{"id":735,"date":"2017-06-26T10:32:39","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T15:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/forwardmutual.com\/news\/?p=735"},"modified":"2021-01-20T09:28:38","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T14:28:38","slug":"early-challenges-for-a-young-mutual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.forwardmutual.com\/news\/2017\/06\/early-challenges-for-a-young-mutual\/","title":{"rendered":"By the Minutes: Early Challenges for a Young Mutual"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the late 1800s, to become a policyholder of either Ixonia Mutual Fire Insurance Company<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Watertown Mutual Fire Insurance Company<\/a>, one was required to sign an undertaking. The undertaking bound them and their heirs to a pro rata share of all losses, which was a percentage based on the amount for which their policy was insured. After a loss occurred the board of directors would levee the assessment to pay for the loss.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a copy of such an undertaking notice.<\/p>\n

\"Undertaking<\/p>\n

The events leading the directors to authorize the first assessment are interesting. On November 8, 1879, August Stray reported Ixonia Mutual\u2019s second fire loss. His unfortunate fire damaged his barn, two horses, and a buggy in the amount of $150. One month later on December 9, 1879, Ludwig Huebner had a $50 fire loss to his dwelling. These losses were major for the company, since their treasurer\u2019s balance was only $129.75.<\/p>\n

How did Ixonia Mutual handle this? They borrowed, although from a different source than insurance companies might do today.<\/p>\n

To pay this claim, Ixonia Mutual\u2019s board\u00a0of directors borrowed $100 at 8% interest from John Gibb, who was a former Wisconsin Assemblyman, local businessman and chairman\u00a0of Ixonia Mutual’s founding committee. Records show that borrowing money for the short term was common, with the intention that the loan was\u00a0repaid by membership fees.<\/p>\n

As fate would have it on September 25, 1880, William Williams had a fire that burned his barn, two horses and fodder, and caused $5 damage to his bull. Such a catastrophic loss came to $480. This led the directors to levy their first assessment of $530 for the Williams claim and pay back the balance of the loan for the earlier loss.<\/p>\n

\"Assessment<\/p>\n

Here is an example of the assessment cards Ixonia issued to its policyholders. This assessment was for another major event, the loss of Owen Roberts’ home.<\/p>\n

In spite of these early challenges, Ixonia Mutual persevered and is thriving today as Forward Mutual Insurance Company. We take pride in caring for our policyholders with the same dedication shown by this early company.<\/p>\n

\n

Read more!<\/h4>\n

By the Minutes: Introduction<\/a><\/p>\n

1872 Watertown Mutual Founded<\/a><\/p>\n

1875 Ixonia Mutual Founded<\/a><\/p>\n

Comparing the Capitalizing of Two Early Mutuals<\/a><\/p>\n

A Mutual\u2019s First Claim<\/a><\/p>\n

Supporting Dairy in the Late 1800s<\/a><\/p>\n

1879 Early Challenges for a Young Mutual<\/a><\/p>\n

Ixonia Mutual\u2019s First $1000 Loss<\/a><\/p>\n

1885 A Year of Neighbor Helping Neighbor<\/a><\/p>\n

Changes of Bylaws<\/a><\/p>\n

Our Dairy Heritage<\/a><\/p>\n

Insuring Automobiles<\/a><\/p>\n

Taxes, War and the English Language<\/a><\/p>\n

Supporting the Community\u2019s Fire Protection<\/a><\/p>\n

Board Directors and Their Meetings<\/a><\/p>\n

Standardization of Wisconsin Mutuals<\/a><\/p>\n

Of Electricity, Radio and Foxes<\/a><\/p>\n

Our Annual Meetings Over the Years<\/a><\/p>\n

Tumultuous 1930-1940s<\/a><\/p>\n

How a Major Disaster Affected Extended Coverage and Reinsurance<\/a><\/p>\n

Surviving the Big Dogs in the 1960s<\/a><\/p>\n

Introducing Agents to the Mutuals<\/a><\/p>\n

Accounting Over the Years<\/a><\/p>\n

Centennial Anniversaries<\/a><\/p>\n

Mutual Offices<\/a><\/p>\n

Mutual Managers and Staff<\/a><\/p>\n

Establishing Confidence in Financial Strength<\/a><\/p>\n

Entering the Era of Computers<\/a><\/p>\n

The 1990s, Advancement and Angst<\/a><\/p>\n

The Start of the 21st Century<\/a><\/p>\n

Concord and Watertown Merge<\/a><\/p>\n

Ixonia Mutual and Watertown Mutual Merge and a New Company is Formed<\/a><\/p>\n

Setting the Stage, Moving Forward with a New 2020 Vision<\/a><\/p>\n

The New Forward Mutual<\/a><\/p>\n

Post Script<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the late 1800s, to become a policyholder of either Ixonia Mutual Fire Insurance Company\u00a0or\u00a0Watertown Mutual Fire Insurance Company, one was required to sign an undertaking. The undertaking bound them and their heirs to a pro rata share of all losses, which was a percentage based on the amount for which their policy was insured. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[56,32],"tags":[35,25,36,57,11,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-history","7":"category-mutual","8":"tag-agriculture","9":"tag-claims","10":"tag-dairy","11":"tag-history","12":"tag-mutual","13":"tag-wisconsin","14":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"forwardmutual","author_link":"https:\/\/www.forwardmutual.com\/news\/author\/forwardmutual\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardmutual.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardmutual.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardmutual.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardmutual.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardmutual.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardmutual.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardmutual.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardmutual.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forwardmutual.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}