The General American Oil Company (later known as the General American Oil Company of Texas) was one of the largest independen ... t oil producers in the United States with operations across the world. In the fall of 1928 Algur H. Meadows and friends Henry W. Peters and Ralph G. Trippett founded a loan company, the General Finance Company, which later became the General American Finance System in 1930. In the summer of 1936 Meadows, Peters and Trippett united with J. W. Gilliland, a petroleum expert, to unite the companies and form the General American Oil Company. Ralph G. Trippett served as president of the new company, which was headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The company acquired over 170 oil wells, several refineries and the assets of the General American Finance System and its subsidiaries. By 1959 the company had acquired 2,990 oil wells in fifteen states and Canada and was drilling for oil in Spain. Richard Rainwater became a partner in the company in 1969, as did Howard Hughes. In 1971, Peters acquired a minority stake in Howard Hughes' Hughes Tool Company, to which was later sold in 1972. In 1967 the General American Oil Company merged with its affiliate Premier Petrochemical of Pasadena, Texas. In 1983, Phillips Petroleum acquired all of the General American Oil Company's assets, then later acquired by Amoco. read more