In 1898 a New York promoter, Thomas McIntyre, began to acquire flour mills around the nation, and in February 1899 he formed the United States Flour Milling Company and sought control over the major companies in the industry, including Pillsbury-Washburn, Washburn-Crosby, and Northwestern Consolidated. It seemed likely that the dissatisfied English shareholders would acquiesce in U.S. Flour Milling Company's adsorbing Pillsbury-Washburn, but this did not occur, because a member of the Pillsbury family made sufficient purchases of the securities of the parent British company to thwart McIntyre's plans.