Southern Aid & Insurance Co. RARE (First Black Owned Insurance Co.) 1893

This historic document has an ornate border around it with the company's name on top center with a corporate seal dated 1893 affixed to its face. This item has the signatures of the Company's President, Z. Lewis (Zachariah Dearborn Lewis) and Secretary, John E. They were licensed in New Jersey, Virginia and District of Columbia, and had offices in Alexandria, Bristol, Charlottesville, Danville, Farmville, Fredericksburg, Lynchburg, Newport News, Norfolk, Petersburg, Portsmouth, Richmond, Roanoke, Saluda, Suffolk, Winchester, Virginia; and Washington, D.

The company founders chose Z. Louis Brown as vice president. The other founding officers and board members were W. After nearly a decade of slow growth and moderate profits, company leaders acted to reverse the stagnant business trends and modest cash influx. They replaced the company president Armistead Washington, a local fraternal order organizer and sympathizer, with prominent Hanover County banker and businessman, A.

A move intended to exploit the popularity of fraternal orders and beneficial societies. With a new president and a new name, the company eventually prospered and expanded with infant branches in other Virginia towns. By 1937 the company employed more than 300 black men and women in branches in Virginia and Washington, D. While some studies highlight the business' place in local Richmond history or its position as an entrepreneurial endeavor during the period of the beneficial societies and fraternal orders, no comprehensive study of the Southern Aid Society of Virginia exists. Little also was written in the late 1980's when the company's building at 214 E.

History from Wikipedia and Old Company / RM Smythe stock certificate research service.