Antoon Jurgens

Antoon Jurgens (1805-1880) was a Dutch merchant and industrialist. He founded a butter company that grew to be one of the largest butter and margarine companies in the world. His company was instrumental in the formation of Margarine Unie which, in 1930, merged with Lever Brothers to form Unilever.

Family He was the son of Wilhelmus Jurgens and Henrica van Valkenburg. Wilhelmus, Leonard and Jan were brothers from Nieuwenhagen who came to Oss at the turn of the nineteenth century. Jurgens uncle, Leonard also married a member of the Valkenburg family, the van Valkenburgs were one of the biggest trading families in Oss. Under the Jurgens, the van Valkenburg business expanded.

On 19 May 1832 Jurgens married Johanna Lemmens (1807-1879), the daughter of Arnoldus Ambrosius Lemmens, farmer and mayor of Beugen and Rijkevoort from 1811 to 1819, owner of the brewery the Unicorn (De Eenhoorn) in Oploo, and Gertrudis van de Voordt, from a family who were also mayors of Beugen en Rijkevoort. They had ten children. Jan was the salesman, and Arnoldus was in charge of the technical aspects of the business. They bought butter in the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. The butter was brought to Oss, where it was treated, packed and shipped.

Descendants Antoon Jurgens and his wife Johanna Lemmens had 10 children, including three sons who continued the margarine factory after his death in 1880:

Johannes Arnoldus Jurgens (1835–1913) Hendrikus Leonardus Jurgens (1840–1888) Arnoldus Jurgens (1842–1912)