According to the history provided by Beech-Nut Company, "the company began in the 1800s in the historic village of Canajoharie, NY, when Ephraim Lipe first created delicious maple, beech and hickory cures for hams and sliced bacon. His sons, Raymond and Walter, saw the commercial potential of their father's specially cured meats. In 1890, in tandem with a group of enterprising young men, they borrowed $10,000 from a local miller and on January 31, 1891, joined the meat packing industry. . . . The group elected Bartlett Arkell, a prominent young Canajoharie business man and majority stockholder, as the Company's frist president. . ."

Raymond Lipe married Maude Vosburgh. Maude was daughter of John Vosburgh and Katherine "Kate" Louise Bartlett. Kate was daughter of Ebenezer F. Bartlett and Elizabeth A. Phillips.