Pierre Abraham Lorillard (1742 – 1776) was a French-American tobacconist who founded the business which developed into the

Lorillard Tobacco Company Lorillard Tobacco Company was an American tobacco company that marketed cigarettes under the brand names Newport, Maverick, Old Gold, Kent, True, Satin, and Max. The company had two operating segments: cigarettes and electronic cigarettes. Th ...

, which claimed to be the oldest tobacco firm in the United States and in the world. His name is also sometimes given as Peter Abraham Lorillard,Ross, Harold
"American Snuff" (abstract)
from 'The Talk of the Town', in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' dated September 22, 1934, () Peter Lorillard and Pierre Lorillard I.

Early life

Pierre Abraham Lorillard was born in

Montbéliard Montbéliard (; traditional ) is a town in the Doubs Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eastern France, about from the border with Switzerland. It is one of the two Subprefectures in F ...

(France) in 1742, the son of Jean Lorillard (b. 1707) and Anne Catherine Rossel. He had five brothers, Jean George, George David, Charles Christophe, Jean Abraham, and Leopold Frederick, and a sister, Anne Marguerite. The

naturalization Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

recorded in New York on April 21, 1762, of 'Peter Louillard', a

stocking Stockings (also known as hose, especially in a historical context) are close-fitting, variously elastic garments covering the leg from the foot up to the knee or possibly part or all of the thigh. Stockings vary in color, design, and transparen ...

weaver and French

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

, is probably that of Lorillard. This followed the naturalization on October 27, 1760, of John George Lorillard, described as a French Protestant

yeoman Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in mid-14th-century England. The 14th century also witn ...

of New York City.

Career

Lorillard set out in business in about 1760 with a

snuff Snuff may refer to: Tobacco * Snuff (tobacco), fine-ground tobacco, sniffed into the nose ** Moist snuff or dipping tobacco ** Creamy snuff, an Indian tobacco paste Media and entertainment * Snuff film, a type of film that shows a murder Literat ...

-grinding factory in a rented house on Chatham Street, now Park Row, in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

.Belmont Playground

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...

, accessed July 21, 2008.Lorillard and Tobacco 200th Anniversary P. Lorillard Company 1760-1960
at tobaccodocuments.org: "In 1885, the Lorillards brought a suit in the U. S. Circuit Court for the Northern District of Illinois for infringement of their 'Defiance Plug' Lorillard tin tags, used on plug tobacco, deposing that 'They are now, and for many years have been extensively engaged in the production and sale of manufactured tobacco; that their business was established upward of a century ago, to wit, about the year 1760, in the city of New York, and that from said date until the present time the business so established has been successfully carried on without interruption or substantial change, and is now a source of great profit." He was the first man to make snuff in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. According to Maxwell Fox's ''The Lorillard Story'' (1947), Lorillard adopted the

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

of a Native American smoking a

pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circular ...

, standing beside a hogshead of

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

, which "later became the best known trademark in the world".Fox, Maxwell,
The Lorillard Story
' (1947), online at tobaccodocuments.org, accessed 21 July 2008 Lorillard's sons George and Peter (or Pierre) took over his business in 1792, while his son Jacob became a

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. According to author Rex Burns, "Jacob Lorillard was justified in his wealth, first because he rose from being an obscure tobacconist's

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

by his own integrity, industry, perseverance, and love of books, and secondly, because when he was a millionaire, his moral pursuit of wealth led him to exhibit benevolence and generosity."Burns, Rex, ''Success in America: The Yeoman Dream and the Industrial Revolution'' (Univ of Massachusetts Press, 1976, ) p. 59

Personal life

Lorillard married Catherine Moore, sister of Blazius Moore, and they lived at Hackensack,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Lorillard and Moore obtained a

marriage license A marriage license (or marriage licence in Commonwealth spelling) is a document issued, either by a religious organization or state authority, authorizing a couple to marry. The procedure for obtaining a license varies between jurisdictio ...

on August 19, 1763, when another marriage license was granted to John Lorillard and Hannah Moore, suggesting that Hannah and Catherine may have been sisters. The register of the French church of New York City gives the date of Lorillard's marriage, as well as that of Jean (John) and Anne Moore: "August 23, 1763 married by license Pierre l'Oreillard and Catherine Moore in presence of the families l'Aureillard and Moore. The same day married by license in the house of M. Parptre in the Bowery rented by Sieur Moore Jean l'Aurellard and Anne Moore in the presence of the families l'Aurellard and Moore. Lorillard and Moore had at least five children: * Pierre "Peter" Lorillard II, (born September 7, 1764, according to another source b. July 11, 1768) *J. George Lorillard (b. December 25, 1766) *Blazius Lorillard (b. June 7, 1769) *Johann Jacob Lorillard (b. January 19, 1772 *Jacob Lorillard (b. May 22, 1774)

Death

Lorillard died in 1776, during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, killed by

Hessian A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse. Hessian may also refer to: Named from the toponym *Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire **Hessian (boot), a style of boot **Hessian f ...

mercenaries A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...

of the British during the British occupation of New York City. After his death, his business was carried on by his descendants and grew into the

. In 1960, the company issued a Bicentennial Report, in which it was able to boast proudly that "P. Lorillard Company is older than the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, taking its origin in the Colonial days of 1760 when British kings ruled the land... Lorillard is the oldest tobacco company in the world". After Lorillard's death, his widow married a man named either John Holsman or Daniel Holtzman.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorillard, Pierre Abraham 1742 births 1776 deaths Lorillard family American tobacco industry executives People from Hackensack, New Jersey People from Montbéliard French emigrants to the United States American Revolutionary War deaths