George Ham Page

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George Ham Page (born May 16, 1836 in Palmyra , † April 20, 1899 in Cham ZG ) was an American entrepreneur .

Life

Origin and education

George Ham Page was born in 1836 to Farmer John and his wife Julia Fellows in Palmyra, Illinois. He attended college in Mount Vernon, Iowa , where he also briefly taught. Returning to his roots, he then worked as a farmer. During the Civil War , George was employed as a secretary in the War Department in Washington.

The beginnings of the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company

Shaped by the impressions of the American Civil War, George and his brothers understood the importance and the value of condensed milk in cans: incorruptible and transportable over long distances due to the robust packaging, it was an important source of food for the soldiers. Georges brother Charles, who worked during the war as a reporter, was then by the then US President Andrew Johnson in Switzerland sent where he should seek a trade consul for investment opportunities in the function. Surprised by the abundance of resources and the lack of industrial processing capabilities for milk, he sent George to various leading condensed milk manufacturers in the United States to learn the best condensing process. Meanwhile, Charles tried to found a factory: he won friends from American businessmen as investors and also included the Swiss banker James Kerez-Paravicini financially with the intention of founding a stock corporation - a legal form that at that time was in Switzerland has hardly been put into practice. The first meeting of the Board of Directors took place in Zurich on August 9, 1866, which will later go down in history as the founding event of the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company . The factory was based in the agriculturally strong Cham in the canton of Zug, which is well connected by rail . In 1873 the company already had seven factories located in Switzerland, Germany and England . Charles died that same year, after which George added another brother, David Steven Page, to the company. Anglo-Swiss supplied armies, children's homes and hospitals worldwide.

Marriage to Adelheid Page-Schwerzmann

In 1875, the then 40-year-old American George met Adelheid, who was seventeen years his junior from Switzerland, still called "Heidi", at a carnival ball. The relationship between the cigar-smoking older man of the world and the pretty, young, English-speaking woman led to the altar six months later. Two years after the marriage, the couple's first and only son, Fred, was born. From then on, Adelheid took care of the Pages' household, entertaining her husband's business partners from all over the world at home and also cultivating her American husband, who had difficulty acclimatizing to his new Swiss environment. In his efforts to improve relationships, George tried to give his new neighbors some agricultural advice. It is thanks to him that the Jonathan apple variety and Jersey cattle were introduced to Switzerland. Still, he never really got warm in his new home.

Because of his dominant personality, George was dubbed "General". Even so, he made an effort to ensure the well-being of his employees, and he introduced pension and health insurance in his company at a time when it was not yet standard in Switzerland. He also had a food hall and a bath house built. These efforts were due not least to the influence of his wife Adelheid Page-Schwerzmann , who was the only one who knew how to influence the "General". A modern toddler school was also set up on her advice. In addition, at his wife's encouragement, George had two representative houses built for the director and his deputy in Cham, which, in the country house style, stood out from the other Zug farmhouses. But Adelheid also influenced her husband with regard to concrete business decisions, so that over time the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company also began to produce powdered baby milk and thus became a serious competitor for another large Swiss company: Nestlé . While Anglo-Swiss recently started to use child meal , Nestlé got into the condensed milk business. The competition resulted in an unsuccessful takeover attempt by Georges, who tried to buy the company based in Vevey in the canton of Vaud . However, he also rejected Nestlé's counter-proposal to the merger.

Georges dies and the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company merges with Nestlé

George had to travel back and forth between Switzerland and America for business reasons until he had the largest condensed milk factory built in his native Illinois in 1889 and his family moved to New York. The long-distance relationship with his family led to a lively correspondence between him and his wife. Nevertheless, his innumerable journeys, including 35 difficult Atlantic crossings, finally cost him his life, so that he succumbed to exhaustion in Cham in 1899. After his death, his wife sent him one last trip by having George transported to his homeland for funeral. After her husband's death, Adelheid took over the business and, together with her son Fred, prepares the merger of the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company, which she is unable to manage, with Nestlé. In 1905 the two Swiss companies merged.

Until December 2017, a sequoia tree right next to the Nestlé in Cham reminded of George Ham Page . Before the tree was felled, it was adorned with countless lights and illuminated the center of the village around Christmas for over 130 years.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Renato Morosoli: George Page. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . November 12, 2009. Retrieved November 25, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Michael van Orsouw: George Page / Nestlé: The master of the cans. In: Balance. April 19, 2005. Retrieved November 25, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Eliane Winiger: The "General" let it steam properly . In: Neue Zuger Zeitung . No. 188 . Zug August 18, 2003, p. 21 .
  4. ↑ Michael van Orsouw: George Page / Nestlé: The master of the cans. In: Balance. April 19, 2005. Retrieved November 25, 2018 .
  5. ^ Renato Morosoli: Charles Page. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . September 23, 2010 , accessed November 25, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Michael van Orsouw: George Page / Nestlé: The master of the cans. In: Balance. April 19, 2005. Retrieved November 25, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Martin Merki: Adelheid, the intrepid . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . No. 260 . Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich November 8, 2003, p. 15 .
  8. ↑ Noe Jeromie: George Ham Page . In: ChomarBär . No. 6 . Cham October 2015, p. 35 .
  9. ↑ Martin Merki: Adelheid, the intrepid . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . No. 260 . Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich November 8, 2003, p. 15 .
  10. ↑ Noe Jeromie: George Ham Page . In: ChomerBär . No. 35 . Cham October 2015, p. 35 .
  11. ↑ Eliane Winiger: The "General" let it steam properly . In: Neue Zuger Zeitung . No. 188 . Zug August 18, 2003, p. 21 .
  12. ↑ Noe Jeromie: George Ham Page . In: ChomerBär . No. 6 . Cham October 2015, p. 35 .
  13. ↑ Martin Merki: Adelheid, the intrepid . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . No. 260 . Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich November 8, 2003, p. 15 .
  14. ↑ Noe Jeromie: George Ham Page . In: ChomerBär . No. 6 . Cham October 2015, p. 35 .
  15. ↑ Noe Jeromie: George Ham Page . In: ChomerBär . No. 6 . Cham October 2015, p. 35 .
  16. ↑ Martin Merki: Adelheid, the intrepid . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . No. 260 . Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich November 8, 2003, p. 15 .
  17. ↑ Giant sequoia, Zugerstrasse 8 - Chamapedia. In: chamapedia.ch - Das Chamer Lexikon. Retrieved November 25, 2018 .
  18. ↑ Eliane Winiger: The "General" let it steam properly . In: Neue Zuger Zeitung . No. 188 . Zug August 18, 2003, p. 21 .
personal data
SURNAME Page, George Ham
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1836
PLACE OF BIRTH Palmyra
DATE OF DEATH April 20, 1899
Place of death Cham ZG