Harrold Brothers (Firm : Americus, Ga.)

The Americus, Georgia, firm of Harrold Brothers, cotton warehousemen, commission merchants, and bankers, was established in 1859 as Harrold, Johnson and Company, and was dissolved in 1953 upon the death of the last partner. Thomas Harrold (1814-1887) arrived in Macon, Georgia, from New York in 1834 and by 1835 operated a cotton commission business there. He returned to New York (1848) and associated with Thomas Wood and Company as a partner. His son, Uriah B. Harrold, moved to Americus, Georgia (1859), and as a partner to Henry Johnson, represented his father's New York firm first as Johnson and Harrold, then as Johnson, Harrold and Company. Thomas Harrold returned to Georgia (1861) and the company prospered as a cotton and mercantile business for the next 95 years, supplying provisions for the Confederate government, organizing a compress company, a brick manufactory, and a fertilizer plant, and becoming involved in railroads, utilities, real estate and banking. The Harrold family, active in church, educational and civic affairs in the Americus, Georgia, area, continued to be an integral part of the family firm until it was sold upon the death of Frank P. Harrold in 1953.