Background
Lunsford was born in 1854 on a farm near Selma, North Carolina. Their son, H. Smith Richardson, 1885–1972, was born on July 19.
Lunsford was born in 1854 on a farm near Selma, North Carolina. Their son, H. Smith Richardson, 1885–1972, was born on July 19.
He attended Davidson College, where he graduated with highest honors in Latin in 1875.
He died August 20, 1919. He taught at The Little River Academy before he became a pharmacist. He also had 3 daughters.
Lunsford bought a drugstore in Selma where he concocted and sold a menthol-laced ointment for "croupy" babies that he labeled "Vick"s" in honor of Doctor Joshua West. Vick, his brother-in-law who helped him get established in business.
Later he sold the store in Selma and bought one in Greensboro. This was the Porter and Tate Drugstore - Doctor Porter was the uncle of William Sydney Porter, the author known as O. Henry.
While working in Greensboro he developed a number of home remedies under the name "Vicks." This name was suggested to him from an advertisement for Vick"s Seeds, and Vick was also the last name of his brother-in-law, a family physician. lieutenant was short and easy to remember.
Eventually there were 21 "Vicks Family Remedies." The main product included menthol, a new and little known drug from Japan, added to a balm.
Since the product was used only externally, there was no risk of stomach upset. lieutenant was originally called Vicks Croup and Pneumonia Salve before it became VapoRub. In 1898, he sold his drugstore and formed Lunsford Richardson Wholesale Drug company, one of only 4 wholesale drug companies in North Carolina.
He sold the 21 Vicks products as well as other drugs.
In 1905 he sold the wholesale drug company and founded Vicks Family Remedies Company, which became Richardson-Merrell Incorporated, and later Richardson Vicks Incorporated.
Initially, Vicks struggled to sell outside the Greensboro area until Lunsford"s son, H. Smith, decided to concentrate only on the renamed VapoRub, the one unique and distinctive product of the 21. An editorial in the Greensboro Daily News August 22, 1919 said, "he never passed anyone on the street, young or old, black or white, without a nod and a smile." He was particularly interested in the welfare of African-Americans.