Golding / Golden / Goulding et al Family History on Facebook
Samuel S. “Sam” Golden retired, got bored, and started a company in his cow barn in New Berlin, New York back in 1980.
Among his accomplishments: Sam is credited with the development of the first artist acrylic, the first phthalocyanine artist paints, the first iridescent artist colors, the first stable alizarin color in acrylic, the first stable zinc white in acrylic and the development of water tension breaker.
Sam married Adele Meltz (1916-1989) of Brookyn, Kings County, New York. Adele was the daughter of David and Lena Meltz, both born in Kovno, Russia (now Kaunus, Lithuania). The Meltz family was Jewish.
Sam’s parents are not recorded in any of the published genealogies. However, Morris (c1887-??) and Anna Golden (c1892-??) of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York had a son named Samuel with a birthdate of 1915. Both Morris and Anna were born in Russia.
Golding and Golden is a naturally occuring name among Jews from the former German area of Latvia and the former city of Golding now called Kuldiga. These Goldings did immigrate to the USA and almost all came after 1865-1870 and settled in New York, New Jersey and Illinois. These names have a very high incidence due to use of location as a last name. Example: Hi! I’m Sam from Golden (Golding/Kuldiga) would become Sam Golden.
From the history page of Golden Artist Colors, Inc:
After 30 years in the paint making business, Sam retired and moved to picturesque New Berlin, New York. Sam planned to fish and golf, but quickly grew bored with retirement and found himself “going to the barn to make paint for friends.” At the age of 67 Sam decided to come out of retirement.
Golden Artist Colors, Inc. began in June of 1980 in a 900 square foot, renovated barn. Sam, his wife Adele, son Mark and daughter-in-law Barbara Golden along with partner Chuck Kelly, founded a new company that would embody Sam’s dedication to professional artists, work Sam described as simply “making tools for artists.”
The first four years were financially challenging. Sam and Adele used every resource they had to keep the business alive. Mark took weekly trips to New York City to sell products to artists and continue the conversation that had made Bocour so successful. (Sam had been in custom paints since the 1930s with his uncle Leonard Bocour as a partner in Bocour Artist Colors).
The business began to succeed with very loyal support the product was gaining from professional artists. In 1985, the addition of a factory to the original cow barn gave the company 6,200 square feet of space.
You are welcome to add to or to correct this story by contacting: Bill Golden, Norfolk1956@gmail.com
BTW – I look forward to sharing your stories, photos and in-search-of quests. Contact me at the email address above.