As cited on freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ "Higgins, William A. - Sugar Broker, 108 Wall street, New York City; residence 190 Lefferts place, Brooklyn. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Sept. 11, 1860. (Married.) Proprietor Eureka Fruit Packing Co. Member Crescent Athletic and Lincoln Clubs of Brooklyn."
William Ardiss Higgins (1860-1934) was the founder of Eureka Fruit Packing, which was located here on Franklin St. only from approximately 1900 to 1902. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Higgins appears in Trow's New York City Directory in 1892 as "Higgins Wm. A. broker, 124 Front." In 1901 the first mentions of Eureka Fruit Packing were "Eureka Fruit Packing Co 175 Franklin," "Higgins Wm A & Co brokers 108 Wall & fruit 175 Franklin" and "Higgins Wm A broker 108 Wall & 175 Franklin h 190 Lefferts pl Bklyn."
In 1903 Eureka Fruit Packing (with Wm. A. Higgins & Co.) moved to 374 Washington St. This business name does seem to have been used after 1905. Google Books Obsolete American Securities and Corporations includes "Eureka Fruit Packing Co. Office in New York. Dissolved in 1905."
Higgins's primary occupation was that of a broker, both stocks and sugar. and his company, Wm. A. Higgins & Co. is listed as sugar brokers at 108 Wall Street from 1901 through 1918. But he was also "dried fruit" at 374-376 Washington Street from 1903 through 1911. This address became 371 Washington from 1912 to 1928. In 1929 the company relocated to 100 Hudson Street where they remained until 1953. Higgins himself was recorded age 38, a sugar broker, living at 190 Lefferts Place, Brooklyn, in the 1900 U. S. Census. The 1905 New York State Census recorded him age 45, a stock broker, living at 1181 Dean Street, Brooklyn. The 1910 U. S. Census had him age 49, born Ohio, an importer of fruits at this same address. A passport application dated 14 January 1922 had him William Ardiss Higgins, age 61, born Cleveland, Ohio, 11 Sept. 1860, Merchant. His residence was still 1181 Dean St., Brooklyn. Find-A-Grave.com lists his grave site in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, where birth is 1860 and death May 1934. The following is cited on Find-A-Grave, regarding William A. Higgins, "Chicago Packer 5 May 1934: New York, May 4. - The dried fruit trade was deeply shocked this week when it became known that William A. Higgins, founder of the well known jobbing and importing firm of William A. Higgins & Co., 100 Hudson street, had died last Saturday morning in the Mountain View Hospital at Los Altos, Calif., as the result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident Friday afternoon. He was 73 years of age and had been connected with the New York food trade for close on to half a century. Mr. Higgins was one of the leading dried fruit jobbers of the country and was held in high esteem by both his customers and competitors. He built up an enviable reputation for honesty and fair dealing amid his sudden death. It was a severe blow to his host of friends. Surving are the widow, three sons and two daughters. One of the sons, Edmund S., who has been in active charge of the business here since 1929, when the elder Mr. Higgins moved with most of his family to California, will continue the business at the old stand."
From 1900 to 1919 William A. Higgins had a partner at Wm. A. Higgins & Co, Jacques Denyse Hegeman, Jr. (1861-1950). Jacques D. Hegeman, Jr., is listed with his own company, J. D. Hegeman Jr. & Co., sugar brokers, in the 1920 New York telephone directory. The following appeared in the New York Times, 22 March 1950, "Montclair, N. J., March 21 - Jaques Denyse Hegeman Jr. of 94 Midland Avenue, since 1938 executive secretary of the National Sugar Brokers Association, died here today in the Mountainside Hospital, after an illness of a few days, at the age of 88. Born in the Harlem section of New York, Mr. Hegeman began his long career in the sugar trade in the Eighties, with the New York firm of Huntington & Dorth. He was with W. A. Higgins from 1900 until 1919, when he established his own firm. This he conducted until 1938. He was a member of Montclair Lodge 144 and several other Masonic bodies. No immediate relatvies survive."
Beginning at the 1920s another partner at Wm. A. Higgins & Co. was Edmund Strong Higgins (1889-1952). He was William A. Higgins's son. On his death in 1952 the following appared in the New York Times, 14 May 1952, "Bedminster, N. J., May 13 - Edmund S. Higgings, president of William A. Higgins & Co., New York importers of Brazilian nuts, died here yesterday of a heart attack at his home on Somerville Road. He was 62 years old. Mr. Higgins was fourteenth president of the Association of Food Distributors, Inc., of New York. He was a graduate of Cornell and during the first World War was an officer in the Thirty-second Infantry Division. He leaves his wife, Mrs. Elsa Clauder Higgins; two sisters and two brothers."
Searching various sources turned up no information on the Hope Fruit Co.
Copyright © 2018 Walter Grutchfield
