Cone, Moses H.

Cone, Moses H. (Herman)

(1857–1908) merchant, manufacturer; born in Jonesboro, Tenn. He left his father Herman Cone's wholesale grocery in Baltimore in 1891 to form the Cone Export & Commission Company in New York City, a marketer of Southern cloth mill-goods. When the company grew to 40 clients, Herman dissolved his grocery and joined Moses. In 1893 they moved to Greensboro, N.C., where Moses built a denim mill (1895). In 1901 he bought a 3,750-acre estate at Blowing Rock, N.C., and began raising apple trees.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.