The family's story, era by era
The Timeline
More than one hundred years, from a Nebraska farm to the Chicago World's Fair, the Arabian horses, and the farm today. Choose an era to move through it.
Where the Babson story begins: a Nebraska farm family, a boy who goes to the World's Fair, and the founding of Babson Bros. Co.
Gustavus Babson Jr.'s generation
Henry's father heads west from Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1872 and marries Ellen Kemp in 1873. After a grasshopper plague ends their DeWitt farm, Gustavus turns to the farm implement business in Seward, Nebraska.
Henry Blake Babson is born
Born in Seward, Nebraska, the oldest of five boys.
The Chicago World's Fair
At seventeen, Henry meets Thomas Edison and begins selling phonographs, the adventure that shapes his life. He first sees Arabian horses here too.
The Yankee Peddler years
Henry sells Edison phonographs in China and Victor Talking Machines, recording opera stars including Caruso at La Scala, across Europe and Asia.
Babson Bros. Co. is founded
Founded in Chicago by Henry and brothers Fred and Gus, selling phonograph equipment by mail.
The family settles in Chicago, builds the Riverside house, and the Surge Bucket Milker arrives, the product that carries the company for fifty years.
Henry marries Laura Margaret Davis
Married on August 1.
The Riverside, Illinois house is built
Designed by architect Louis Sullivan with George Elmslie, and landscaped by Jens Jensen.
Riverside house, leaded-glass windowsBabson Bros. enters the dairy business
Testing the Melotte Cream Separator on brother Fred's Guernsey herd.
Betty and Billy are born
Elizabeth "Betty" Babson in 1916, and Henry Jr. ("Billy") in 1917.
Henry buys land in Hayden, Colorado
Believing a railroad would one day make the coal fields valuable.
The Surge Bucket Milker is invented
Invented by Herbert McCornack and tested on the family's own dairy herd, the product that would define the company for fifty years.
The "Hospital on the Hill" opens
In Hayden, Colorado, with Henry Babson among the fundraisers.
Billy dies of spinal meningitis
At age seven. The family leaves the Riverside house and eventually settles on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago.
Arabian horses, the Colorado land that becomes the family foundation, and a third generation growing up between Chicago and Charlevoix.
The Arabian horse breeding project begins
Henry travels to Egypt in 1932 for foundation stock, after an earlier search in England, France, and Spain fell short.
Henry with the Egyptian ArabiansThe Hayden coal land is deeded to the library
Henry keeps a ten percent mineral royalty, the arrangement that becomes the Babson-Carpenter Foundation.
Betty marries Theodore "Ted" Tieken
Married on December 3.
Henry imports Polish Arabian horses
Just ahead of World War II in Europe.
The third generation arrives
Nancy Tieken is born in 1940 and Teddy Tieken Jr. in 1944. Ted serves in the Navy Pacific while Betty and Nancy live with Henry and Laura in Chicago.
Ted joins Babson Bros. Co.
As general counsel; Libby Tieken is born, and the family begins summering at Charlevoix, Michigan.
The Tiekens buy Libertyville
The Illinois property becomes the family's beloved country gathering place for the next seven decades.
Libertyville, exterior and folk art interiorLaura Babson dies
The end of the founding generation's chapter.
Leadership passes from Henry to Ted to Teddy, the fourth generation is born, and the family says goodbye to its founders.
Henry donates the Riverside house
To the village of Riverside in Billy's memory; it is later demolished for housing.
The fourth generation begins
Nancy marries Joseph A. Wheelock Jr. in 1963, and their son Zeff, the first of the fourth generation, is born in 1965.
Ted Tieken becomes chairman
As Henry steps back from daily involvement in Babson Farms.
Henry Babson dies
At age 94.
The Surge Milker patent expires
Having held seventy-six percent of the U.S. market.
Teddy Tieken becomes president
As Ted Tieken retires as chairman of Babson Farms.
The Arabian Horse Farm is sold
Ending more than sixty years of the family's Arabian horse-breeding program.
Ted and Betty Tieken pass
Ted in 1990 and Betty in 2002.
The fourth generation takes the lead, and Babson Farms honors the operator families who have worked the land for generations.
Taylor Kirkpatrick becomes president
The fourth-generation leadership transition of Babson Farms. The same year, his son Henry Kirkpatrick is born.
Present-day Babson Farms, DeKalb areaA hard year
Teddy Tieken dies of cancer, and Nancy Tieken dies in December.
Five operator families are honored
The Barshinger, Foster, Frost, Metzger, and Reid families, for fifty to seventy-plus years of partnership. Libby Kirkpatrick dies the same year.
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