Generational Gold: Crafting a Legacy in Business Through Family, Perseverance, and Vision

Introduction

I often talk and write about my great-grandfather, Marcus Harris, who built a flourishing wool and fur trading family business with his brother, Ben, from the 1890s through the 1940s. Growing up, I had an image of him from my parent's wedding pictures after he had a stroke and was in a wheelchair. That image preceded the stories I heard about this strapping 6-foot 225-pound dynamic pioneer of his industry. He built a multimillion-dollar business. 

I read his memoir several times in my life. I understand what a remarkable personal and business journey he took. He wrote his memoir to celebrate his family, accomplishments, and values. He also wanted to give back to the industry he led and loved. The five core values of his life include his celebration of family values, perseverance in the face of adversity, giving back to his profession, nurturing and honoring relationships, and belief in himself and his vision. These are beautiful values that he passed down to those who knew him and now those who read about his remarkable life.

Family Values

His family was the reason he started his business. In his own words,

"In Warrensburg, my father rented a small place and set himself up in business. He bought hides, wool, fur, and, in fact, anything that was for sale. Since he could not afford to hire help, my brother Ben helped him before and after school. My younger brother Louis and I helped as we grew older. We would get the hides and salt them. 

As we grew up, my father encouraged us to buy merchandise, and naturally, we all became traders at an early age. Ben stopped going to school before he was fourteen. After passing grammar school at 12, I thought I had enough education, so I stopped. I traveled to small, outlying towns to buy merchandise. I traveled on a half-fare. I bought pelts and hides from the butchers in these small towns. Hides and pelts were not my only stock in trade. I sold newspapers and did odd jobs to make spending money. 

My first buying trip was to a small town ten miles from Warrensburg. The railroad fare was fifteen cents one way. I finished my business transaction a little earlier than expected and walked ten miles to save fare home. I had invested about twenty dollars in hides, which I shipped home by freight."  

After Marcus and Ben built and sold their company fifty years later, he went into business with his four daughters at 73. "I felt the old urge returning and decided that 73 was too young for a non-disabled man to relinquish his business responsibilities. The banks with which we had done business advised me to continue. Both heads told me I could write my ticket regarding borrowing money at interest rates. There were employees to consider, many of whom had been with the firm for more than forty years; we had never discharged anyone because of "old age." I partnered with my four daughters and opened the "Harris Wool and Fur Company."

The new business is now in its fourth year. Everyone shares in the profits, and everyone works hard. We are a busy, happy family. I am thankful that my good health continued, making it possible for me to carry on business. It is part of my life, and I know now that I could have missed this activity had I retired."

This is inspirational and an aspect of his life I could admire and relate to. I am in my seventies, embarking on a new career. I appreciate his can-do energy. I also love that in the 1940s, he went into business with his daughters. I regret not asking them about their business with their father when I met them before they passed away fifty years ago. I wish they had written a memoir!

Marcus Harris had six children and sixteen grandchildren. His memoir was written in March 1949; he had eleven great-grandchildren. Today, 70 years later, his reach is global, and his descendants are too many to count. He cherished the time spent with his family while alive. He especially loved hosting Christmas, where he treated everyone generously and with love. 

Perseverance

Marcus Harris experienced adversity, from boyhood family circumstances, market conditions, government regulation during World War One, and severe weather conditions. According to the Western Living Journal, Kansas had a terrible blizzard in 1885. 

"It is said that over 100,000 cattle died in the Kansas Monster Blizzard. The prairie was littered with piles upon piles of cattle carcasses. Like any other disaster, people found a way to profit from the devastation. Skinning carcasses of their hides and selling them off became a popular business for several years after the great storm."

Marcus says," In December 1885, we read newspapers about a terrible blizzard, the worst known, which had swept western Kansas. Thousands of heads of cattle were killed. Ben and I discussed it and decided buying the hides there might be a good idea. We were well acquainted with the St. Louis hides in Kansas, shipped them, and drew a draft about the cost. Ben decided I should look over the territory to find a likely spot from which we might do business. We could not take money from the Warrensburg business, so we went to the town bankers who knew us and lent us the money for the venture. 

Dodge City was still the shipping point for the vast territory to the south. Railroads were being built in the southwest, and freight was being hauled by wagon trains from the Indian Territory and Texas. After looking over several spots, I finally decided on Dodge City. The critical city for the west and southwest was still a frontier town. Gambling dens and dance halls were running wide open. Shooting was not infrequent. That was the last year of it, however. Ben came out to Dodge City and approved my choice. We rented a small place with cheap rent and opened after January 1, 1886."

Marcus estimated that by 1902, they were big contractors for wool and handled more than 13 million pounds. Their average cost was over fifteen cents. From 1903 to 1905, they dealt with an average of twelve million pounds of wool. During the years that the B. Harris Wool Company was in business, it handled about six hundred million pounds of wool and more than $50,000,000 worth of furs, a value of over $150,000,000 in 1945. 

It is a testament to his perseverance in sticking with the business from their initial purchase of 17,000 pounds of wool, which increased to 13 million pounds in 1902, for a cumulative total of six hundred million pounds despite disruptions from the market, weather, government, market demands, and more. Marcus Harris persevered his entire life from twelve to eighty. He never stopped moving forward. 

Value of relationships 

Other pleasurable recollections of Marcus Harris' long life included his trips west to buy wool. The firm had a Salt Lake City office for many years, and his name was the first to appear on the Motel, Utah register upon its opening. On these trips, he traveled to every nook and corner of Utah, Idaho, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado, where he became a friend of practically every sheep raiser in those states. 

He also traveled to London and Germany. On his European trips, he invariably went to Paris to shop after the auction sales in London, and on most of the trips with Edith Abels Harris, one of his daughters frequently went along. 

For many decades, he used to go west on the last night of March and contract and ship wool continuously until the middle of July, when he returned home to get ready for his annual birthday party, which took place on August 5. 

He sold wool in Boston and Philadelphia and had representatives and offices in both cities. Wool buyers and fur merchants often visited the home at 14 Washington Terrace, among them representatives of more giant woolen businesses, including the American Woolen Company.  

Fortunately, his older brother, Benjamin, his partner for many years, lived to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the B. Marcus wool company's founding celebration in 1937. At that time, the firm set up a large bar on the second floor of their large warehouse firm set up on the second floor of their large warehouse at Second and Walnut Streets. Hundreds upon hundreds of friends, bankers, prominent business people, and smaller and smaller competitors came over to celebrate the brothers' massive success. Not many months later, at 76, Ben passed on. 

Marcus Harris's birthday parties were always among his happiest times. On most occasions, he had every member of the family for dinner. On the more critical anniversaries, he had more significant celebrations. On his eightieth birthday, he had close to 500 guests present during the evening reception at 14 Washington Terrace, who drank Champagne and ate the lavish spread that Marcus Harris provided. That evening, he danced with the younger attendees. He was intensely interested in the hundred wires from all over the United States and even from other parts of the world offering congratulations. He formed lasting friendships and business relationships by associating with people in every aspect of his working universe. 

Giving Back to the Profession

During his career, Marcus was a welcome speaker at many industry conferences. He often traveled abroad to advocate for all who were part of his industry and the Wool and Fur Trading industry. 

Marcus wanted to write his memoir to offer his perspective on the industry, hoping it would help people coming up. He was relationship-oriented and wanted to build a community to take over and lead when he was gone. 

He said in his memoir, "Since I am one of the oldest active wool merchants in the country, I am writing what I can recall of fifty years in the business, not because of any financial gain or to boast of success which has come to our firm, but because I think men who are younger and newer in the wool business may find it both exciting and profitable to learn what has gone into the trade which they have selected as a life work. The success of the firm I represent resulted from hard work and building up a good organization."

Belief in Self and Vision

Marcus Harris believed in his capabilities. He took risks and lost money, yet made more money than he lost. He was indoctrinated into the family business just out of grade school. He thought nothing of hopping on trains to local towns and making deals. He could travel for ½ fare because he was under 12. He persevered and kept going step by step to great success. The umbrella of his loving wife protected him, as did his best friend and brother Ben. Ben's common sense and Ediths's willingness to stay home and raise their family offered Marcus the security and safety to flourish and build a legacy. 

I love thinking, reading, and writing about my great-grandfather's story. He has inspired me in my own business. I love small family businesses because of my entrepreneurial experiences and my family history of entrepreneurs. To start and grow a business, you must embrace vision, accept hardship, take risks, dream big, and work so that your company exceeds expectations.

Your company story provides valuable experience for those in your industry, especially for your family. My great-grandfather inspires me, my children, and perhaps their children. There are takeaways on a large and small scale. Write about your own incredible, compelling story.  Your industry and your family will benefit.