Grandmother’s Marmalade Sign | c. 1920

2011:13

Donor: Dight W. Crain

The Whipple Company, also known as Grandmother’s Mincemeat, was founded in 1899 by Natick grocer Harrison L. Whipple and his son, Lewis E. Whipple. The company was initially started to commercially produce the mincemeat that Whipple had been making and selling in his grocery store for many years. The filling was based on the mincemeat made by Whipple’s grandmother, Mrs. Sophia Tuttle (Mrs. Thomas S. Tuttle), which led to the “Grandmother’s” brand name and the use of an image of Tuttle on Grandmother’s products.

Following Harrison Whipple’s death in 1908, Lewis became the head of the company. While running it, he expanded the range of the company’s products to include other kinds of pie filling, syrups, jams, and similar food products. Lewis also moved the company’s factory, first to North Avenue and later to North Main Street in 1947, where it remained for the rest of the company’s lifetime.

After Lewis died in 1959, Alvin Crain, his son-in-law, succeeded him. Whipple Co. purchased A.A. Knights Company, a baking company, in 1960 and the company that made Bostonia Brand soda fountain syrups in 1962. Alvin was himself succeeded by his son, Dight Crain, in 1970. Dight oversaw more expansions of the Grandmother’s line, including introducing other styles of mincemeat, such as brandy and rum flavors.

During the 1990s and 2000s, Dight worked closely with his son Andrew Crain, who took over leading the company along with Steven Molind in 2002. The company was sold to Allied Old English Inc. of Port Reading, NJ, in 2003.

The Whipple Company Grandmother’s Mincemeat archival records are a collection in the NHS archive.