History of National Life Insurance

Posted in Life Insurance , Life Insurance Companies

April 15th, 2010

When thinking about Vermont, visions of maple syrup, Fall foliage and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream may fill your mind.

However, the state is also home to a landmark life insurance provider, the historic National Life Insurance Company. The life insurance provider was one of the first mutual life insurance companies in the United States and still proudly maintains their corporate headquarters in the Green Mountain State.

From its beginnings, the company has grown to have over 900 employees, a customer base of 870,000 and $1.6 billion in revenue (2009).

The Origins of National Life Insurance Group

The National Life Insurance Group is over 160 years old and the company’s roots can be traced back to the organizations founding in Montpelier, Vt. The Vermont Legislature signed an act on Nov. 28, 1848 that formed and incorporated the National Life Insurance company. Over the company’s long and proven history they have insured soldiers fighting in the Civil War, pioneers who followed the western trail during the Gold Rush and even provided coverage for those who perished on the Titanic.

Despite those events the company continued to grow and flourish and help build their future foundation for prosperity. Even during the 1918 Spanish Influenza epidemic, the National Life Insurance group held their own. At that time, millions of people of every age, race and class perished from the disease. Life insurance agents became ill, face-to-face contact was frowned upon to control the disease so sales were down and the company had limited financial resources to pay out all the necessary claims of the time period. Yet claims were still paid in full and in a timely fashion, policies were still sold and the foundation of the company was strengthened.

The company has certainly learned to roll with the flow. National Life Insurance hired, their first female employee (1877, her name was Emma Dimmick and she earned $1.50 a day), asked their neighbors not to shoot the deer on their lawn courtesy of an ad in the Times Argus (October 5, 1960) and helped provide financial relief to those who experienced loss during the September 11 terrorist attack.

National Life Insurance is licensed to provide life insurance, annuity and investment products in all 50 states (plus the District of Columbia) and is part of the National Life Group a Fortune 1,000 company.

Additional branches of the National Life Insurance Group include the Life Insurance Company of the Southwest, Dallas, Texas, and Sentinel Investments, Equity Services, Inc.