1.   Possibly the declining part played by the merchant families in town government reflects a fall in their economic power.

2.   A fistfight ensued between the Balata boys and members of the Abu Sulhiehs, a prominent merchant family from the city.

3.   His mother had come from a well-to-do Osaka merchant family.

4.   It landed several, including financier Lord Jacob Rothschild, head of the famous British merchant family.

5.   Lowell quickly got several merchant families, known as the Boston Associates, to invest in mills.

6.   We learn how the company was founded by a merchant family named Clare that stumbled across a gifted candle maker and turned his craft into a thriving cottage industry.

7.   The list of borrowers has never been published but they are widely believed to include not only major merchant families but some senior government officials.

8.   The list of debtors has never been published but they are widely believed to include not only members of leading merchant families but also of the Sabah ruling family.