In 1916, Otto Heinmann set up the American branch of the German company of Carl Lindström. He chose as the name of the company, an old American Indian word meaning “it is so”, and spelled it as it sounded: “Okeh”. The early labels emphased the O and H in larger type as they were the initials of the owner, and the Indian brave’s head was used as the trade mark to show the origins of the word. The catalogue numbers started at 1000, the matrix numbers at 100. The first Okehs were vertical-cut, but after a year, the company changed to the more popular lateral-cut style. The company pioneered “location” recordings in the 1920s when they went on their famous travels to record artists from the more remote parts of America, including many “local” jazz & blues musicians. In 1935, the label was discontinued by CBS, who then owned the name. It was revived in 1940, a shadow of its former self, and continued into the 1950s.