Weil family members included Herman Weil (1842-1914), who emigrated from Stuttgart, Germany, in 1858, and brothers Henry (d. 1878) and Solomon (1860-1914). In 1865, the brothers formed H. Weil & Bros., which operated a store in Goldsboro, N.C. Joe Rosenthal (d. 1927), Henry's brother-in-law, joined the firm in 1892, and, in 1910, Henry's son Leslie (d. 1943) and Sol's son Lionel (1877-1948) entered the family businesses, which included the store, a brick yard, and an ice plant.
In 1930, agriculturalist G. Frank Seymour was added to the firm, and, in 1932, Weil Fertilizer Works was started to market plant hormones and other compounds that Frank and Lionel developed. In 1941, Leslie's sons Abram and Henry and Lionel's son Lionel S. became partners. In 1942, the partners established the Weil Employees' Trust Fund, a profit sharing plan. When the Weil Deparment Store burned in 1948, brother Herman Weil (1882-1961) was instrumental in rebuilding the facility. Members of the Weil family were active in the University of North Carolina System, Goldsboro community affairs, and in Jewish life in North Carolina and the nation.
From the description of Weil family papers, 1860s-1983 [manuscript]. WorldCat record id: 33427700
