Republic of Money: Textile baron Roger Milliken & Meg Whitman

[Hannah Bell]

Roger Milliken died this week.



http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/01/us/01milliken.html


Milliken was a perennial right-wing funder, & reportedly a left-wing funder on the issue of free trade -- he is rumored to have helped fund the 1999 WTO protests.

He was the head of Milliken & Co., "one of the largest privately owned companies of any kind in the United States, although the precise rank of this closely held firm is difficult to ascertain; Milliken has never released sales statistics..."

It's also one of the largest privately-held companies in the world. Most shares are reportedly held by Milliken relations.


SETH MELLEN MILLIKEN (1836-1920)


Company founder Seth Mellen Milliken was born in Maine. Though some accounts have him born "into poverty," this is highly unlikely. Seth's father had a tannery, his uncle was a merchant, his slightly older first cousin Seth Llewellyn Milliken was a US Representative, 3 other first cousins worked in various US government offices, and Seth's brother Weston is described as a "prosperous merchant, banker, and steamboat pioneer".

At any rate, Seth started his business career in partnership with a merchant brother-in-law, then moved on to a partnership with friend William Deering. In 1865 they formed the Deering-Milliken Company, which began as a dry goods business.

Deering left 5 years later to found Deering Harvester, which would eventually merge with McCormick Harvesting (in a deal financed by JP Morgan) to become International Harvester, with Deering's son as chairman of the board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Deering

Milliken continued at Deering-Milliken, selling woolen textiles for New England mills & making good use of the intelligence he gathered while doing so to buy up financially troubled operations. Eventually he came to own more than 42 textile mills in 10 states, South Carolina being the most important.

Some employees of one of the Milliken-associated South Carolina mills:




Seth's dry goods stores evolved into department stores:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantile_Stores_Company,_Inc.


Seth also moved into finance. He was a director of a number of banks, most notably a 30-year stint at the Mercantile National Bank, which he eventually controlled:

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F00D15F73F5813738DDDA00894DC405B828DF1D3

He also held directorships in other financial operations, including the Trust Company of America and NY Life.

When he died in 1920 he left a fortune of $10 million to his children. His two sons got 2/5ths each & his daughter 1/5.

Milliken's wife Margaret was the daughter of the President of the New Hampshire Medical Society and a soon-to-be Vice President of the American Medical Association. Her sister was married to the "bishop-maker" of the US Methodist Church & the founder of NY Methodist Hospital.


SETH'S CHILDREN

There were three children.

Seth Minot Milliken (1875) became a prominent Park Avenue surgeon. He married Alida Leese, the daughter of a Georgian nurse & a land-owning mystery man who apparently disappeared somewhere along the way. As Alida Milliken she became a leading figure in right-wing organizations like "America First" & the John Birch Society. Her son followed in her footsteps as a donor to the JBS.

Margaret Milliken (1880) married Harold Hatch, who was a banker/broker before marrying Margaret but went on to work for her dad. Harold was active in fund-raising for the Beirut American University and other international universities in the Middle East. The couple donated a lab to Rockefeller University:

http://lab.rockefeller.edu/mcewen/

The third son was Gerrish Hill Milliken.


GERRISH HILL MILLIKEN



Gerrish (b. 1878) took over leadership of Deering-Milliken, now Milliken Company. He was a member of the Jekyll Island Club, a director of Atlantic Mutual Insurance and the Rockefeller's National City Bank.

He married Agnes Malcolm Gayley, daughter of James Gayley and Julia Thurston Gardiner. Julia was a descedant of the Gardiner's Island Gardiners:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardiners_Island

Agnes' great-uncle Henry Bell built the first steamboat in England; her grandfather had been a grain merchant.

James was an executive with Carnegie Steel and then a director of US Steel, formed from Carnegie & others in another JP Morgan-financed merger.

Agnes and Gerrish were the parents of Roger and his siblings.


3rd GENERATION

Roger Milliken was born in 1915 and took over Milliken & Co when his father. He continued building the company &, like his aunt & cousins, funded right-wing politics. His spouse had an elite pedigree, as did his siblings' spouses.


MEG WHITMAN = ROGER'S COUSIN (BY MARRIAGE)

There are a number of interesting connections, but one is particularly timely: Roger's close relation to Meg Whitman, failed candidate for governor of California. I outlined her family history here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9232788.


Roger's brother Gerrish married Phoebe Goodhue, daughter of FA Goodhue Jr, a VP of First National Bank Boston & an officer of Paul Warburg's International Acceptance Bank.

Phoebe's first cousin Margaret = Meg Whitman's mother.


THE YOUNG LIONS

Finally, a look at the younger generation:

Baron Cody Franchetti (scion of a Venetian banking family going back hundreds of years) is the grandchild of Roger Milliken's sister, who married the Baron Mario.

Cody thinks deep thoughts:



“I am an elitist,” he said in his basso Italiano, as a small fiefdom of waiters in neat black suits whisked silently about the restaurant. “I believe in an elite, I believe that people want an elite … because there’s always been one, whether it be an oligarchy or a dictatorship.

“There’s a pinnacle of society, and people want to reach it. It’s part of those wonderful Jeffersonian words, the pursuit of your happiness,” he said. “Those who don’t have want to have more”—he paused as a French-accented black waiter deposited a pre-appetizer in front of him—“and those who have, have different pursuits.”

http://www.observer.com/node/38310

[DBoon]

1. Cody is a pig

I cannot think of a more polite word to describe him

I wonder how many elections he will be able to buy (post citizens united) to support his "elite"?

[CurtEastPoint]

2. He can't be too elite with a WT name like 'Cody'

WTF? I wanna smack his smug face.

[DBoon]

4. People name their dogs Cody

the name fits a dog perfectly

[Starry Messenger]

3. k&r

[Hannah Bell]

5. k

[lostnfound]

6. Fascinating. I knew the name Roger Milliken from my college friend

who was applying for textile engineering jobs.
His death was under the wire for favorable tax treatment, wasn't it?
How weird if it's true that he funded any of the anti-globalization protests.
I just perused your journal - the photo-logs of the 'Republic of Money' would be the makings of a great book.
I'd like to see the DuPonts, for one. Having read 'Into the Buzzsaw' and how the DuPonts were especially good at shutting down all bad press, I'm guessing there must be some interesting history there.

[malaise]

7. Another great post

Thanks for this