莱曼兄弟公司是历史最悠久的大投资银行之一。1844年,亨利·莱曼从德国里帕来到美国,在阿拉巴马州的蒙哥马利建立了一家小商店,向农场主们出售日用品、布料和餐具。6年以后,他的两个弟弟埃马纽尔和迈耶与他一起开办了一家商品公司——莱曼兄弟公司。这家公司向当地农场主出售基本生活用品,收取的款项经常是成包的棉花而不是现金,然后他再把成批的棉花卖出去,完成一次两头获利的交易。后来他在纽约开办了第一个办事处;4年之后,他又与棉花商人约翰·威利斯·杜尔联合成立了莱曼·杜尔公司。1870年,莱曼兄弟公司在建立纽约 Lehman Brothers is one of the oldest major investment banks. In 1844, Henry Lyman came to the United States from Ripa, Germany, where he set up a small store in Montgomery, Alabama, to sell daily necessities, cloths and cutlery to farmers. Six years later, two of his younger brothers Emmanuel and Meyer started a commercial company, Lehman Brothers. The company sells basic household items to local farmers and often bills cotton instead of cash. He then sells the bulk of the cotton to complete a two-for-profit transaction. He later opened his first office in New York; four years later, he co-founded Lyman Doer, a cotton merchant, and John Willis Durr. In 1870, Lehman Brothers was establishing New York