Auditor’s Statement, A.C. Monk & Company, July 13, 1920

Source:    A.C. Monk & Company/A.C. Monk Family Collection, 1907-2004  ECMC # 1285

Staff Person: Fred Harrison

Description: Originating just prior to WWI under the name Monk Adams Company, Wilson, N.C, A.C. Monk & Company officially began business in Farmville, N.C. on May 10, 1922.

The company’s records recently donated to the East Carolina Manuscript Collection attest to a continuous period of impressive growth.  The firm soon became one of the  nation’s leading dealers in leaf-tobacco.

According to Albert Monk III, grandson of A.C. Monk, the company’s initial wealth relied heavily on  diverse business interests: namely, farmland, a furniture store and funeral home. In the late 1980s; however, it was decided that in order to grow, the company had to get bigger.

As such, on July 13, 1990, the business merged with a competitor to form Monk-Austin Inc. Another merger later that decade resulted in the creation of DIMON Inc. which emerged to become the second largest leaf-tobacco merchant in the world. Monk family members retained some  indirect ownership in this entity until its eventual acquisition by Alliance One in the early 2000s.

On view here is an auditor’s statement from July 13, 1920, one of a nearly intact collection of business papers spanning from approximately 1916 to the early 2010s. Company founder, A.C. Monk, Sr. died on June 6, 1948.  Sons, Albert C., Robert Turnage and William C.  succeeded him.