Leon Sigmund Kuhn
According to family notes, the Kuhn family was originally from
Switzerland, engaged in the shipbuilding business and they moved to Arad,
Hungary for better business prospects. Leon was born June 9, 1854 in Arad (now in
Romania). At some point he studied Chemistry in Dresden. He had two older brothers
who left for Texas to avoid compulsory military service and Leon eventually
joined them in the United States. Ship records indicate he was 19 when left
from Bremen in Aug 1873 aboard the Kronprince Wilhelm. He settled in Peoria, Illinois and became a U. S. Citizen on May 29, 1879.
On a trip to Budapest, he met Theresa Edmunda de Prorok (her
family had vineyard interests there and summered in Budapest). His passport
lists his height at 5’11” and noted that he had blue eyes. On May 1, 1881, at
age 26, he married Theresa (age 21) in London. After their honeymoon, they
settled in Cleveland, Ohio and then moved to Covington, Kentucky. Their son Leonard
was born on October 25, 1888 in Petersburg, Kentucky (just outside Covington).
Apparently his brothers were the first to go to Mexico. Leon
and Theresa moved to Mexico City in 1895 where Leon founded Strauss, Kuhn Co* with an entrepreneur named Strauss. Their factory, La Gran Union, was built in 1898 on
the Canal de la Viga, a water causeway connecting Mexico City to Xochimilco. The
plant processed malts for the beer industry, industrial alcohols, and liquors. Apparently
Don Porfirio Diaz, Mexican dictator for 30 years, owned a small percentage of the
business. The factory was demolished by the revolutionaries in 1913 and Leon left
Mexico, leaving the business under his brother Fred’s supervision.
Leon’s passport shows he returned to Mexico “to settle
business affairs’ in February 1916. On his passport application he lists his
occupation as “looking after investments.”
Leon died on Dec. 25, 1918 in Boston. His will, written on
Waldorf-Astoria stationery, lists assets of about $500,000 in a New York bank
plus several bank accounts in Europe, a house in Paris, properties in Mexico and
378,500 pesos worth of shares of the ‘Malt factory and the Distillery Gran
Union.’ A very successful business man in his day!
* (From the book "Institutions and Investments: The Political Basis of Industrialization in Mexico Before 1911" by Edward Beatty, pub. Stanford University Press 2001, p. 178) "In early 1905, Barrios Gomez sold the contract (one of the Industrias Nuevas contracts introduced as part of a program by Porfirio Diaz to encourage foreign investment) to Leon S. Kuhn, retaining a one-fifth interest. Kuhn, a partner in the Strauss Kuhn y Compania alcohol business, sought to reduce his imports of foreign malt, principally from Milwaukee. Although construction was delayed through 1905, by May 1906 the Gran Fabrica de Malta, located near the Canal de Viga in the Federal District, was ready to open."
Beatty's footnotes indicate that "The Strauss Kuhn Compania conducted extensive business in Mexico, including the large alcohol distillery La Gran Union. Carlos F. Strauss was a native of Germany, but began his business in Philadelphia, while Kuhn, a 50% partner, served as the firm's technical director."
Clippings from the the newspaper "The Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer", Vol 45, p. 98, Aug 13, 1910 follow:
* (From the book "Institutions and Investments: The Political Basis of Industrialization in Mexico Before 1911" by Edward Beatty, pub. Stanford University Press 2001, p. 178) "In early 1905, Barrios Gomez sold the contract (one of the Industrias Nuevas contracts introduced as part of a program by Porfirio Diaz to encourage foreign investment) to Leon S. Kuhn, retaining a one-fifth interest. Kuhn, a partner in the Strauss Kuhn y Compania alcohol business, sought to reduce his imports of foreign malt, principally from Milwaukee. Although construction was delayed through 1905, by May 1906 the Gran Fabrica de Malta, located near the Canal de Viga in the Federal District, was ready to open."
Beatty's footnotes indicate that "The Strauss Kuhn Compania conducted extensive business in Mexico, including the large alcohol distillery La Gran Union. Carlos F. Strauss was a native of Germany, but began his business in Philadelphia, while Kuhn, a 50% partner, served as the firm's technical director."
Clippings from the the newspaper "The Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer", Vol 45, p. 98, Aug 13, 1910 follow:
