This article accompanies the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum’s restoration and release of 1912 film footage from San Francisco-based Miles Brothers Studios, showing the site selection ceremony for the Netherlands Pavilion to be constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. The film is embedded in this document, immediately following.
Miles Brothers Film
A remarkable recovered 1912 film from the San Francisco-based Miles Brothers Studio, featuring top hatted men in frock coats trailed by spouses, a girl dressed in dutch costume, and everyone marching in a scrum across ground near the Golden Gate on a December day more than 100 years ago. All gathered to choose a site where the Netherlands Pavilion would be constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, held in San Francisco. Fun, yes, but few people would characterize these fleeting images as deeply moving. Except me. From a distant past the author’s grandfather comes back to life.
On December 12, 1912 the Miles Bros filmed His Excellency Dr. Jonkheer John Loudon, Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary of the Netherlands, designating a piece of barren ground near today’s Palace of Fine Arts as the location of the future Netherlands Pavilion, promoting Dutch history and products at the 1915 Exposition.
Among Loudon’s retinue appears 32 year old dutchman Jan Carel van Panthaleon, baron van Eck (1880-1965), my grandfather. I was thrilled! However, no surprise to me why he was there. Newspapers will give you the facts. But I will tell a family story.
A Pivotal Moment
From a family perspective the whole 20th century hung in the balance when van Eck got on his knees to propose marriage to my grandmother in 1914 — San Francisco-born Agnes Lilly Tillmann — and Miss Tillmann responded that she would think about it (true!). Yes, Miss Tillmann soon accepted and the union lasted 50 years.
The Miles Bros film shows van Eck at the beginning of his career, a young man on the make, future unknown. My grandfather wrote about his life adventures in unpublished Reminiscences — a gift to his grandchildren. Before we join the scrum surrounding Minister Loudon, however, bear with me while I explain why van Eck was in San Francisco and the important role played by the 1915 Exposition in his life.
Baron van Eck
Jan Carel van Panthaleon van Eck — descended from 13th century lords of Eck — was born in 1880 in Zutphen to a Dutch army general. Raised in The Hague, van Eck pursued a law degree through the University of Utrecht.
Van Eck writes in his Reminiscences that after receiving his law degree in 1904, he worked as a stock broker in Amsterdam, but not liking the business, traveled to America in 1907, having obtained a referral to a New York banker. However, job offers were withdrawn during the Panic of 1907, and instead of finding employment van Eck crossed the continent on pleasure, visiting the West Coast, including San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Yosemite.
When back in The Hague in 1908, van Eck accepted an employment offer from the Royal Dutch / Shell group — two companies — a British shipping and transportation company (Shell) and a Dutch oil company (Royal Dutch) — cobbled together with Rothschild money. At Royal Dutch headquarters in The Hague, van Eck was initially supervised by Hugo Loudon (pictured), resident Royal Dutch director in The Hague in charge of technical work, who — surprise! — was the BROTHER of His Excellency Dr. Jonkheer John Loudon, featured in the Miles Bros film.
In 1909 van Eck transferred to Royal Dutch’s London office to assist director A.J. Cohen-Stuart (pictured) with legal work for the organization. Like many attorneys, Cohen-Stuart preferred to handle matters himself. Frustrated, van Eck approached director Sir Henri Deterding — the “Dutch” Rockefeller, the dynamo behind the Royal Dutch / Shell group. Deterding agreed to take on van Eck as his personal secretary provided van Eck learn shorthand, which he did.
Later that year (1909) van Eck traveled with Deterding to Nuremberg and Paris, sitting in on negotiations with Deutsche Bank and the Rothschilds over Rumanian oilfields — the trip included a memorable night of dinner and opera with Deterding and the Paris Rothschilds. At the end of the year, Deterding presented van Eck with options for future assignments, one of which was to find a market for “Shell Motor Spirit” on the West Coast of America. Van Eck jumped at the chance and to prepare himself, spent the year of 1910 at group offices in London, The Hague, and Brussels studying gasoline markets.
Deterding & California
Kendall Beaton’s Enterprise in Oil (NY, 1957) recounts Shell Oil’s early beginnings and growth in the United States, and guides my narrative. In the 1890s Royal Dutch / Shell discovered and developed oil wells in the Dutch Far East Indies (North Sumatra). And for a period of time thereafter Royal Dutch / Shell shipped excess refined gasoline across the Pacific to Standard Oil’s California subsidiary, marketed under the Standard brand. In the 1900s Standard Oil dominated the domestic market, but Deterding agitated to be a player. Although the Standard Oil trust was broken in 1911, sister companies continued to retain an iron lock on the East Coast. Deterding, however, decided the time was right to enter the West Coast market.
Many factors were involved in Deterding’s decision, not solely the trust’s breakup. Standard Oil of California stopped receiving Shell tankers of Sumatran gasoline in 1910 because of a price war between Standard and Shell in the Far East. When Shell tried to offload its now uncontracted tankers of gasoline to Standard’s SoCal rival Union Oil of California, negotiations broke off over a difference of 1/4 cent per gallon. At this point Deterding launched his attack.
To establish a beachhead on the West Coast, Deterding dispatched van Eck to San Francisco in 1911 as the group’s representative to assemble a marketing team and begin construction of ocean installations to receive incoming tanker shipments of gasoline, as well as storage depots for retail sales. The company was named the “American Gasoline Company”, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Dutch / Shell.
Holland-American Chamber of Commerce
Now back to the Miles Brothers film…
Upon arrival by train at Port Costa in December 1912, Minister Loudon was welcomed by members of the Holland-American Chamber of Commerce, a group of Dutch ex-patriots living in the Bay Area, which included van Eck. The Dutch Chamber had been formed earlier that same year (perhaps in anticipation of the 1915 Exposition) to support local Dutch-owned industries.
President of the Dutch Chamber in 1912 was Herbert Albert Willem van Coenen Torchiana, later appointed Resident Commissioner-General of the Netherlands Delegation to the 1915 Exposition.
Commissioner Torchiana additionally served as Dean of Foreign Commissioners at the Exposition. (Van Eck succeeded Torchiana as Dutch Chamber President and was appointed Assistant Commissioner-General of the Netherlands Delegation.) Torchiana’s mother was a van Coenen, a family close to the van Ecks in Holland. In the Miles Bros film Torchiana is seen standing next to van Eck. Also appearing in the film are Torchiana’s wife Catherine Geloudemans and their adopted daughter Lenore Torchiana, dressed in Dutch costume.
Torchiana, a native of Java, arrived in California in the mid-1890s and with Dutch pluck accepted a job supervising the Los Banos Division of Miller & Lux from 1895 to 1901 (at one time “the largest producer of cattle in California and one of the largest landowners in the United States”). Torchiana was hired by Henry Miller himself and went full cowboy supervising work crews, later writing an account of his experiences in a book entitled “California Gringos”.
In 1900 Torchiana switched to lawyering, eventually retiring to a showplace residence christened “Fair View” in Santa Cruz. Torchiana served as consul general for the Netherlands from 1914 until his death in 1940.
The Miles Bros film also shows us a glimpse of Solomon Voorsanger, vice president of the Dutch Chamber. Amsterdam-born Voorsanger followed his brother Rabbi Jacob Voorsanger to San Francisco where Rabbi Voorsanger served at Temple Emanu-El.
Other members of the Dutch Chamber are not visible. They include Ernst Julius Franciscus van Hanswijk Pennink, Oakland resident and member of the Dutch pioneer firm of DeFremery & Co; and Ferdinand Louis Willekes MacDonald, a Dutch apple packer from Aptos. (In the accompanying image, Baronet C.T. Strick van Linschoten is seen, a later addition to the chamber.)
All Dutch Chamber members assumed an official Exposition role as an Advisory Committee to the Netherlands Delegation, chaired by Commissioner van Eck.
Agnes Lilly Tillmann
Introducing Shell Motor Spirit to the California market was only one of van Eck’s major accomplishments in decade following 1910. Arguably the more challenging task was van Eck’s wooing of San Francisco-born Agnes Lilly Tillmann (1889-1982).
Frederick Tillmann
On her paternal side, Agnes Lilly’s grandfather was Frederick Tillmann, who sailed through the Golden Gate on the Bremen barque Talisman in September 1849, running aground on a sand bar off North Beach after six months at sea.
Tillmann searched for gold with shipmates on the south fork of the American River, farmed near Sacramento, then in 1856 opened a saloon “with billiards” on the NW corner of Portsmouth Square (Washington & Kearny), the heart of early San Francisco.
In 1862 Tillmann established the San Francisco-firm of Tillmann & Co., wholesale grocers and commission merchants, which grew into Tillmann & Bendel, largest wholesale grocer in San Francisco in the 1890s, providing dry and canned comestibles on credit to retail grocers along the Pacific Slope from Southern California to Alaska.
Frederick Tillmann Jr.
Agnes Lilly’s father was Frederick Tillmann Jr. — at various times president of Tillmann & Bendel, German Savings and Loan, and the Oakland Preserving Company, which first promoted the Del Monte brand of canned fruits and vegetables.
In 1904 — eleven years before the 1915 Exposition — the entire Tillmann family traveled to St. Louis to attend the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. And I’m sure Tillmann Jr. shared his excitement with fellow members of Pacific Union and Bohemian clubs, as well as with colleagues in San Francisco’s business community.
Tillmann Jr. was an early and vocal supporter of California expositions, serving in 1906 as Vice President of the Pacific Ocean Exposition Company, forerunner of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company.
In 1910 Tillmann — along with his business peers — proudly subscribed for the purchase of $25,000 stock in the 1915 Exposition Company, seed money for turning dreams into reality.
Mangels & Spreckels
On her maternal side, Agnes Lilly’s grandfather was Claus Mangels, brother-in-law of Claus Spreckels and partner in the Spreckels business empire.
By the 1910s the Mangels men and the family name were long gone, one single and one married daughter only surviving. However, many Mangels grandchildren survived, now close to their Spreckels cousins, and Agnes Lilly maintained those contacts in her lifetime.
2000 Washington Street
Agnes Lilly was raised in affluence — educated at San Francisco’s elite Hamlin School and sent abroad to attend Miss Hess’s finishing school in Paris. Agnes Lilly’s debut in 1910 was a society gala, celebrated in newspapers.
In 1911 when van Eck arrived in San Francisco, 22-year old Agnes Lilly was living with her parents and brother Fred Tillman at the Tillmann’s grand residence at 2000 Washington street.
It was fortunate for van Eck that in 1911 Agnes Lilly already had a beau — Herbert Gallagher. Gallagher was employed locally to study the market for Havoline oil products from the Indian Refining Company. A partnership between Indian and Shell had been proposed, but fell apart. In the course of working together, van Eck and Gallagher became friends, and Gallagher jumped ship from Indian to join van Eck’s fledgling firm as chief marketer.
It was Gallagher who first introduced van Eck to Miss Tillmann socially in 1911, with formal dinners at the Tillmann residence in San Francisco and weekend excursions to Mangels Ranch in Aptos, a property acquired by Agnes Lilly’s Mangels grandfather. Van Eck’s relationship with Agnes Lilly was occasional and social in nature for the next two years until 1914 when van Eck got on his knees.
Gallagher continued to play beau until January 1913 — one month AFTER the Miles Bros film — when Gallagher surprisingly announces he’s returning to Canada to marry a long-time secret sweetheart. I’m not sure my grandmother was heartbroken because she was engaged in a passionate correspondence with a Quaker architect in Philadelphia.
When Agnes Lilly’s FATHER put a STOP to the CORRESPONDENCE with Clarence Johnson, and PUSHED his CLUB FRIEND — VAN ECK — as a more SUITABLE husband, especially at her AGE (25)… well, you see the cause of her hesitation.
1912 — The American Gasoline Company
So much information! Let’s recap — when spotted in Minister Loudon’s scrum under cloudy skies on a cold December day, van Eck has accomplished two important milestones in life: first, van Eck has met Miss Tillmann, his future wife, and they now see each other socially, but Miss Tillmann has more romancing to do; second, van Eck is president of Shell’s first marketing venture — the American Gasoline Company — and he has just returned from Seattle, a test market, where he witnessed delivery of the first shipments of Shell Motor Spirit.
With wry irony van Eck humorously described the formation and naming of the American Gasoline Company, organized in New York in September 1912. In his unpublished Reminiscences, van Eck writes:
“A company was formed for that purpose [i.e., importing gasoline from the Far East] and it was given the name of the ‘American Gasoline Co.’ It was an idea I believe of Mr. [F.M.] Harris [head of Shell’s London-based gasoline department], but the joke was that there was nothing much American about our business. It had foreign ownership and was to import gasoline from foreign countries! We picked out a site in Martinez to build our ocean installation.”
J.C. van Eck, Reminiscences
Yes, that’s the kind of humor that tickles the Executive Suite. For the curious, offices of the American Gasoline Company were at 343 Sansome — a building I myself worked in.
The events connected with the American Gasoline Company are so close in time to the site selection ceremony that Minister Loudon must have been briefed on developments.
Speed Bump
In early 1913, however, the American Gasoline Company hit a speed bump — more like a sink hole — when it became apparent that oilfields in Sumatra were giving signs of exhaustion just as Royal Dutch / Shell’s European sales were taking off.
Soon, shipments of higher grade Sumatran gasoline were replaced by an inferior, poor quality product — “a blend of Borneo and Burma stuff… smelled badly, and a bit off-color” (van Eck) — eliminating the company’s ability to price Shell Motor Spirit at a premium.
Concurrently, Standard twists the knife by lowering its prices — Oil War!
So to summarize — Standard Oil drops the price of its locally refined gasoline in order to drive its rival out of the market, while The Shell Company loses its price advantage for premium Shell Motor Spirit, now replaced by poor quality “stuff” that still must be shipped half-way around the world. What to do?
From Gasoline Marketer to Oil Producer & Refiner
Here again I turn to Kendall Beaton’s history of Shell Oil. Despite fierce competition Deterding saw an opportunity to beat Standard by entering the California market as an oil producer and refiner, offering a quality product at a competitive price.
Before the arrival of Shell, the California oil market was divided between upstream independent producers of petroleum products (“Independents”) and downstream refiners and marketers of such products — Standard Oil being the largest. Simply stated,
- Independents wanted to maximize price of crude;
- Standard Oil wanted access to reliable supplies of product as cheaply as possible.
The balance of power that existed between Independents and Standard Oil was unstable at best, offering an opening to Shell. Deterding calculated that Shell could beat Standard on price by:
- Purchasing restless Independents at a discount; and
- Constructing more efficient refineries, pipelines, and sales outlets — that’s what “Integrated Majors” do best!
Dig Deeper
When Standard initiated an “Oil War” against Shell in 1913, it meant that upstream and downstream petroleum businesses would get hammered by falling prices. Crude prices were already fluctuating uncomfortably as new independent oilfields were coming into production, saturating the market.
As crude generated less predictable revenue to cover fixed production costs, Independents fractured as a group with owners divided as to direction, some now looking to cash out of the market.
California Oilfields Limited
My grandfather was surprised by the poor quality of incoming shipments of gasoline. Not the London Office, which knew conditions of Sumatran wells and took steps as early as 1912 to scout oil properties in California while my grandfather was busy setting up a wholesale and retail distribution network for refined petroleum products.
My grandfather writes in his Reminiscences:
“About the Spring or perhaps somewhat later [1912] there appeared in San Francisco Mr. Harris [senior sales manager of the group’s gasoline department]… The decision had been taken in London that we should try to acquire some oil fields in California and that we should look for oil ourselves.
Therefore, with Mr. Harris had arrived Mr. Ben van der Linden, a geologist, or rather mining engineer… to look for oil fields and assist Mr. Harris whenever Mr. Harris would be negotiating for properties. He had not much time to look for oil fields himself or to make geological studies as Mr. Harris used him almost constantly for looking into a 40-acre oil property here, or a 60-acre property there, or some such other trivial investigation.”
J.C. van Eck, Reminiscences
Van der Linden was so frequent a visitor to the van Eck household in the course of his career that mom called him “Uncle Ben.” Uncle Ben inspected many potential targets, but in August 1913 Deterding instructed Uncle Ben to meet with the San Francisco-based Scottish firm of Balfour, Guthrie & Co., which owned California Oilfields Limited, located outside of Coalinga, an oil property with a decade of successful drilling and production, and a supplier of crude to Standard Oil.
Van Eck & Harris 
California Oilfields Ltd.
Uncle Ben was tasked with inspecting and assessing California Oilfields Ltd. properties within four days and report back to Deterding, who held an offer set to expire. Uncle Ben discreetly used the assumed name “G. Warner” in order to provide cover. Reports of Uncle Ben quickly aroused suspicions of the superintendent of the adjoining Standard Oil of California properties, who was heard repeatedly asking, “Have you seen some Dutch fellow who is supposed to be snooping around here?…” [Enterprise in Oil, Kendall Beaton].
In August 1913 Royal Dutch / Shell purchased California Oilfields Ltd. and began construction of refineries in Martinez and a pipeline from Martinez to Coalinga.
Shell vs Standard: Worldwide Chess Game
The game of chess in California between Shell and Standard was a local match in a worldwide contest. However, the Miles Brothers film captures this match at a time of critical importance for Shell. Quoting from Oxford University’s four-volume history of Royal Dutch Shell (History of Royal Dutch Shell, Jonker & van Zanden, Oxford, 2007):
“Overall the [Royal Dutch / Shell] Group may be hailed as the winner in the chess game with Standard Oil in 1910-11, with its consolidation of its position in the Dutch East Indies, and the acquisition of extensive properties in Romania, Russia, and the United States. This was only the beginning. The Group continued buying producing fields and concessions at an amazing tempo all over the world: more in California and in the Midwest, in Russia, Egypt, Mexico, Trinidad, Venezuela, the Ottoman Empire, and Sarawak (British Borneo), to mention only the most important acquisitions.”
Breaking Ground for Netherlands Pavilion
During all this time van Eck continued to be deeply involved in the Exposition. On May 28, 1914 (Miss Tillmann’s 25th birthday, and only a month before the Tillmann / van Eck wedding), the dutchmen gathered again (sans Loudon) to break ground.
After breaking sweat, the guys broke bread at a luncheon at the Palace Hotel.
As described by Frank Todd Morton in his Story of the Exposition (v3):
“The Pavilion of The Netherlands and her East and West Indian colonies, with its rose-tinted dome, large clock dials, external stairways, and bristling masts, had a festive and inviting appearance; and its contents, for richness, beauty, and interest, vied with those of any of the foreign pavilions or State buildings…. The building stood just beyond the northerly end of the Fine Arts Palace, across the Esplanade from the New York Building, and diagonally across from the California Building.”
Morton continues, “The architecture of The Netherlands Pavilion might be called Byzantine, or even Romanesque in spirit, although it was very original in detail. The ground area was about 25,000 square feet and the tower rose 128 feet. The clock dials were over six feet in diameter, and the tower was ornamented at various levels by 44 flag poles. The whole thing was handsomely roofed with red terra cotta tiles, and the travertine walls were banded with courses of fine encaustic tiling.”
Marriage & An “Exposition Baby”
Some folks think San Francisco’s 1915 Exposition represents a capstone of progress for what was recently a wind-swept village by mudflats. I would nudge this capstone closer to 1914, which is when Miss Tillmann — with some hesitation — agreed to become Baroness van Eck.
On June 30, 1914 Miss Tillmann & Jan Carel van Eck were united in marriage at the Tillmann family home on Washington street. Under the laws of the time, Miss Tillmann became a Dutch citizen and the pair were joined in marriage under Dutch law by van Eck’s friend and fellow Commissioner Torchiana.
The Exposition left a lasting impression on my grandmother, not least because her first child was an “Exposition baby” — John van Eck, born September 1915.
1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition
After the Exposition by Edward Robeson Taylor
The Time will come when Ruin’s rage will lay
Its heartless hand upon these piles that soar,
And they in all their rich-abounding lore
Will, like the dream they are, no longer stay;
These avenues that swarm with life so gay
Will swell with rapture’s paeans never more;
And all these palaces’ eye-rapturing store
Will move along Oblivion’s cypress way.
But Memory’s bounteous wealth will then remain,
And here the far-reverberative strain
Of happy life will bless the willing ear;
Again these palaces will woo the air,
These breathing statues all our praises hear,
These blooms and fountains never know despair.
1915 Exposition & Shell Oil
At the Exposition van Eck served as Assistant Resident General-Commissioner, supporting Torchiana. Following is an excerpt from van Eck’s unpublished Reminiscences: “Mr. Torchiana was the Netherlands representative and I was his assistant. It was not a very cumbersome job… my function at the Exposition was merely to attend luncheons or other ceremonies at the opening of buildings of other countries.” How modest! He spoke too.
Pictured is a breathtaking image of van Eck delivering a dedication speech on a dais outside the Netherlands Pavilion. Looming is the clock tower. Listen carefully and you’ll hear its bells sweetly ringing. “Workmen on the grounds anywhere within a quarter of a mile of the Netherlands building never have any difficulty in knowing exactly when dinner time comes. In the tower of the Netherlands building is an enormous clock, now running, which booms out the hours in musical tones that can be heard for many blocks.” [SF Chronicle, 13 Feb 1915]
The official history of the 1915 Exposition written by Frank Morton Todd lists van Eck’s additional duties: “Baron van Eck, the Associate Commissioner, volunteered to take charge of the different exhibits of The Netherlands in the main palaces, and the installation took place under his special supervision.” Job well done!
But what did the Exposition do for Shell? The Exposition offered a remarkable opportunity to showcase publicly The Shell Company’s products. In fact, the first “cracker-box” Shell service station in the United States was located just outside the main Exposition gates.
Big deal? Yes, and for a reason we’ve forgotten about. Even in 1915 San Francisco oil companies (e.g., Standard Oil, Union) were well established. Standard and Union sold gasoline out of parking garages and by 1915 had largely locked up these sales outlets by contract. How did Shell compete? Shell constructed standalone “filling stations” — what a concept!
At the Exposition “Shell obtained the parking-lot concession for the fair and built two big, showy, red-and-yellow stations at the gates of the exposition grounds. It was here that most motorists — indeed, all motorists who came from regions other than the San Francisco area or the Pacific Northwest — first saw the gaudy yellow ‘cracker-box’ stations which ten years later would be a familiar sight… all over the Pacific slope.” [Enterprise in Oil, Kendall Beaton, NY, 1957; pp.77,78; also source of filling station image).
The Exposition provided Commissioner van Eck a platform to promote The Shell Company and Shell Motor Spirit — with opportunities to hold private discussions with moneyed California oil interests attending the Exposition from outlying areas.
Van Eck was a member of the Pacific-Union Club where he stayed until marriage, able to socialize freely with members (although not discuss business per club rules!). However, a well-played game of bridge generates respect and trust, especially in smoke-filled rooms.
Tillmann Connections
What did the Tillmann family contribute to The Shell Company’s success? Family ties and associations with California pioneer landowning families. Miss Tillmann’s cousin was Adoph B. Spreckels (better known as Mr. Big Alma), owner of the Monarch Oil & Refining Company.
The San Francisco Newhall families (descendants of pioneer auctioneer Henry Mayo Newhall and large property owners in SoCal) were Miss Tillmann’s close friends, as well as Nickel/McNear descendants of Torchiana’s former boss and land baron Henry Miller. The Tillmann family’s Aptos neighbor near Mangels Ranch was PPIE executive William T Sesnon, owner of the Sesnon Oil Company.
Agnes Lilly’s father Frederick Tillmann Jr. — a member of Pacific Union and Bohemian clubs — enjoyed business and social ties with all PPIE directors, as well as with San Francisco’s larger business community. Tillmann’s business associates and friends included John Martin and Eugene de Sabla, founders of the local utility company Pacific Gas & Electric, and by 1913 de Sabla was president of General Petroleum, an acquisition target of the Royal Dutch / Shell group.
I’m not suggesting that The Shell Company in California transacted business with Miss Tillmann’s family or friends — acquisitions were handled by the London office. However, van Eck dinner parties were formal and frequent, and as an insider in the worldwide petroleum industry, van Eck’s opinion would be sought after and carry weight. Oil was California’s future in the early 1900s, and everyone had either an ownership stake in, or an opinion about, oil.
The Netherlands Delegation & Royal Dutch
One final point about the Exposition — the more I study the Netherlands Delegation, the more I see links to Royal Dutch / Shell. Queen Wilhelmina — the “Royal” in Royal Dutch, and reputedly the largest individual shareholder in Royal Dutch behind Deterding himself — initially made six appointments to “The Royal Central Commission of the Netherlands and its Colonies to the Panama Pacific International Exposition.” As already mentioned, my grandfather held one. Another appointment was held by the Amsterdam-based President and Commissioner General C.J.K. van Aalst.
My grandfather described meeting van Aalst in 1907 at a gentleman’s club in Amsterdam when deciding what career to follow. As van Eck writes, van Aalst was a “school friend of Mr. Deterding who was now head of the Netherlands Trading Society in Amsterdam. He was also a [future] director of Royal Dutch. At the club I sometimes played bridge with him.” Hmmm, bridge — the key to success!
Aftermath
By the 1930s — twenty years after the 1915 Exposition — Shell would rival Standard Oil in the domestic market with Baron van Eck serving at the helm of U.S. operations from his flagship New York office at 30 Rock.
And when the British Government forced Deterding’s resignation in 1936 for expressing Nazi sympathies, the vacant directorship was offered to van Eck — heretofore uninvolved in European matters — who wrote that it was a moving experience to step into and occupy his boss’s old office in The Hague.
Deterding’s biographer Glyn Roberts described Baron van Eck at that time as “large, massive, bald, and moon-faced.”
With the advent of WWII van Eck was spirited to the English countryside for security reasons where he represented the Dutch half of Royal Dutch / Shell throughout the war years. (Van Eck’s name was on the Nazi black list should Germany have successfully invaded Britain.). In 1965 van Eck passed on in Santa Barbara, having celebrated 50 years of marriage with Miss Tillmann, his greatest achievement.
This is the “moon-faced” gentleman seen in the Miles Bros footage among the crush of people surrounding Minister Loudon in 1912.
Panthaleon & Ancient Rome
As a family member, I would be remiss not to highlight van Panthaleon van Eck family history. Jan Carel van Panthaleon van Eck represented the 12th documented and confirmed generation of van Ecks. (The 15th generation of domestic van Panthaleon van Ecks currently live in New York.)
According to family chronicles, in the 13th century Bartholt van Panthaleon, first “heer” of the village Eck, distinguished himself in Dutch history by supporting Count Reynolt van Gelre and the Archbishop of Cologne — unfortunately, the side that lost — against the Duke of Brabant and the people of Liege in the heroic battle of Worringen (1288) — “one of the largest battles in Europe in the Middle Ages.”
Subsequently, van Eck knights affixed three feathers (green, red, white) to their helmets to identify themselves on the battlefield, and these feathers were incorporated into the van Eck coat of arms. “Van Panthaleon” evidences that this family of van Ecks are a branch of Cologne’s Panthaleon family, one of fifteen Equestrian families sent by the Roman Emperor Trajan to settle in Cologne about 100 A.D.
Credits
Copyright 2021 by Mark H. Reed
Chapter 3 of Kendall Beaton’s Enterprise in Oil (NY, 1957) recounts Shell’s West Coast start. Van Eck sat for extensive interviews with Beaton in the 1950s, describing The Shell Company’s early beginnings. This is the authoritative history of the company.
Van Eck’s Reminiscences provide a personal history of the same period. Tillmann family history represents my own research. Unless set off by quotation marks, all text is mine. The story has been rattling around my head for almost 50 years — when I first heard it from Miss Tillmann herself.
Unless otherwise noted, all images are from Tillmann Family Archives.