The Gail Tobacco Concerns

Georg Philipp Gail (1785–1865) was a Hessian tobacco manufacturer of Giessen whose youngest son Georg Wilhelm Gail (1828–1905) would permanently relocate to Baltimore in 1850 as to establish a tobacco manufactory, and would there ultimately produce smoking, chewing, and snuff tobaccos. In 1851, Geo. Phil. sent to Geo. Wm. one Christian Ax of Daaden (1823–1887), who initially acted as a commercial agent before entering into partnership with the latter in 1855, the pair accordingly and from 1860 trading as G. W. Gail & Ax. These were joined in 1882 by an Ernst Schmeisser of Siegen (1851–1923), son-in-law of Geo. Wm., and George William Gail junior (1864–1909) and Christian Ax junior would subsequently enter the firm. The business of this firm was acquired in 1891-04 by The American Tobacco Company, who shortly thereafter abandoned the Barre Street tobacco works.

References

1. Sixteenth Annual Report of the Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland. In Memoriam of Georg Wilhelm Gail. Louis Paul Hennighausen. Pages 75–80. 1907.
2. The United States of America, petitioner, against The American Tobacco Company and Others, defendants. United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Page 20. 1907.