Umbrella Corporation/Company History

1950s December 4

Ozwell E. Spencer, Edward Ashford and James Marcus create/discover the Progenitor Virus. Marcus starts research on the virus immediately.

1963-1967

Over the course of 4 years, a Mansion is built in the forest near Raccoon City, by famous New York Architect George Trevor.

1967 November 10

Trevor's wife and daughter, Jessica and Lisa are invited to the Spencer Estate by Spencer himself. They soon disappear after their arrival. They are both used as test subjects for the Progenitor Virus. Jessica dies, but Lisa lives, and becomes test subject for all of Umbrella's viruses over the course of 21 years.

1967 November 13

George Trevor arrives at the estate, and meets with his host. Spencer tells Trevor that his family went to the hospital to visit his aunt Emma, who had unexpectedly fallen ill. Both of them enjoy a banquet in the dining hall.

1967 November 14

Spencer takes Trevor on a tour around the estate and shows him his vast collection of art objects. Spencer says that he plans to found a pharmaceutical company called "Umbrella", and turn the mansion into a seaside resort for its employees. Lisa Trevor begins to feel the effects of the Progenitor Virus injected into her body four days earlier, and wonders where could her mother be, and if she escaped and left her behind.

1967 November 15

Lisa and her mother eat together. Lisa soon discovers that this is not her mother and feels "different inside". She peels off the woman's face like a mask, and wears it over her own.

1967 November 17

Lisa encounters a coffin, and wonders if her mother's body is inside. She unsuccessfully tries to open it, and tries to figure out why she can't do it.

1967 November 18

George Trevor starts to worry about his family, and is frustrated by the lack of telephones in the mansion. He discovers the entrance to a tunnel in the courtyard, and wonders about this oddity, which wasn't in his original design. Several men suddenly appear, and force Trevor to leave, telling him that he shouldn't wander around without company.

1967 November 20

Trevor wonders where the shotgun that his wife gave to Spencer for his birthday is. He finds a broken one in one of the rooms, but it isn't the same one. Trevor grows more and more concerned about his family, but when he tells Spencer that he wishes to see them, he (Spencer) only laughs and tells him that it is pointless to worry.

1967 November 21

Trevor packs his bags, and is taken to a reception room. While he waits for his host with one of the men that told him to leave the courtyard, he's suddenly injected with a substance that makes him faint, right after the man tells him that his family has died.

1967 November 24

Trevor is imprisoned in a room infested with ant-like creatures, where a man brings him food and tells him that that he's sorry to put Trevor through this, but he’s doing it for security reasons. Trevor remembers that he had designed an escape route out of this room, but wonders if this is merely Spencer's test of the mansion's secrets.

1967 November 26

Trevor looses his lighter, the one that Jessica had given to him for his birthday. He begins to recall when Spencer told him that his aunt was sick and that Jessica and Lisa had decided to visit her, as well as the moment when he was told that his family was dead.

1967 November 27

Trevor escapes from the room, but can't seem to find his way out of the mansion, and doesn't have time to look for the keys he needs.

1967 November 29

Trevor tries every possible way to escape, but realizes that he's trapped. He spots a high heeled shoe in one of the mansion's corridors, and realizes it belongs to his wife, Jessica. He refuses to believe that they shared the same fate as him, and prays for their safety.

1967 November 30

Trevor hasn't eaten in days and begins to feel dehydrated. He starts to regret designing the mansion in the first place, and muses that he should have known better.

1967 December 1

Trevor finds another dead end, and realizes that he's finally trapped for good. In the darkness, something catches his eye. Lighting the last match he has, he quickly comes to the conclusion that the object is actually a tombstone, with his name carved on it. There, Trevor starves to death, and prays for his wife and daughter's lives.

1950s-1968 March 23

Spencer announces to Edward Ashford and James Marcus that he plans to found a company. Marcus doesn’t show much interest in Spencer’s actions, and agrees with anything he wants to do, as long as he can continue his research on the Progenitor Virus.

1968

Umbrella Inc. is founded by Ozwell E. Spencer, Edward Ashford and James Marcus, as a cover up for their Bio Weapon research.

1968

Dr. Edward Ashford supposedly dies of natural causes as his son's research goes through a "difficult phase". The Ashford family name is tarnished and Spencer's influence inside the company grows rapidly.

1968-1970

Alexander Ashford builds a research facility in the South Pole, where he plans to work on the "Veronica" Project in order to revive the tarnished Ashford Family name. He also builds a mansion for himself, modeled after the Spencer Estate.

1971

Alexander discovers the human gene that regulates intelligence after many years of research. He then takes a sample of DNA from his ancestor Veronica, extracts this gene and implants it into the egg of a surrogate mother. Much to his surprise, twins are born from the process. He names them Alfred and Alexia Ashford. Alfred has above-average intelligence, but Alexia is a downright genius. Alexander considers her the literal reincarnation of his ancestor, Veronica.

Mid-1970s August 19

Umbrella Inc. rapidly grows and becomes an international corporation. Ozwell Spencer asks James Marcus to be the director of the new Training Facility, which is built eight miles away from Raccoon City, and is meant to train men and women from all over the world to become Umbrella employees.

1977? September 2

Albert Wesker and William Birkin are recruited by the Assistant Director of the Umbrella Training Facility to be trained as researchers.

1977? September 19

James Marcus creates a new virus by combining the Progenitor Virus with leech DNA. He calls it "T" for Tyrant and decides to keep it a secret from all the other researchers.

1977? September 25

The Assistant Director notes a friendship/rivalry relationship between Wesker and Birkin.

1977? October 7

Dr. Marcus tells the Assistant Director to encourage a rivalry between Wesker and Birkin. The A.D. wonders about the Doctor’s sudden interest in them.

1977? October 23

Marcus begins to think that only humans can be suitable as guinea pigs for his T-Virus Research.

1977? November 15

Dr. Marcus suspects that someone might know about his experiments and T-Virus research.

1978? January 13

Marcus finishes preparing his leeches for T-Virus experimentation.

1978? January 31

James finds out that someone has indeed been looking for the T-Virus and his leeches and assumes it must be the work of Spencer and his lackeys.

1978 February 3

The T-Virus is injected to 4 leeches by Marcus. Their will to survive leads them first to parasitism and predation, and they later begin to multiply. Marcus believes that their single-minded biology makes them attractive candidates for Biological Weapons.

1978 February 10

The leeches grow to double their former size after 7 days pass from the first T-Virus administration. The first signs of T-Virus transformation begin to appear. The leeches start showing cannibalistic behavior, so Marcus hurries to increase their food supply.

1978 February 11

Marcus again finds evidence of people looking for the T-Virus and his leeches. He decides to ask Wesker and Birkin to take care of his lab and research. Little does he know, they've been actually playing him all along in order to gain his trust, as well as some insight in his T-Virus research.

1978 March 7

Marcus continues his research on the leeches. They have ceased cannibalism, and are know working as a disciplined pack. Their evolution goes far beyond Marcus's expectations.

1978 April 22

Marcus's leeches begin to work and move together, and no longer exhibit individual behavior.

1978 April 30

Marcus begins to wonder if a human can be a suitable food source for the leeches.

1978 June 3

The leeches begin to mimic Marcus' actions, a day that he considers worthy of commemoration.

1978 June 3-July 29

Marcus is assassinated under Spencer's orders, which are carried out by Wesker and Birkin. They steal his research on the T-Virus, and claim it their own. Marcus's body is dumped in the sewers under the Training Facility, but the Queen Leech he was researching at the time he was shot enters his body, and the T-Virus it carries starts to mutate Marcus's cellular composition.

1978 July 29

The Training Facility is closed. Wesker and Birkin are appointed as chief researchers in the Arklay Laboratories, which are located under the Spencer Mansion. They also bring the T-Virus research with them, and announce to the other researchers that Birkin was the man behind the creation of the T-Virus, presumably with the assitance of Wesker.

1978 July 31

Wesker and Birkin visit the Arklay Labs for the first time. As soon as they arrive, they ignore the Laboratory Manager and proceed to the main lab. Finally, they are taken to a room where they meet the “Woman”, a female test subject that has been experimented on for 11 years, since her first viral injection on November 10, 1967. Little do they know, this creature is actually Lisa Trevor, daughter of the architect that designed the Mansion.

1981 July 27

10 year old Alexia Ashford is appointed as chief researcher in the South Pole Laboratory.

1981 July 27-1983 December 31

Wesker becomes irritated, since his subordinates do nothing but talk about Alexia every time their research comes to a standstill. Birkin, on the other hand, begins to behave erratically and develops instense negative feelings towards Alexia. Wesker tries unsuccessfully to pull him back to his senses, since their research is not yielding any results because of his behavior.

The T-Virus becomes stable enough to create living biological weapons, better known as zombies, by simply infecting a person with it. However, Wesker soon realizes that the T-Virus isn't powerful enough to infect 100% of the people that are exposed to it. 10% of the test subjects would not become infected, no matter how hard the researchers tried to change this. Spencer starts to provide more funds for the research, and asks the researchers to create a variant of the T-Virus that can infect and wipe out 100% of the people exposed to it. Wesker starts to ask himself why Spencer would want them to create such a thing, since it is starting to become very expensive.

Birkin is able to create another type of Living Biological Weapon, one which relies on its ability to fight, rather than infect. It is designed to kill all the people that wouldn't become infected in the case of a T-Virus outbreak, as well as individuals who wore "Haz-Mat" suits. It is later called the Hunter, and is created by infecting a person's DNA with the T-Virus, and later combining it with the DNA of another reptilian creature. However, the experiments have to be suspended temporarily, in order to protect the test subjects from Birkin, who is carrying out rushed experiments one after another at an incredible pace, with unsuccessful results. Wesker believes that Birkin's behavior is a product of his intense anger towards Alexia, which was founded on the fact that Birkin believed that no one could ever outmatch his abilities, something that Alexia had unknowingly done when she was appointed as chief researcher at the South Pole Laboratory at the mere age of ten.

Wesker, on the other hand, notices that the “Woman”, the female test subject that had been experimented on for years, continues to survive through all of Birkin's experiments, unlike any other test subjects.

1983 January 30

Alfred Ashford discovers a secret room in Umbrella's Antarctic Facility where the Ashford family secrets are kept. In order to enter the room, he needs to obtain his father's family gem, which must be used in conjunction with his gem and his sister's.

1983 February 17

Alfred finally gains entrance to the secret room, where he discovers his father's research notes, and learns the truth about his and Alexia's birth.

1983 March 3

Alfred and Alexia start to experiment on their hated father with a new virus developed by Alexia, which was created by combining the Progenitor Virus with an ancient virus that she discovered in a queen ant's DNA. They also take care that the family butler doesn't find out the truth.

1983 March 3-April 22

Alexander mutates into a hideous monster, and gains the ability to produce a toxic gas, which the blue herb has no effect on. Alexia develops an antidote for the gas, and keeps it in case her father escapes. She soon realizes the great potential of her virus, and decides to name it the T-Veronica Virus.

1983 April 22

The twins chain their mindless father in a cell under the Antarctic Facility, after they realize that their experiment turned into a complete failure. Alexia finds out the reason why the experiment failed and starts to conduct experiments on her own body.

1983

Alexia injects herself with the T-Veronica Virus, and freezes her body in a capsule for 15 years, after coming up with a cover-up story for her dissapearance.

1983 December 31

The researchers at Arklay hear that Alexia has died while conducting experiments at the South Pole Facility. Wesker, however, hears a rumor about Alexia injecting the T-Veronica Virus in her body, and faking her own death. He starts to look for the truth behind this story. Birkin, on the other hand, starts to behave normally again after hearing about Alexia’s alleged death, and opposes Wesker when he tries to get a sample of the T-Veronica Virus.

1986?

William Birkin marries another researcher from Arklay, Annette (last name unknown). She then gives birth to Sherry Birkin.

1988 July 1-December 31

Wesker, Birkin and the other researchers decide that it's time to create a third generation living biological weapon: a super soldier created with the T-Virus, intelligent enough to obey programmed orders. They decide to call it the Tyrant, and begin working on it immediately. However, their research soon hits a standstill: due to the nature of the T-Virus, the researchers are able to create zombies and Hunters out of virtually any human, however, because of the T-Virus' tendency to make the number of the carrier's brain cells decline, only one person infected with the T-Virus in ten million becomes a Tyrant, while the rest become zombies. Wesker starts to feel frustrated by this, until he hears a rumor that a lab in France was able to develop a third generation of living biological weapons, using a slightly different approach: instead of infecting a person's body and brain at the same time with the T-Virus, they created a highly intelligent parasitic life form, which was unable to do anything on its own, until it entered a test subject's brain and took control of it. Then, the subject's DNA composition would immediately start to mutate. The final product was a highly intelligent Tyrant, which would obey orders and was able to operate human weaponry; that was Nemesis.

Immediately after hearing this, Wesker hurries to get a Nemesis Parasite sample, but Birkin strongly opposes him. Wesker manages to persuade him, nevertheless, and that same night, a helicopter arrives at the lab with the samples. Not much time goes by, however, before Wesker finds a problem with the Nemesis: the parasite immediately kills the host after 5 minutes of entering its brain. Wesker and the other researchers can't seem to figure what causes this problem, so they decide to administrate the parasite to the "Woman". Much to their surprise, the parasite vanishes after entering her brain, and no signs of physical mutation are noticeable. However, Birkin soon notices that something inside of her has indeed changed, and carries out full-bodyexams. The discovery of the G-Virus soon follows.

1991

Wesker leaves Arklay, as well as his position as chief researcher, and founds the S.T.A.R.S. Raccoon City Branch.

Early-to-mid 1990s

Birkin moves his G-Virus research to a huge underground complex underneath Raccoon City, after the G-Virus Project gets Spencer’s approval.

1995 July 31

Wesker visits Arklay and reunites with Birkin. The "Woman" is supposedly disposed of by the researchers, after exhibiting strange behavior, and killing three scientists. Her body is taken somewhere else three days later as per laboratory orders.

1980-1998 May 11

James Marcus rises from the dead after his DNA has been mutated enough by the Queen Leech, and vows revenge against Umbrella. This oath would later become the cause, of the Resident Evil.