Joshua Lionel Cohen, he was the co-founder of the Lionel Manufacturing Company along with Harry C. Grant. The company later known as the Lionel Corporation, became one of America’s greatest commercial and marketing successes of the mid 20th century, as a leader and producer of electric toy trains. Over […]

Comer Cottrell (1931 - 2014)

Entrepreneur. He was an American entrepreneur most notable for founding Pro-Line Corp., a business that created the Curly Kit, which brought the Jheri curl hairstyle to the masses and made it easy to achieve at home. He founded Pro-Line Corp. in 1970. It was originally based in Los Angeles. In 1979, he created the Curly […]

Ezra Cornell (1807 - 1874)

Businessman, Education Administrator, and Entrepreneur. He was the founder of Western Union and a co-founder of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Born in Westchester Landing, New York to Quaker parents, his father was a potter. He was raised in DeRuyter, New York and worked as a carpenter, traveling throughout New York. In 1831 he […]

John W. Cornelius (1970 - 1916)

Mr. Cornelius built the first theater in St. Louis that was designed expressly for the production of moving pictures. In addition to the original Lyric Theater, he eventually also owned the West End Lyric Theater, the Lyric Skydome and the Royal Theater. He made a fortune in the motion picture business in St. Louis. (bio […]

Errett Lobban Cord (1894 - 1974)

Businessman, Industrialist, US Senator. Best known for his Auburn, Cord and Duesenberg family of automobiles. He was the man responsible for some of the most technologically advanced automobiles of the time. He began is automotive manufacturing career in 1924 when rescued the failing Auburn Automobile Company in Auburn, Indiana. He lowered vehicle prices and changed […]

Austin Corbin (1827 - 1896)

Businessman. Known as “Father of the Banking Industry”, his First National Bank of Davenport, Iowa was one of the first to open under the 1863 legislation which created the national bank system in the United States. Moving to New York City, New York, he financed the development of Coney Island. By 1882 he built the […]

Alvin C. Copeland (1944 - 2008)

Entrepreneur. At age 18, he sold his car to open a one-man doughnut shop and had ten successful years in the doughnut business. Inspired by Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants, he used his doughnut profits to open the restaurant, Chicken on the Run in New Orleans, in 1971. He founded Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits in 1976, […]

Joseph M. “Joe” Coors, Sr (1917 - 2003)

Businessman. Brewery magnate and leading member of the Coors Brewing family and company founded by his grandfather. Worked at the Coors Brewery in Golden, Colorado, starting in 1946 as technical director, became Executive Vice President in 1975, President in 1977, and Chief Operating Officer from 1985-1987. Engaged in an intense conforation with labor over an […]

Gaston Chevrolet (1892 - 1920)

The youngest of three Swiss race car driver brothers, Gaston Chevrolet’s greatest moment came when he won the 1920 Indianapolis 500, driving a car designed by his oldest brother Louis. Tragically, he was killed in a racing accident at the Beverly Hills (CA) Speedway less than 6 months after his greatest triumph. (bio by: Warrick […]

Dave Chasen (1898 - 1973)

Restaurateur.  Founder of Chasen’s,  which in classic Hollywood fashion rose from humble beginnings to become the quintessential Beverly Hills restaurant.  Chasen was born in Odessa,  Ukraine,  and came to the US as a child. He started out as a vaudeville entertainer and from 1923 played the stooge to headlining comedian Joe Cook.  Cook went solo […]