V. Simpson Company (Winona, Minn.).

V. Simpson Company was founded by Verranzo Simpson, who was born in Windham, New Hampshire in 1832. He moved to Winona, Minnesota in 1855 and established a successful real estate and loan business, which eventually owned and managed real property and farms in several states including Illinois, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.

After Simpson's death in 1905, his heirs formed a corporation to manage and control the company's disparate assets. First incorporated in West Virginia in 1905, it was later reincorporated in Delaware (1915-1945) and in Minnesota, with its operations always headquartered in Winona. The Winona firm of Brown, Abbott and Somsen handled its legal affairs until 1918, after which Simpson's son-in-law, J. Russell Smith, assumed managerial and legal control.

...