Emerson, Isaac E. (Isaac Edward), 1859-1931

Isaac Edward Emerson was born in Chatham County, N.C., in 1859. His family moved to Chapel Hill in 1868. Emerson was graduated from the University of North Carolina as a chemist in 1879. He worked out and patented the formula for Bromo-Seltzer, a headache remedy, upon which Emerson's immense wealth was based. Emerson organized the Emerson Drug Company; built the Emerson Hotel; was president of the Citro Chemical Works of America, Maywood N.J.; chair of the American Bromine Company; and controlling owner of the Maryland Glass Corporation.

During the Spanish-American War, he led his own naval force, earning the rank of captain. His daughter was Margaret Emerson McKim Vanderbilt Baker Amory, the Vanderbilt being Alfred G. Vanderbilt, who went down with the Lusitania in 1915. Margaret's daughter Gloria Baker was one of the nation's most popular and richest women when she made her 1938 society debut.

...