Excelsior Stomach Bitters – Drs. Ault and McGavern – St. John, Iowa

Posted on 1 January 2019 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Excelsior Stomach Bitters – Drs. Ault and McGavern

St. John, Iowa

01 January 2019

I recently received, reviewed and responded to a couple of emails and newspaper clippings from Mark Wiseman, a well-known antique bottle collector from Iowa that included advertisements from Iowa newspapers for unlisted bitters including Adler’s Celebrated Anti-Cholera Bitters and Dr. Smith’s Magic Bitters from Council Bluffs, Iowa. One ad also mentioned the Celebrated California Bitters which was a mystery.

I am now looking at an 1867 advertisement from Mark from the Sioux City Register below for an unlisted Excelsior Stomach Bitters manufactured by Drs. Ault and McGavern in St. John, Iowa which is a small town that is not around anymore. Mark included the ad with his email and included an advertisement from the bitters agents, Smith & Moore of Sioux City, Iowa.

Here is Marks email:

Hi Ferdinand, first of all, I wanted to thank you for all the work you did on the bitters ads I had previously sent you. I have really enjoyed your research, on each one, and I have saved them for future use maybe in the Iowa Antique Bottleers Newsletter, if that would be OK with you in the future?

I have been looking for more bitters advertisements at the State Historical Library on microfilm that you might be interested in. I have looked and looked. Today I finally found a real teaser. It also is from 1867. The ad started on June 1, 1867 in the Sioux City Register newspaper. It is for “Excelsior Stomach Bitters” Manufactured by Drs. Ault and McGavern, of St. Johns, Iowa and sold by Smith & Moore, Sioux City, Iowa. There is no St. Johns, Iowa anymore.

I do have this this initial information from the book, Abandoned Towns, Villages and Post Offices of Iowa by D. C. Mott, reprinted from the Annals of Iowa Volumes XVII & XVIII, 1930-1932.

Harrison, County, Iowa: “Saint Johns. A town in sections 27 and 28, Saint Johns Township, on the southeast side of the Boyer River and about two miles southeast of the present city of Missouri Valley. Platted in 1857 and an important town in its day. Post office, 1858-71”

(New Saint Johns. The name first applied, but only for a brief period to the present city of Missouri Valley.) (Old Saint Johns. The name applied to Saint Johns in the later years of its existence.)

I have attached three photos of the advertisement, and will follow with the first advertisement from Smith and Moore on June 9, 1866.

I hope you can have some fun with this. The Iowa 1875 Atlas had nothing.

Your Friends, Mark and Jimmy the Pup

I was able to find the following support information related to Mark’s email. I embellished the map below with graphics so to better understand the locales discussed. Just click to enlarge.

1868 History: St. John Township, Harrison County, Iowa

Missouri Valley, Harrison County, Iowa

Missouri Valley is beautifully situated at the foot of the bluffs, is one mile from the Boyer River, six miles form the Missouri and at the junction of the C. & N. W. Railroad and U. P. & S. C. Railroad. It contains one hundred dwellings. The population is about 600 hundred. The freight agent, Mr. Waldo Abell, of the C. & N. W. Railroad Company, informed me that during the winter months of 1867 and 1868, the net income of this office was $35,000 per month. The township now has six school houses, in each of which are taught from six to nine months of school.

Historical View of Erie Street, Missouri Valley, Iowa taken on July 4th, 1876. Photo was most likely taken by W.E. Benton who had a studio in Missouri Valley, and did Stereo Photography.

Missouri Valley Businesses

T. E. Brannen, attorney at law; P. D. Mickel, attorney at law; J. M. Riley, saddler and harness maker; H. C. Warner, wholesale and retail dealer in general merchandise; R. McGavern & Company, dealers in hardware and agricultural implements; Smith and Cogswell, carpenters and joiners; McGavern & Hull, dealers in drugs; D.A. Babcock, dealers in stoves, tinware and farming implements; J.C. Enke, plaster and brick layer; McBride & Birchard, druggists; L. S. Snyder & Company, dealers in stoves, tinware and hardware.

Here is a newspaper advertisement below from 1867 from the Sioux City Register noting that Sharpe & Clark were architects and builders in St. John, Iowa in 1867, the same year as the bitters ad.

St. John Township, Iowa

According to the Iowa State Gazetteer: St. John is situated in the southern part of the county, six miles from the Missouri River. It has one general store. Population 30.

St. John was located in Missouri Valley, Harrison County, Iowa pretty much across the river and due east from Omaha, Nebraska.

Harrison County was organized in 1853, and from that period up until 1857, the south part of the county constituted a precinct for voting purposes, and held elections at Harris Grove. In the summer of 1857, the township of St. John was organized.

In 1851, Mr. William Dakan, an enterprising farmer, settled here. It was again two years before any additions were made to the number of these enterprising men. This year (1853), William Spencer, John Deal, John Hatcher, Champion Frazier and others settled here and commenced preparing farms.

In the fall of 1857, a company was organized consisting of Robert and George McGavern, John Deal, G. H. Cotton, E.W. Bennett, Noah Harris, P. J. Purple and James A. Jackson. The company was organized the 27th day of August, by selecting Robert McGavern, president; E.W. Bennett, secretary. The object of this company was to lay off and build up a town; consequently, the town of St. John was laid out, and building immediately commenced.

Harvey & Woodruff opened a store that fall and Jacob Preston opened a hotel which he called the Boyer Valley House, and soon sold out to Jacob Fulton. A school house and some dwellings were built the same season. The winter not being favorable, improvements now ceased until spring, when there was a general waking up all over the township, and improvements went ahead. This year the town built a school house, the best then in the county. Thus improvements went on until wildcat banks failed all over the country, ruining a great many good business men, and casting its blight on old and new towns.

But railroads build towns, and in 1867 the cars made their appearance one mile northwest from St. John, the New St. John was laid off; since, however, the name has been changed.

Adam Thompson Ault

Adam Thompson Ault was born on August 20, 1822 in Clark County, Ohio. Ault, a physician by trade, was the son of Jacob Ault and Elizabeth Moler. He settled with his family in Johnson County, Iowa about 1839. He eventually moved to Shelby and Harrison County, in the western area of the state and partnered with George Henry McGavern to manufacture Excelsior Stomach Bitters for a very short period of time.

Ault married Mary Ann Barnett in Ottumwa (Wapello County), Iowa on 17 October 1847. They had at least four children: Mary C. (1849-Wapello County), Lily Dale (1855-Harlan), Harvey J. (1858-Harlan) and Frank A. (1859-Harlan). He was the brother of Margaret Emily, Emery and Eliza Jane Ault.

The Iowa State Historical Society noted in the History of Franklin County, Iowa, that a Dr. A. T. Ault, in 1855-56, was named a commissioner to select a seat of government for Franklin County.

Dr. Ault was one of Harlan, Iowas’s first doctors and on August 1858, Ault plotted territory for Harlan. Harlan was named for one of Iowa’s early U.S. Senators, James Harlan. Harlan was designated the county seat in 1859. The town was incorporated on May 2, 1879. Harlan was also very close to St. John, Iowa which was also in its infancy.

Looking at various federal and state census records, Ault shows up in at least four Iowa counties: Shelby (Harlan), Franklin (Hampton), Jasper (Newton) and Harrison (Missouri Valley – St. John) where the Excelsior Stomach Bitters was made. He also could have been a land agent according to some references as Ault is listed in court records as the defendant in what appears to be several lot disputes. Interesting to note, a trip by horse was estimated to cover 20 – 40 miles per day so it is plausible he often traveled back and forth between the counties in his concern.

In 1860, Ault, 38, and James M. Long built the first Courthouse at the corner of Court and Seventh Street in Harlan. Later, Dr. Ault, with A. L. Hasvey and L. W. Woodruff, kept a small general merchandise store that could be pictured below. On September 4, 1858, Ault called to order the first meeting of the Shelby County Agricultural Society (the precurser to the Shelby County Fair Board).

Dr. Ault would then muster as a Union Captain of Company C, 22nd Iowa Infantry, on 22 August 1862 in Newton, Iowa. He became badly ill during the Siege of Vicksburg, and resigned his commission on 8 August 1863.

Looking at 1866 tax records, we see that Dr. Ault would purchase a Manufacturer license for $10. This was probably for his bitters as it was in 1867 that we see Drs. Ault and McGavern in St. John, Iowa, manufacturing Excelsior Stomach Bitters. The new drug concern, Smith & Moore (B.F. Smith and M.F. Moore) in Sioux City, Iowa were noted as the sole agents for the Northwest covering Iowa, Nebraska and Dakota. They had just opened a new drug store and were selling “Pure, Fresh and New Drugs!”, “Popular Patent Medicines”, “Wines & Liquors (for medicinal purposes only,” and paints, oils, dye stuffs, cloth, tooth, nail, paint and varnish, brushes, trusses, supporters, shoulder-braces, hair oils, pomades, fancy soaps and toilet articles. Their terms stated that they would taake greenbacks, gold dust urchin, in small quantities.

Dr. Ault lived his later years in Hannibal, Missouri and Arkansas after the Civil War. In his 1881 pension application, in which he claimed he was totally disabled from his wartime illness, he described himself as 5′ 10″ tall, with dark hair and blue eyes.

Dr. Ault died on October 04, 1883, age 61 in Perry County, Arkansas.

Drs. George Henry McGavern and Robert McGavern

George Henry McGavern was born on March 8, 1819 in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. His brother Robert was born in May, two years later. Their parents were George McGavern (1778-1853) and Nancy J. Ewart (1782-1861). It is not known what brought the brothers, in the 1850s, to Missouri Valley in Harrison County Iowa where George Henry practiced medicine and his brother operated a hardware stored sold farm equipment. George Henry was noted as a county pioneer and an eminent physician, and the leading medical practitioner in that part of western Iowa up until the 1880s.

On October 15 1849, Dr. George Henry McGavern married Lucinda Fosnancht in Wyandot, Ohio. They would have seven children. He would become chairman of the first board of supervisors of Harrison county, and in 1870, he was its representative in the State Legislature.

In the fall of 1857, in Missouri Valley, Iowa, a company was organized consisting of Robert and George McGavern, John Deal, G. H. Cotton, E.W. Bennett, Noah Harris, P. J. Purple and James A. Jackson. The company was organized the 27th day of August, by selecting Robert McGavern, president; E.W. Bennett, secretary. The object of this company was to lay off and build up a town; consequently, the town of St. John was laid out, and building immediately commenced.

We see both brothers living in St John through the 1860s so one, if not both, are associated with the Excelsior Stomach Bitters.

Dr. George Henry McGavern died at the home of his daughter on the 16th of January 1895. Robert would die one year later.

The Bottle

Like many unlisted bitters that only existed in a moment of time, there are no examples of the Ault & McGavern Excelsior Stomach Bitters bottles, at least that I am aware of. The bitters was probably only made for a year, if that long.

There is however, a listing in Bitters Bottles (E 65.5) for an Excelsior Stomach Bitters with Ault & Hammer embossed on the bottle. It is square, amber, has three sunken panels and was dug on a farm in Western Iowa. I would really like to see this bottle. Obviously a huge piece to this story.

It appears that there were two druggist in Des Moines, Iowa at this time; Alfred Hammer who is reported to have opened a laboratory for manufacturing photographic chemicals in 1870 in Council Bluffs and his brother Alvin. Alvin G. Hammer was a druggist on the East side of Des Moines while his brother Alfred was a druggist on the west side of the Des Moines River.

There is also a listing in Bitters Bottles for an E 66.5 and an E 66.7 labeled Excelsior Strengthening Bitters, Des Moines Pharamacal Co. which would have been Alfred Hammer bottles.

Mark Wiseman, in a twist of irony, drives by the old Alvin G. Hammer, painted and ghosted graphics below each time he goes to the Iowa State Historical Library.

Alfred Hammer

Alvin G. Hammer and his older brother Alfred Hammer were engaged in the drug business in Des Moines. Alfred was brought to America during his infancy and was educated in the public schools of Mayville, Wisconsin, until 1866, when he took up the study of chemistry at Milwaukee under Gustavus Bode, state chemist. In 1870, he came to Iowa, settling in Council Bluffs, where he established a chemical laboratory and began the manufacture of photographer’s chemicals and also the reduction of gold and silver in conjunction with the conduct of a drug store. In 1872 he disposed of his business there to his partner and came to Des Moines, where he accepted a position with Dr. William Baker, then the oldest druggist in Des Moines, with whom he continued for two years. In 1874 he established a business of his own at the southeast corner of Court avenue and Second street, in a building vacated by George M. Hippee & Company, druggists.

[Western Druggist, Volume 14, 1892]

Mr. Alfred Hammer (pictured), who has been in the drug business here in Des Moines for over twenty-five years, has just returned from the far West, where he spent several months. True to the instincts of his craft, he visited drug stores everywhere he went, and, in an interview graciously accorded the writer, related many interesting things concerning the same.

At Salt Lake City he saw and was entertained by Charles Lewis, formerly of this city. Mr. Lewis is doing well. At Portland he met Dr. Plumber, a prominent and wealthy wholesaler, who made a tour of the retail stores with him, and there are many fine ones in that thrifty city. The finest store he saw was in Oakland—says, indeed, that “there is not a single cheap Jim Crow drug store in that city.” No more was there in Victoria or Vancouver. But his account of a visit to a Chinese drug store in San Francisco was the most entertaining of all. He entered this ridiculous store—size about 16×20—bearing a letter of introduction to the proprietor, which same letter was written in Chinese. Not one single feature of the conventional American drug store was visible to Mr. Hammer as he gazed around this dismal room, although he wore his glasses. One side was all drawers clear up to the ceiling, but not one of them was labeled. He did finally get sight of an old army scale. The proprietor showed him various drugs, such as horrid dried snakes and a lot of nasty dried lizards—big ones. These, he said, were given to cure fits, and both were very salable. He next showed Mr. Hammer some pieces of ginseng root brought from China, costing him $50.00 an ounce. The ginseng, he said, was used as a charm, and he kept it very carefully; indeed, he took it out of a box which was inside of a box, and that box within yet another. In the back room was a fellow at work with a wooden mallet pounding and flattening out roots on a sort of butcher block. There were no mortars, no graduates, no bottles or glassware, and no liquids in any form whatever on the premises. Everything was dry, even to the little dried-up Mongolian who operated the ranch. It seems they fill no prescriptions. Doctors carry their own medicines with them buying their supplies of dry medicines either off him or at the other place, for there is one other similar establishment in the city. The proprietor asked Mr. Hammer, as he bid him good-by, if Americans made any money at the business? The reply must have been very satisfactory indeed, for Mr. H. assured him, with a broad smile, that “some did and some didn’t.”

Illustrative of the truths contained in a statement made in a previous letter to the effect that drug stores were fast becoming general information bureaus. Mr. Hammer told me that he never once in all his travels, asked information from a policeman; he invariably went into a drug store with his questions.

There is also a listing in Bitters Bottles (E 63) for an Excelsior Bitters with no name embossed or associated with the bottle. The book notes, “Distributor unknown, but specimens found in the West.” Jim Hagenbuch with Glass Works Auctions, auctioned off an example a few years back.

Select Listings:

1819: George Henry McGavern, Birth Date: 8 March 1819, Birth Place: Indiana County, Pennsylvania – U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

1822: Capt Adam Thompson Ault, Birth Date: 20 August 1822, Birth Place: Clark County, Ohio – U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

1848: Adam T. Ault, Marriage Date: 17 October 1848, Marriage Place: Wapello County, Iowa, Spouse: Mary Ann Barnett – Iowa, Select Marriages Index, 1758-1996

1849: Marriage George Henry McGavern to Lucinda Fosnancht, 15 October 1849, Marriage Place: Wyandot, Ohio – Ohio, County Marriage Records, 1774-1993

1850: Adam T Ault, Physician, Age: 29, Birth Year: abt 1821, Birthplace: Virginia, Home in 1850: District 13, Wapello, Iowa, Family Number: 502, Household Members: Peter Barnett 47, Sarah M Barnett 39, Thomas Barnett 12, William B Barnett 5, Taylor P Barnett 1, Adam T Ault 29, Mary A Ault 19, Mary C Ault 1, Sarah I Cochran 15, David E Hall 16 – 1850 United States Federal Census

1850: G H McGavern, Age: 31, Birth Year: abt 1819, Birthplace: Pennsylvania, Home in 1850: Harrison, Logan, Ohio, Family Number: 94, Household Members: Owen Sullivan 30, Mary Sullivan 30, Mary Sullivan 3, Timothy Sullivan 1, Philip Carter 19, David Thelin 25, Cornelius Sullivan 21, G H McGavern 31, Lucinda McGavern 22, John Milson 21, Hiram Krouse 18 – 1850 United States Federal Census

1856: A T Ault, Age: 33, Birth Year: abt 1823, Birth Place: Ohio, Residence Date: 1856, Residence Place: Newton, Jasper, Iowa, Gender: Male, Marital Status: Married, Household Members: A T Ault 33, Mary An Ault 24, Mary E Ault 7, Lily D Ault 1 – Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925

1857: In the summer of 1857, the township of St. John was organized.

1860: George Henry McGavern, Physician, Age: 40, Birth Year: abt 1820, Birth Place: Pennsylvania, Home in 1860: St. John, Harrison, Iowa, Post Office: St John, Dwelling Number: 17, Family Number: 17, Real Estate Value: 6,000, Personal Estate Value: 1,500, Household Members: G H McGavern 40, Lucinda McGavern 30, Maria McGavern 9, Viola McGavern 7, Lenora McGavern 5, Charles W McGavern, Joseph W Reilly 30 – 1860 United States Federal Census

1860: Robert McGavern, Physician, Age: 38, Birth Year: abt 1822, Birth Place: Pennsylvania, Home in 1860: St John, Harrison, Iowa, Post Office: St John, Dwelling Number: 42, Family Number: 42, Occupation: Physician, Real Estate Value: 13000, Personal Estate Value: 3000, Household Members: Robert McGavern 38, Elizabeth R McGavern 33, James K McGavern 13, George W McGavern 11, Mary E McGavern 7, Samuel Myres 19, Stephen Furman 21, Nancy McGavern 79 – 1860 United States Federal Census

1860: Adam T Ault, Age: 38, Birth Year: abt 1822, Birth Place: Ohio, Residence Place: Harlan, Shelby, Iowa, Household Members: Adam I Ault 38, Mary A Ault 28, Mary C Ault 10, Lily Dale Ault 5, Harvey J Ault 2, Frank A Ault 7/12 – Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925

1862: Adam T Ault, Iowa, Age at Enlistment: 40, Enlistment Date: 2 Aug 1862, Rank at enlistment: Captain, State Served: Iowa, Survived the War?: Yes, Service Record: Commissioned an officer in Company C, Iowa 22nd Infantry Regiment on 10 Sep 1862. Mustered out on 08 Aug 1863, Birth Date: abt 1822 – Roster & Record of Iowa Soldiers in the War of RebellionNational Archives: Index to Federal Pension Records

1865: George McGavern, St. John – Iowa State Gazetteer, 1865

1866: A.T. Ault 1866 Annual IRS Tax List; District 4, Division 6, Newton, A.T. Ault Income, $153 (3% $7.75, Carriage (worth $50) $1, Gold Watch $1, then a separate line for Ault & Co. Manufacturer, Peddler 1st Class $50 License, Manufacturer license $10. – 1866 Annual IRS Tax List

1867: Newspaper advertisement (above) Excelsior Stomach Bitters – Drs. Ault and McGavern – St. Johns, Iowa, Smith & Moore, Sioux City, Iowa, Whole Agents for the Northwest – The Sioux City Register, (Starts June 1, 1867) July 20, 1867

1868: Missouri Valley Businesses: R. McGavern & Company, dealers in hardware and agricultural implements; McGavern & Hull, dealers in drugs (probably George Henry McGavern) – 1868 History: St. John Township, Harrison County, Iowa

1870: Adam T. Ault, Physician, Age in 1870: 51, Birth Year: abt 1819, Birthplace: Ohio,Dwelling Number: 146, Home in 1870: Hannibal, Marion, Missouri, Personal Estate Value: 1,600, Real Estate Value: 8,500, Inferred Spouse: Mary Ann Ault, Household Members: Adam T Ault 51, Mary Ann Ault 39, Lillie D Ault 15, Harvey I Ault 12, Frank Ault 9 – 1870 United States Federal Census

1870: Robt McGavern, Farmer and Hardware Merchant, Age in 1870: 48, Birth Year: abt 1822, Birthplace: Pennsylvania, Dwelling Number: 166, Home in 1870: St John, Harrison, Iowa, Father of Foreign Birth: Yes, Mother of Foreign Birth: Yes, Personal Estate Value: 10,600, Real Estate Value: 53,000, Inferred Spouse: Elisabeth R McGavern, Inferred Children: G W McGavern, Mary E McGavern, John S McGavern, Seymour McGavern, Household Members: Robt McGavern 48, Elisabeth R McGavern 43, G W McGavern 21, Mary E McGavern 16, John S Mcgavern 9, Seymour McGavern 6 – 1870 United States Federal Census

1871: Dr. George H. McGavern, Dr. Robert McGavern – Index to the 1971 Centennial
for Missouri Valley, Harrison County, Iowa

1875: Legal: Reports of Cases in Law and Equity, Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Iowa, Volume 45

Monday, December 11. The plaintiff, for the use of the school fnnd, claims of the defendant, S. J. McBride, the sum of two thousand dollars, on account of various alleged sales of intoxicating liquors to a minor, and to persons in the habit of becoming intoxicated, during the year 1875.

No personal judgment is asked against the defendant, McGavern, but it is alleged that during the time of the sales he owned the building in which the sales were made, and he is made a party for the purpose of establishing a lien upon the building for any judgment recovered against McBride. The jury returned a verdict for plaintiff for $400.

They also found specially that the defendant, S. J. McBride, did sell or give away intoxicating liquors in the drug store occupied by him, in Missouri Valley, Harrison county, Iowa, with the knowledge and consent of Geo. H. McGavern.

The court rendered judgment against the defendant, S. J. McBride, for the sum of $400 and costs, and declared that the judgment be a lien upon the building in which the sale was made. The defendants appeal.

Michel dfc Brown and W. S. Shoemaker, for appellants.

No argument for appellee.

Day, J.—I. As the appeal of the defendant, McGavern, presents for our consideration distinct questions, which have no connection with the question of the liability of the defendant, McBride, we will, in the first place, consider such questions as affect McGavern alone; and, in the second place, such as affect McBride alone, or both defendants together.

1. The defendant, McGavern, owns the building in which the alleged unlawful sale was made. Section 1558 of the I Iktoxica- Code provides that all judgments of any kind saieGtoqmTM: rendered against any person, for any violation of upon the the provisions of the chapter relating to intoxicapiemises. ting liqllorS, shall be a lien upon the premises and property occupied and used for the unlawful purpose, by the person manufacturing or selling in violation of law, with the consent and knowledge of the owner thereof. The petition in this case charges the defendant, McBride, with violating the provisions of section 1539 of the Code, in that he sold intoxicating liquors to a minor, and to persons in the habit of becoming intoxicated.

The jury found specially that S. J. McBride did sell or give away intoxicating liquor in the drug store occupied by him in Missouri Valley, Harrison county, Iowa, with the knowledge and consent of George H. McGavern. The defendants moved in arrest of judgment upon the ground that the special finding of the jury does not show that defendant, McGavern, had any knowledge of and gave consent to the sales of intoxicating liquors testified to by the witnesses on the stand, within Cobleigh v. McBrlde the year 1875, and for which plaintiff claims forfeiture to the school fund. The action of the court in overruling this motion, as to the defendant, McGavern, is assigned as error. In our opinion, the motion in arrest of judgment should have been sustained. Simply selling or giving away intoxicating liquors, if done without permit, or for an unlawful purpose, is one offense. The selling or giving intoxicating liquors to a minor, or person intoxicated, is altogether a distinct and more aggravated offense, for which a more severe punishment is prescribed. In order that a judgment for a violation of any of the provisions of the chapter relating to intoxicating liquors may be a lien upon the premises in which the unlawful act is done, owned by a third party, such person should have knowledge of and assent to the unlawful act on account of which the judgment is recovered.

The special finding in this case does not show that McGavern had such knowledge, or that he gave such assent. It did not authorize the declaring of the judgment a lien upon his premises.

2. The court instructed the jury as follows: “18th. If you find that the defendant, Geo. H. McGavern, bought intoxicating liquor during the year 1875 of the defendant, S. J. McBride, or if he sent other persons there for that purpose, this would be such knowledge and consent on his part as would bind the building owned by him, and authorize you to find against him.” This instruction is erroneous for the reasons already considered. Even if McGavern had knowledge that McBride was selling intoxicating liquors, his property would not be liable for a judgment recovered, unless he knew McBride was selling to minors or persons in the habit of becoming intoxicated.

Several errors have been assigned by McGavern relative to the admission of testimony, which need not be considered, as the cause must, as to him, be reversed for the errors above discussed, and the same questions will not likely arise upon the re-trial.

1883: Capt Adam Thompson Ault, Death Date: 4 October 1883, Death Place: Perry, Perry County, Arkansas, Cemetery: Martindale Cemetery, Burial or Cremation Place: Pulaski County, Arkansas – U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

1895: George Henry McGavern, Death Date: 15 January 1895, Death Place: Missouri Valley, Harrison County, Iowa, Cemetery: Oak Grove Cemetery, Burial or Cremation Place: Missouri Valley, Harrison County, Iowa, Spouse: Rosella McGavern, Children: Elbert Guy McGavern, Infant Son McGavern, Lenora Dorr, Charles William McGavern, Nellie Cora Jordan, Robert C. McGavern, Jennie Rice, Hattie L. Sherwood – U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

1895: Dr. George H. McGAVERN of Missouri Valley, died at the home of his daughter on the 16th of January. He was one of the first pioneers in Harrison county, having settled there early in the “50’s.” He was an eminent physician, and the leading practitioner in that part of western Iowa for more than thirty years. He was chairman of the first board of supervisors of Harrison county, and in 1870 he was its representative in the State Legislature. He left a widow and seven children. The Doctor was widely known throughout western Iowa and highly esteemed. – Annals of Iowa, Volume 2 – Third series, issue # 1, April, 1895

Posted in Advertising, Bitters, Druggist & Drugstore, History, Liquor Merchant, Medicines & Cures, Questions | Tagged Adam Thompson Ault, Alfred Hammer, Alvin G. Hammer, bitters, Captain, Cemical, Civil War, County, Des Moines, Doctor, drugs, Excelsior, George Henry McGavern, hardware, Harlan, Harrison, Iowa, Lucinda Fosnancht, Mark Wiseman, McGavern & Hull, Medicine, Missouri Valley, ohio, Pennsylvania, physician, Pioneer, Robert McGavern, Shelby, Sioux City, Smith & Moore, St. John, Stomach, store, unlisted, Wapello | Leave a comment

Dr. Thomas A. Hurley’s Stomach Bitters – Louisville

Posted on 29 December 2018 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Dr. Thomas A. Hurley’s Stomach Bitters – Louisville

29 December 2018

The Hurley’s Stomach Bitters bottle is rated extremely rare and is from Louisville, Kentucky. My example is pictured at the top of this post. There is actually a variant which is unlisted and is pictured further below. Very similar but different indented panels and typography. I think it might be earlier. So who was Thos. A. Hurley?

The Carlyn Ring and W.C. Ham listing in Bitters Bottles is as follows:

H 214 Hurley’s Stomach Bitters (Top of Post)

THOS. A. HURLEYS // STOMACH / BITTERS // LOUISVILLE, KY // f //
Hurley, Riddle & Co., Proprietors, Louisville, Kentucky
10 1/2 x 2 3/4
Square, Amber, LTC, Applied mouth, 3 sp, Extremely rare
The Daily Picayune (New Orleans) December 12, 1865

The new listing by Bill Ham for the forthcoming Bitters Bottles Supplement 2:

H 214.5 Hurley’s Stomach Bitters

THOS. A. HURLEYS // STOMACH / BITTERS // LOUISVILLE, KY // f //
Hurley, Riddle & Co., Proprietors, Louisville, Kentucky
10 1/2 x 2 3/4
Square, Amber, LTC, Applied mouth, 3 sp, Extremely rare
Similar embossing as H 214 except indented panels are square at top

Dr. Thomas A. Hurley

Thomas A. Hurley was a life-long druggist born about 1813 in either Tennessee (1850 census report), Kentucky (1860 census report) or Maryland (1870 census report). That’s real helpful! I can’t confirm any birth location which is odd. We sometimes see conflicting information in these census reports as record-keeping was sometimes not so precise when giving and filling in the forms back then. Hurley also got into the patent medicine trade.

In 1837, Hurley married Susan M. Rogers in Nelson, Kentucky which might be our best bet for where he was born. Maybe his parents were from Tennessee and Maryland? Their children were John R. Hurley, Sarah E. Hurley, Louisa A. Hurley, Henry A. Hurley and William F. Hurley.

1846 Louisville illustration

Hurley’s first drug store newspaper advertising occurs in The Louisville Daily Courier in 1850 where he is listed as a Druggist and Apothecary located on the corner of Seventh and Green Streets in Louisville, Kentucky. He was selling medicinal extracts for prescriptions along with Turkey Rhubarb, Pearl Starch, Venetian Red and Tobacco. In 1852, Thos. A. Hurley is noted as a candidate for School Trustee in the Seventh Ward in Louisville. There isn’t much follow-up information here in this direction so he may not have been successful.

By 1857, we see that Hurley listed his Seventh and Green Street drug store for sale. The sale was completed in 1858 to J. Walker Seaton, another druggist. Hurley wanted to pursue his Sarsaparilla and Patent Medicine Depot on Fifth Street between Market and Main Streets. 1861 advertising in the Louisville city directory notes Hurley as a druggist and manufacturer of Hurley’s Sarsaparilla and Hurley’s Quick Yeast. His address is No. 318 West Market Street, between Third and Fourth Streets. One of his druggists bottles from my collection is pictured above. Quite crude.

In 1865 or so, Hurley partners with James Ruddle and J.W. Seaton and their concern is called Hurley, Ruddle and Company. The druggists are located at 254 Green at the corner of 7th Street. Their signature medicines were Hurley’s Ague Tonic, Hurley’s Stomach Bitters, Hurley’s Sarsaparilla, Hurley’s Worm Candy, Oriental Pearl Drops and Seaton’s Chemical Ink. This was probable when the first Hurley’s Stomach Bitters bottle was made. Advertising said it was for debility, loss of appetite, weakness, indigestion, dypepsia, want of action of the liver, or for a disorderod stomach.

In 1867, this partnership would end with the dissolution of Hurley, Ruddle and Company. Thomas A. Hurley would continue Hurley’s Drug Store at same address while James Ruddle and J.W. Seaton purchased the exclusive rights to sell Hurley’s proprietary medicines. James Ruddle & Company were now listed as the proprietors with their laboratory located at 41 Bullitt Street in Louisville. A full page advertisement represented below, shows the full range of products being sold by James Ruddle that year.

By the way, I can not find any records confirming if Hurley was actually a physician though he advertised himself as one. Sometimes, by making and selling medicines, you could magically become a doctor back then.

We last see Thomas A. Hurley listed as a druggist in 1875. He died soon after of consumption on June 24, 1876 in Louisville. His named medicines would continue to sell through J.W. Seaton in Louisville and other outlets.

Advertising trade card for Thos. A. Hurley’s Stomach Bitters – Joe Gourd Collection

Select Listings:

1813: Thomas A Hurly, Birth Year: abt 1813, Birthplace: Tennessee, Kentucky or Maryland (various locations noted in United States Federal Census reports (see below).

1837: Marriage: Thomas Hurley, 30 October 1837, Marriage Place: Nelson, Kentucky, Spouse: Susan M Rogers – Kentucky, County Marriage Records, 1783-1965

1850: Thomas A Hurley, Druggist, Age: 37, Birth Year: abt 1813, Birthplace: Tennessee, Home in 1850: Louisville Ward 7, Jefferson, Kentucky, Family Number: 158, Household Members: Thomas A Hurley 37, Susan M Hurley 32, John R Hurley 11, Sarah E Hurley 9, Louisa A Hurley 6, Henry A Hurley 3, William F Hurley 0, Mary A Hurley 21 – 1850 United States Federal Census

1850: Newspaper advertisement (below) Thos. A. Hurley, Druggist and Apothecary, Corner of Seventh and Green Streets – The Louisville Daily Courier, Thursday, January 24, 1850

1852: Newspaper notice (below) Thos. A Hurley candidate for School Trustee in the Seventh Ward – The Louisville Daily Courier, Saturday, April 3, 1852

1857: Newspaper notice (below) A Drug Store for Sale, Thos. A. Hurley, Corner of Seventh and Green Streets – The Louisville Daily Courier, Thursday, September 17, 1857

1860: Thos Hurley, Physician, Age: 48, Birth Year: abt 1812, Birth Place: Kentucky, Home in 1860: Louisville Ward 7, Jefferson, Kentucky, Post Office: Louisville, Dwelling Number: 692, Family Number: 857, Real Estate Value: 1,000, Personal Estate Value: 500, Household Members: Thos Hurley 48, Susan M Hurley 42 – 1860 United States Federal Census

1858: Newspaper notice (below) Thos. A. Hurley sold drug store to J. Walker Seaton, corner of Seventh and Greet Streets – The Louisville Daily Courier, Tuesday, June 15, 1858

1861: THOMAS A. HURLEY, druggist, 318 W. Market, h 604 Seventh (see advertisement) – Louisville, Kentucky, City Directory, 1861

1865-1866: Hurley, Ruddle and Co., druggists (Thomas A. Hurley, James Ruddle and J.W. Seaton), 254 Green, cor 7th – Louisville Kentucky City Directory, 1866

1866: Newspaper advertisement (below) Hurley, Ruddle & Company, Louisville – Daily Mississippi Clarion and Standard, Sunday, July 15, 1866

1867: Newspaper notice (below) Dissolution of Hurley, Ruddle and Co., Dr. T.A. Hurley will continue the drug business, James Ruddle and J.W. Seaton purchases the exclusive rights to sell Hurley’s proprietary medicines (Hurley’s Syrup of Sarsaparilla, Hurley’s Worm Candy, Hurley’s Ague Tonic and Hurley’s Stomach Bitters) – The Courier Journal, Thursday, February 7, 1867

1867: Thomas A. Hurley, druggist, (Drugs and Medicines), 254 Green, cor 7th – Louisville, Kentucky, City Directory, 1867

1867: Newspaper advertisement (below) Hurley’s Drug Store – The Louisville Daily Courier, Friday, February 22, 1867

1868: Newspaper advertisement (below) Hurley’s Stomachic Bitters, James Ruddle & Co., Proprietors, Laboratory 41 Bullitt Street, Louisville – Clarion Ledger, Thursday, May 7, 1868

1869: Newspaper advertisement (below) Never Known to Fail, Dr. Thos. A. Hurley’s Vegetable Worm Candy sold by Jas. Riddle & Co. Proprietor, Louisville – Quad City Times, Monday, June 21, 1869

1870: Thos A Hurley, Druggist, Age in 1870: 57, Birth Year: abt 1813, Birthplace: Maryland, Dwelling Number: 181, Home in 1870: Louisville Ward 8, Jefferson, Kentucky, Personal Estate Value: 300, Inferred Spouse: Sarah M Hurley, Household Members: Thos A Hurley 57, Sarah M Hurley 52, Ellen Hurley 28, Emma Hurley 13 – 1870 United States Federal Census

1870: Thomas A. Hurley, r 345 6th – Louisville, Kentucky, City Directory, 1870

1871: Thomas A. Hurley, druggist, r 193 7th bet Walnut and Chestnut – Louisville, Kentucky, City Directory, 1871

1872: Newspaper advertisement (below) Hurley’s Stomach Bitters being sold for one dollar a bottle – The Andrew County Republican, Friday, May 10, 1872

1873: Thomas A. Hurley, clerk, G.H. Cary, r 193 7th nr Walnut – Louisville, Kentucky, City Directory, 1873

1873: Newspaper advertisement (below) Dr. Hurley’s Popular Worm Candy – The Christian Leader, Saturday, May 3, 1873

1875: Thomas A. Hurley, druggist, (Drugs and Medicines, Retail and Wholesale), 248 Jefferson, nr 7th – Louisville, Kentucky, City Directory, 1875

1876: Thomas A. Hurley, Death Age: 62, Birth Date: abt 1814, Birth Place: Maryland, Death Date: 24 June 1876, Death Place: Jefferson, Kentucky – Kentucky, Death Records, 1852-1965

Posted in Advertising, Apothecary, Bitters, Druggist & Drugstore, History, Medicines & Cures, Sarsaparilla | Tagged advertising, Antique, Apothecary, bitters, Bottle, card, Doctor, Druggist & Drugstore, J. Walker Seaton, James Ruddle, Joe Gourd, Kentucky, Louisville, maryland, Medicine, Patent, physician, Sarsaparilla, Stomach, Susan M. Rogers, Tennessee, Thomas A. Hurley, trade, unlisted | Leave a comment

The 1948 Prince Cantacuzène Collection of Early American Bottles and Flasks

Posted on 28 December 2018 by Ferdinand Meyer V

The 1948 Prince Cantacuzène Collection of Early American Bottles and Flasks

28 December 2018

Chris Hartz sent me and some fellow collectors the following email regarding the 1948 Prince Mikhail Cantacuzène (pictured above) collection of early American bottles and flasks. Quite an interesting two-part auction in New York. I put together the primary pages from the Parks-Bernet Galleries auction that were digitized by Google further below.

Dear Flask Collectors,

As a result of doing some research, I found the the Auction Catalog for the Prince Cantacuzene Flask Collection. If you Google him, you’ll notice he fled Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution coming to America and dying in 1955 in Sarasota, Florida. He was married to Ulysses S. Grants granddaughter. Why would a Russian Prince form such a flask collection? Here are a few photos. A link to the catalog follows photos

Prince Mikhail Cantacuzène

Prince Cantacuzène Catalog

Part of the Cantacuzene 1921 wedding party in Newport, Rhode Island

Posted in Auction News, Collectors & Collections, Early American Glass, Historical Flasks, History, Publications, Questions | Tagged auction, bottles, Cantacuzène, Chris Hartz, flasks, florida, google, Historical Glass, Mikhail, New York, Parks-Bernet Galleries, Prince, Sarasota | Leave a comment

Riddle, Fuller & Co. selling Celebrated California Bitters?

Posted on 27 December 2018 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Riddle, Fuller & Co. selling Celebrated California Bitters?

Council Bluffs, Iowa

27 December 2018

I recently received a couple of emails and newspaper clippings from Mark Wiseman, a experienced bottle collector from Iowa that included advertisements for unlisted bitters including Adler’s Celebrated Anti-Cholera Bitters and Dr. Smith’s Magic Bitters from Council Bluffs, Iowa. I knocked off the first two and am now looking at the 1867 advertisement below for Riddle, Fuller & Company who are noted as the Sole Agents in Council Bluffs for the sale of the Celebrated California Bitters. I was curious if this was a new unlisted bitters or reference to another known bitters.

Ridder, Fuller & Company

Riddle & Company was founded by Samuel H. Riddle sometime around 1851. He took on S. Fuller as a partner and most of the Riddle, Fuller Co. advertising dates around 1867. The two were located on Palmer’s Block, on lower Broadway in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Julius Palmer worked as a butcher near Coatesville, Pennsylvania before he moved to Council Bluffs in 1854. He built the Palmer Block on the northwest corner of West Broadway and Sixth Street. The red box on the top map image indicates their location.

By 1868, Council Bluffs, on the eastern shore of the Missouri River and across the river from Omaha, Nebraska, was near the end of its era as the trail head and supply point for the Mormon Pioneer Trail and other westward routes. The Chicago & Northwestern Railroad began serving Council Bluffs in 1867. In 1869, the transcontinental railway opened and Council Bluffs was designated as a major railroad hub.

Samuel H. Riddle was born on July 9, 1820, in Hardin County, Kentucky, and at an early age engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was married in Nelson County, Kentucky, on October 25, 1842, to Rebecca Furman, sister of J. L. Furman, of Council Bluffs, by Rev. Smith Thomas, pastor of the Baptist Church at Coxes’ Creek.

In 1845, he moved with his faintly to Savannah, Missouri, where he resumed his retail pursuits. In 1851, he moved to Council Bluffs and continued the business of wholesale and retail liquor dealing under the firm name of Riddle & Co. and Riddle, Fuller & Co. for nearly a quarter of a century.

Riddle was called to the Bench taking his seat as Judge of the District Court, November 7, 1853. He retired from this position on the 7th of October, 1858. He was elected to represent Pottawattamie County in the Eighth General Assembly in 1860. Riddle would pass on in 1875.

Not much is known about his partner S. Fuller.

Because Riddle, Fuller & Company are noted as the Sole Agents for the sale of the Celebrated California Bitters, this rules out that they were the proprietors or manufacturers of the Celebrated California Bitters.

If we look west in this 1867 time period, we are probably talking about Dr. Henley’s Celebrated California IXL Bitters. This is most likely the bitters referenced in the ad.

If we look east in this 1867 time period, we are probably talking about the California Herb Bitters from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The advertising below actually calls it “The Celebrated California Bitters.”

Select Listings:

182o: Samuel H Riddle, born on July 9, 1820, in Hardin county, Kentucky

1853: Newspaper notice (below) – Changes in District: Samuel H. Riddle, of Council Bluffs, who strange to say was not a lawyer was elected in 1853 and served until 1857 – Sioux City Journal, Tuesday, December 20, 1904

185o: Samuel H Riddle, Merchant, Age: 29, Birth Year: abt 1821, Birthplace: Kentucky, Home in 1850: Savannah, Andrew, Missouri, Family Number: 445, Household Members: Samuel H Riddle 29, Rebecca Riddle 26, Ben H Riddle 5, William Riddle 3, Elizabeth Forman 14, Virginia Forman 6, W A Riddle 27, Mary C Riddle 23, Hardin Riddle 2 – 1850 United States Federal Census

186o: Samuel H Riddle, Sawyer, Age: 39, Birth Year: abt 1821, Birth Place: Kentucky, Home in 1860: Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa, Post Office: Council Bluffs, Dwelling Number: 139, Family Number: 119, Real Estate Value: 20,000, Personal Estate Value: 2,000, Household Members: Samuel H Riddle 39, Benjamin Riddle 15, Helen Riddle 12, Joseph Riddle 7, Marshall Riddle 5 – 1860 United States Federal Census

1863: Samuel H Riddle, Trader, Age: 43, Married, Residence: Kane, Pottawattamie, Iowa, Fifth Congressional District – U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865

1867: Newspaper advertisement (above) for Riddle, Fuller & Co. in The Council Bluffs Weekly Non Pareil, December 4, 1867

1868: Advertisement (below) for Riddle, Fuller & Co. – Turners’ Guide from the Lakes to the Rocky Mountains, Spalding & LaMontes, printers, 1868

1869: Riddle & Fuller, wholesale wines and liquors, 442 Broadway, S. H. Riddle and S. Fuller (bds Pacific House) – Council Bluffs City Directory, 1869-70

1870: S H Riddle, Wholesale Liquor Dealer, 50, Birth Year: abt 1820, Birthplace: Kentucky, Dwelling Number: 90, Home in 1870: Council Bluffs Ward 2, Pottawattamie, Iowa, Personal Estate Value: 3,000, Real Estate Value: 25,000, Household Members: S H Riddle 50, Benjamin Riddle 24, Hellen Riddle 21, Joseph Riddle 17, Marshall Riddle 15 – 1870 United States Federal Census

1875: Samuel H Riddle Death Date: 9 Apr 1875, Cemetery: Fairview Cemetery, Burial or Cremation Place: Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, Iowa – U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s – Current

Posted in Advertising, Bitters, History, liquor, Liquor Merchant, Medicines & Cures, Questions, Spirits | Tagged advertisement, agent, Antique, bitters, Bottle, Broadway, california, Celebrated, Council Bluffs, dealer, Dr. Henley, Fuller, Furman, Iowa, IXL, judge, Kentucky, liquor, merchant, newspaper, Palmer's Block, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pottawattamie, Riddle, Samuel H. Riddle, sole, Wine | Leave a comment

R.C. Ridgway & Co. Lady’s Leg – Philadelphia

Posted on 24 December 2018 by Ferdinand Meyer V

R.C. Ridgway & Co. Lady’s Leg – Philadelphia

24 December 2018

I received the email below and pictures of an exciting new find from Robert Biro that I thought I would share. I was curious who R.C. Ridgway was? It turns out that we are talking about Richard C. Ridgway, a liquor merchant from Philadelphia, circa 1855 or so.

1850s… R.C. RIDGWAY & Co PHILA – It is also embossed on the bottom with a large ” B “- A rare olive black glass two-part mold ladies leg bitters type bottle. The bottle has an applied string top around the lip. It is also iron pontiled. This bottle was dug from an 1850s trash pit in downtown Savannah, Georgia. The bottle is eleven inches tall and about three and a quarter inches wide. I have christened this bottle the ” B ” bitters bottle. A very interesting bottle from Philadelphia!! ~~~ Robert

Richard C. Ridgway

Not much is known about Richard C. Ridgway though his name appears on the bottom of this dug bottle found in downtown Savannah, Georgia. Basic online searches reveal that he was born in New Jersey around 1822 and was a successful liquor dealer for many years in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both of his parents were also from New Jersey.

We first see him listed as selling wines and liquors at 104 South Front Street in Philly in 1855. He was single and residing at the US Hotel. By 1861, his address is 220 S. Front Street and he is noted as a retail and wholesale liquor and wine dealer. In 1865, he is residing at the famous Continental Hotel located on the Southeast corner of 9th and Chestnut which is famed for having an elevator, called a vertical train back then. It was where all the wealthy and powerful chose to stay when in Philadelphia.

Ridgway remains at the Front Street address throughout and after the Civil War up until 1870 or so. On December 13, 1866, Ridgway married Susan R. Shreve of Mount Holly, New Jersey. They would have two children.

In the 1870s, Ridgway moves into real estate and becomes a broker. His success must have continued as the 1800 Unites States Federal Census lists his personal estate value at $85,000 and real estate value at $500,000.

Unfortunately, I could not find out if this was a bitters, wine or some other type of liquor bottle. The fact that it was found in an 1850s trash pit is about right. Of course there is no paper label to confirm. The color of the glass and pontil is correct too. It was probably made at the Whitney Glassworks in Glassboro, New Jersey. The “B” on the base is a mystery. Maybe a personal mark by the glass blower?

Ridgway would die on March 9, 1899 in Philadelphia.

Select Listings:

1822: Richard C Ridgway Birth Date: abt 1822

1855: Newspaper notice (below) R. C. Ridgway, 104 South Front Street – Public Ledger (Philadelphia) Monday, April 23, 1855

1856: Richard C. Ridgway, wines and liquors, 104 S. Front, h U S Hotel – McElroy’s Philadelphia City Directory, Volume 19, MacElroy, Biddle, 1856

1861: Richard C Ridgway, Wines and Liquors, Wholesale, 220 S. Front – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania City Directory, 1861

1862: R C Ridgway, wines and liquors, 220 S. Front – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania City Directory, 1862

1863: R C Ridgway, importer of wines, 220 S. Front, h Continental Hotel – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania City Directory, 1863

1864: Richard C Ridgway, wines & liquors, 220 S. Front – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania City Directory, 1864

1865: Richard C Ridgway, wines & liquors, 218 S. Front, bds Continental – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania City Directory, 1865

1866: Newspaper notice (below) Married. Richard C. Ridgway of Philadelphia to Susan R. Shreve of Mount Holly, N.J. – Philadelphia Inquirer, December 14, 1866

1867: Richard C Ridgway, Dealer, 218 S. Front, h 208 S 13th, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1867

1868: Richard C Ridgway, liquors, 208 S 13th, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1868

1870: R C Ridgway, Retail Wholesale Liquor Merchant, Age in 1870: 49, Birth Year: abt 1821, Birthplace: New Jersey, Dwelling Number: 74, Home in 1870: Philadelphia Ward 8 District 23, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Personal Estate Value: 85000, Real Estate Value: 500000, Inferred Spouse: Susan S Ridgway, Household Members: R C Ridgway 49, Susan S Ridgway 36 – 1870 United States Federal Census

1871-1872: Richard C Ridgway, 430 Walnut, h 208 S 13th, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1871

1876: Newspaper notice (below) For Sale or Exchange – The Philadelphia Inquirer, Friday, March 31, 1876

1877: Newspaper notice (below) Residence of Richard C. Ridgway – The Philadelphia Inquirer, Saturday, May 5, 1877

1878: Ridgway & Hogan (Richard C. Ridgway and John H. Hogan), real estate, 427 Walnut – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania City Directory, 1878

1880: Richard Ridgway, Age: 59, Birth Date: Abt 1821, Birthplace: New Jersey, Home in 1880: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Street: 36st St, House Number: 202, Dwelling Number: 93, Marital Status: Married, Spouse’s Name: Susan L. Ridgway, Father’s Birthplace: New Jersey, Mother’s Birthplace: New Jersey, Occupation: Real Estate Broker, Household Members: Richard Ridgway 59, Susan L. Ridgway 43, Susan A. Ridgway 9, Maian M. Ridgway 5 – 1880 United States Federal Census

1887: Richard C Ridgway, 125 S 3d, h 202 S 36th, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1887

1889: Richard C Ridgway, Broker, h 202 S 36th, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1887

1890: Richard C Ridgway, 202 S 36th, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1890

1893-1894: Richard C Ridgway, 4432 Chestnut, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, City Directory, 1894

1899: Richard C Ridgway Death Date: 9 March 1899, Death Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Age at Death: 77, Burial Date: 13 Mar 1899, Cemetery: Laurel Hill, Marital Status: Married – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Death Certificates Index, 1803-1915

Posted in Bitters, Digging and Finding, History, Spirits, Wine & Champagne | Tagged Antique, Black, Bottle, broker, Continental, dug, email, found, George, Glass, Hotel, iron, lady's leg, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, pontil, R C Ridgway, real estate, Richard C. Ridgway, Robert Biro, Savannah, Whitney | Leave a comment

Use Dr. Henley’s Celebrated California IXL Bitters

Posted on 21 December 2018 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Use Dr. Henley’s Celebrated California IXL Bitters

21 December 2018

Dr. William Henley is associated with a wide variety of products ranging from bitters to various types of patent medicines. His bitters bottles, typically round cylinders, are highly prized collectibles that come in a striking range of colors. I was able to see a pretty good run of IXL Bitters at a western shootout at the Auburn Bottle Show back in 2010.

Read: Dr. Henley’s Wild Grape Root IXL Bitters ‘Showdown’

Dr. William Henley, Louis Gross, Simon & Henry Epstein, Isador Landsberger, Edward Vollmer & Arpad Haraszthy

Dr. Henley was initially known for medicines like Dr. Henley’s Regulator, Royal Balsam and Indian Queen Hair Restorative to name a few. Some of his better known bitters include the Dr. Henley’s Wild Grape Root IXL Bitters, Dr. Henley’s California IXL Bitters, Dr. Henley’s Eye Opener and OK Bitters. He also put out Dr. Henley’s Royal Palm Gin and Dr. Henley’s Celery, Beef and Iron.

Dr. Henley’s Wild Grape Root IXL Bitters was invented in 1868 by Dr. William Henley who partnered with Louis Gross (L. Gross & Co.) who was a wholesale and retail druggist in Portland, Oregon. At least fifty cases of this product were displayed at the 1868 California State Fair by Dr. Henley and he won first prize.

Henley was born in 1838 and is first listed as an oculist working out of his residence at 157 Front Street in Portland. An oculist is actually an outdated and old-fashioned term. Now, the more popular names for these kinds of eye doctors are ophthalmologist and optometrist. Ophthalmologists deal with more serious problems and diseases. Optometrists address less serious issues, perform vision tests, and prescribe corrective lenses.

By 1868, William Henley is listed as a physician practicing and residing at the corner of Fifth and Jefferson in Portland. This is when we start seeing some of his advertising for bottles of medicines and his IXL Grape Root Bitters. How you go from being an eye doctor to putting out one of the finest western bitters is an interesting story involving a number of gentleman all capitalizing on the extreme popularity of medicinal bitters.

Henry Epstein was born around 1838 and was from Bohemia. He came to New York when he was a boy with his father and headed west to Nevada where his family operated a store in Genoa near Carson Valley. We next see him clerking in Sacramento, California in 1860. His father was a leather manufacturer that same year in Sacramento. At the age of 26, in 1864, young Epstein was elected to the first Nevada State Legislature as an assemblyman from Douglas County.

In 1868, Epstein was listed as a commission merchant in San Francisco with an office at 312 Sacramento. He was working for Edward Vollmer & Company in Belmont, Nevada, a booming silver town in Nevada’s Nye County. During this period, Epstein pursued his business interests in California and Nevada. Epstein was living at 335 Eddy in San Francisco with his father Simon, who was a liquor dealer. Simon Epstein would eventually become a partner with I. Landsberger & Company.

In 1869, William Henley and Louis Gross associated themselves with Henry Epstein and they started selling Dr. Henley’s Wild Grape Root IXL Bitters under the flag of L. Gross & Company at 518 Front Street in San Francisco. Advertising notes that Gross was the manufacturers and sole proprietor.

By 1871, William Henley was a partner living in Chicago and the umbrella business was called H. Epstein and Company. By 1873, Edward Vollmer, Louis Gross and the IXL Bitters brand had become part of I. Landsberger & Company who were now listed as the sole proprietors of IXL Bitters. Isador Landsberger was a premier grape grower making award winning wines in San Francisco, California. He associated himself with the likes of M. Keller, and E.P. Cassin, familiar bitters names. We also see that Henry Epstein is listed as stock broker with H. H. Noble &. Company in San Francisco, so again, he had multiple interests.

By 1881, Arpad Haraszthy & Company was the proprietor of IXL Bitters. They were located at 10 Jones Alley in San Francisco. Arpad Haraszthy was born in Hungary on June 28, 1840. He was a pioneer California winemaker best known as the creator of Eclipse champagne, the first commercially successful sparkling wine produced in the state. He was the first president of the California State Board of Viticultural Commissioners, one of the founding members and first officers of San Francisco’s world-famous Bohemian Club, and a frequent and articulate writer on wine, winemaking, and viticulture. [read obit at base of post for in-depth info]

A excellent article (four-part series) called Dr. Henley’s Royal Palm Gin, written by two our our finest antique bottle authors, Stephen Hubbell and Eric McGuire, appears in the FOHBC magazine Bottles and Extras in 2014. Become a member of the FOHBC and read these articles online.

Bottle Gallery

Advertising Gallery

Newspaper advertisement: Dr. Henley’s California IXL Bitters – Green Bay Weekly Gazette, Saturday, August 5, 1871

Newspaper advertisement: Dr. Henley’s California IXL Bitters – The Pantagraph, Saturday, October 28, 1871

Newspaper Advertisement: Dr. Henley’s Celery, Beef and Iron, The Great Nerve Tonic, Manufactured by Celery, Beef and Iron Company, 150 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California – The San Francisco Examiner, Sunday, April 7, 1895

The following advertising trade card ephemera is from the Joe Gourd collection.

Select Listings:

1838: Henry Epstein Birth: about 1838

1860: Henry Epstein, Clerk, Age: 21, Birth Year: abt 1839, Gender: Male, Birth Place: Bohemia, Home in 1860: Sacramento Ward 3, Sacramento, California, Post Office: Sacramento, Dwelling Number: 1644, Family Number: 1587, Occupation: Clerk, Household Members: Simon Epstein 50 (Leather Manufacturer), Cath Epstein 48, Therese Epstein 18, Henry Epstein 21 – 1860 United States Federal Census

1865: Newspaper advertisement (below) New Drug Store, L. Gross, Portland, Oregon, Wholesale andRetail Druggists Oregonian, August 26,1865

1866: Dr. William Henley, Oculist, 157 Front, Portland, Oregon – Portland, Oregon Directory, 1866

1867: Dr. Wm. Henley, Oculist, res corner of Fifth and Jefferson – The Portland Oregon Directory, 1867

1868: Wm. Henley, Physician, res corner of Fifth and Jefferson – Portland Oregon City Directory, 1868

1868: Henry Epstein (merchant), office 312 Sacramento, dwl 335 Eddy, Simon Epstein (liquors), dwl 335 Eddy – San Francisco, California City Directory, 1868

1868: Henry Epstein, commission merchant (and E. Vollmer & Co., Belmont, Nevada, office 312 Sacramento, dwl 335 Eddy – The San Francisco directory for the year commencing October, 1868

1869: Newspaper advertisement (below) Dr. Henley’s Wild Grape Root IXL Bitters, L. Gross & Co., Manufacturers and Sole Proprietors, 518 Front Street, San Francisco

1871: H. Epstein & Co. (William Henley) manufacturers IXL Bitters, 518 Front – The San Francisco directory for the year commencing April, 1871

1871: Henry Epstein (H. Epstein & Co.), dwl 763 Mission – The San Francisco directory for the year commencing April, 1871

1871: William Henley (H. Epstein & Co.), res Chicago – The San Francisco directory for the year commencing April, 1871

1874: H. Epstein & Co. (Louis Gross) commission merchants and sole proprietors IXL Bitters, 518 Front – San Francisco Directory, 1874

1874: H. Epstein & Co. (H H. Noble & Co.), owl 335 Eddy – San Francisco, California City Directory, 1874

1874: Henry Epstein (H. Epstein & Co.), dwl 335 Eddy – San Francisco Directory, 1874

1874: Simon Epstein, with H. Epstein & Co., dwl 335 Eddy – San Francisco Directory, 1874

1874: Louis Gross, (H. Epstein & Co.), dwl 335 Fell – San Francisco Directory, 1874

1874: Philip Wolf & Co., 222 & 224 Battery Street, San Francisco, Principal Depot for Dr. Henley’s California IXL Bitters and London Royal Palm Gin – 1874, Cincinnati, Ohio City Directory

1879: Dr. Wm. Henley, office corner Salmon and First, res same – The Portland Oregon Directory, 1879

1882: Newspaper notice (below) Dr. Henley’s California IXL Bitters, Arpad, Haraszthy & Co., 530 Washington Street, San Francisco, California – The Record Union, Wednesday, September 13, 1883.jpg

1884: Dr. Wm. Henley, 27 Sheridan – Portland Oregon City Directory, 1879

1884: Newspaper notice (below) Dr. Henley’s Celebrated IXL Bitters, Arpad Haraszthy & Co., 530 Washington Street, San Francisco, California – San Diego Union, June 23 1884

1888: Newspaper advertisement (bellow): Try Dr. Henley’s Celebrated IXL Bitters – Oakland Tribune, Saturday, September 15, 1888

1900: Newspaper notice: Death of Champagne Manufacturer Arpad Haraszthy – The San Francisco Call, Saturday, November 17, 1900

1913: Henry Epstein Death Date: 1913, Cemetery: Home of Peace Cemetery and Emanu-El Mausoleum, Burial or Cremation Place: Colma, San Mateo County, California – U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

Posted in Advertising, Article Publications, Bitters, Color Runs, Druggist & Drugstore, Ephemera, History, Liquor Merchant, Medicines & Cures, Tonics, Trade Cards | Tagged Antique, antique bottle, Arpad Haraszthy, bitters, Bottle, california, Celebrated, Color, Cure, Doctor, Dr. Henley, Druggist & Drugstore, Edward Vollmer, Eric McGuire, Eye Opener, Grape, grower, Isador Landsberger, IXL, Joe Gourd, Louis Gross, Medicine, Nevada, oculist, ok, oregon, physician, Portland, Root, San Francisco, Simon & Henry Epstein, Stephen Hubbell, Tonic, William Henley, Wine | Leave a comment

Dr. Smith’s Magic Bitters – Council Bluffs, Iowa

Posted on 9 December 2018 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Dr. Smith’s Magic Bitters

John Brown Adkins – Council Bluffs, Iowa

09 December 2018

I recently received an email and newspaper clipping from Mark Wiseman about an unlisted Dr. Smith’s Magic Bitters. He found the ad below in The Council Bluffs Bugle dated October 17, 1867.

The Magic Bitters

Looking at the ad above we can see that Dr. Smith’s Magic Bitters was reportedly used extensively during the Civil War by thousands of soldiers who served in the Department of the Cumberland. The Army of the Cumberland dates back to the creation of the Army of the Ohio in November 1861, under the command of Brig. Gen. Robert Anderson. The army fought under the name Army of the Ohio until Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans assumed command of the army and the Department of the Cumberland and changed the name of the combined entity to the Army of the Cumberland.

Described as eminently a western article and needed by “Every Western Family in the Land,” the bitters consisted of wild cherry bark, fruit and a healthy amount of rye whiskey. A gentle tonic invigorating for the blood and a beverage to be used as a stimulant. Yes, I bet it packed a punch.

The new listing by Bill Ham for the forthcoming Bitters Bottles Supplement 2:

S 125.7 DR. SMITH’s MAGIC BITTERS, For Sale by John Brown Atkins, Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs Bugle, dated October 17, 1867
Dr. Smith’s Magic Bitters also called “The Magic Bitters” was reportedly used extensively during the Civil War by thousands of soldiers who served in the Department of the Cumberland. Dr. Smith was noted as being the proprietor which may be an advertising ploy by Atkins.

Dr. Smith and the J. B. Atkins Building

We do not really see who Dr. Smith is as he is noted as the proprietor of the Magic Bitters but the ad notes that because he can not keep up with the demand for the bitters, that it is now being offered for the first time by J. B. Adkins, a druggist by trade, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He is pictured above in the studio shot. It must have been a short run as I am not aware of any bottles either embossed or labeled.

I like the photograph at the top of the post showing the two-story building with the J. B. ATKINS bas-relief letters on the front facade. If you look closely, you will see that John Brown Atkins is standing proudly in the doorway and his windows and shelves within are fully stocked. I also see a camel and rider sitting on a box. Look at the roof, as there is a cool sculptural mortar and pestle on top of the building and painted graphics on the side advertising J. B. Atkins selling Drugs, Chemicals, Perfumery, Paints, Oils, Glassware etc. His address is 351 West Broadway. You can see the numbers on a column on the left side of the building.

Dr. T. B. Lacey

It looks like the second story had a separate front entrance with stairs for his son-in-law, Doctor Thomas B. Lacey, Physician and Surgeon. His daughter Mollie had married Dr. Lacey in 1878. Two years later they had a son, Thomas Jr. You can see his sign and probably Lacey standing in the doorway. I wonder if this is really our Dr. Smith? Two windows are partially open, so with the dust, I hope he didn’t do his surgery upstairs.

Dr. THOMAS B. LACEY, a thirty-third degree Mason and while active one of the most prominent physicians in this section of the state of Iowa, holding the chair of surgery in the Creighton Medical Institute, died at his home 540 Sixth Avenue. Dr. lacey was one of a family of physicians. His father and his grandfather were physicians and his son Thomas Lacey, has followed in the same profession. In addition to being a thirty-third degree Mason, deceased was past grand commander of the Knights Templars of Iowa and past grand high priest of Royal Arch masons. He was also a prominent member and past exalted ruler of the Council Bluffs Lodge of Elks.

Five years ago he was forced to relinquish his practice and has since been an invalid, gradually losing ground. He is survived by his son Dr. Thomas Lacey and his brother Charles Lacey of Chicago, who was with him at the time of his death. He had been in the city for thirty-one years and at the time of his death was 55 years of age. The funeral will take place from the residence Wednesday afternoon.

Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil, Monday, March 25, 1907

John Brown Atkins

John Brown Atkins was born in Wayne County near Detroit, Michigan on May 29, 1835. The 1880 United States Federal Census says his parents were from Ohio while the 1900 Census says his parents were from New York. He would marry Lydia B. Allen in Arapahoe County, Colorado on October 16, 1859 and they would have two children, Mollie who was born in 1861 and Henry Charles Atkins who was born in July 1866.

We first see J. B. Atkins in 1856 listed in a Michigan business directory as a partner with William Conger, the concern named Conger & Atkins, Druggists & Grocers.

In 1861, Atkins was commissioned as an officer in Company B, New Mexico 1st Infantry Regiment. He mustered out on May 1, 1862. After the war, John B. Atkins came to Council Bluffs in the summer of 1866 after a varied experience in the western and southwestern territories and on the Pacific coast. He opened a drug store in a small wooden building, which he erected for the purpose near the site of the building he subsequently built and occupied continuously with his drug store for nearly forty years.

In 1903, his health started to fail, so in August of that year he sold his business to Robert E. Anderson. Hoping to aid his health, John, his wife Lydia, and the rest of the family traveled to Los Angeles in October of 1903 in the hopes that under the genial influence of the tropical climate he might regain his wasted strength. Unfortunately John only lasted a few months in California and passed away December 5, 1903. His body was held in Los Angeles until February 1904 when he was returned to Council Bluffs for burial. John Atkins was a life long Mason and he was prominent in Masonic organizations in Iowa.

[Factual assistance in post referenced JOHN B. ATKINS – EARLY CITIZEN OF COUNCIL BLUFFS, May 1, 2018 by Mary Carpenter]

Select Listings:

1835: John B Atkins birth 29 May 1835, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan – U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

1856: Conger & Atkins (William Conger & John B. Atkins), Druggists & Grocers – Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory

1870: J B Atkins, Druggist, Age in 1870: 33, Birth Year: abt 1837, Birthplace: Michigan, Dwelling Number: 148, Home in 1870: Council Bluffs Ward 2, Pottawattamie, Iowa, Personal Estate Value: 6000, Inferred Spouse: L D Atkins, Household Members:, J B Atkins 33, L D Atkins 25, Mollie Atkins 9, Henry Atkins 7 – 1870 United States Federal Census

1880: John B. Atkins, Druggist, Age: 45, Birth Date: Abt 1835, Birthplace: Michigan, Home in 1880: Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa, Street: Third Avenue, Dwelling Number: 296, Marital Status: Married: Spouse’s Name: Lydia Atkins, Father’s Birthplace: Ohio, Mother’s Birthplace: Ohio, Household Members: John B. Atkins 45, Lydia Atkins 36, Henry C. Atkins 18 – 1880 United States Federal Census

1900: J B Atkins, Merchant (Drugs), Age: 65, Birth Date: May 1835, Birthplace: New York, Home in 1900: Kane, Pottawattamie, Iowa, Ward of City: Part 4th, Street: Sixth Ave, House Number: 540, Relation to Head of House: Head, Marital Status: Married, Spouse’s Name: Lydia B Atkins, Marriage Year: 1860, Father’s Birthplace: New York, Mother’s Birthplace: New York, Home Free or Mortgaged: F, Household Members: J B Atkins 65, Lydia B Atkins 55, Henry Atkins 35 – 1900 United States Federal Census

1903: John B Atkins death 5 December 1903 (aged 68), Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, Burial: Fairview Cemetery, Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, Iowa – U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

1903: J.B. Atkins Obituary Newspaper notice (below) – The Nonpareil

A telegram from Col. J.J. Steadman to The Nonpareil last night announced that J.B. ATKINS died at Los Angeles, California. J.B. Atkins was a citizen of Council Bluffs for nearly forty years. He located here in the summer of 1866, after a varied experience in the western and southwestern territories and on the Pacific coast. He was born near Detroit, Michigan, 65 years ago. When he came to Council Bluffs he opened a drug store in a small wooden building, which he erected for the purpose near the site of the brick building he subsequently built and occupied continuously with his drug store until August 19 of this year when he retired from business.

It is believed that the body of Mr. Atkins will be brought here for interment in Fairview, where he had often expressed the desire to take his final sleep. It is understood to have been his wish that in case of his death during the winter the family should remain in California until spring, placing his body in a vault at Los Angeles until they were ready to return. At the present time it is believed that his wishes in this respect will be carried out. With Mr. Atkins at the time of his death were his wife, his son Henry, and his grandson, Thomas B. Lacey, Jr., and Dr. T.B. Lacey.

1903: Notice of the death of the Eminent Grand Treasurer of the Grand Commander of Iowa, Sir John B. Atkins – Freemasons, Grand Lodge of Iowa Bulletin, 1902

The Grand Commander of Iowa has issued a memorial notice of the death of the Kminent Grand Treasurer of the Grand Commandery of Iowa, Sir John B. Atkins, whose death occurred December 5th, 1903, at Los Angeles, whither his family had taken him in the hopes that under the genial influence of the tropical clime he might regain his wasted strength. Those of our readers who recall meeting him at Templar Park on the shores of Spirit Lake the past summer will not be surprised for few thought they would ever see him attain at that spot of so many hallowed associations, so feeble was he in health at that time, and so it has turned out. His tired, worn out body after an eventful life, has been laid in the vault to await transportation in the spring to his old home in Council Bluffs when the family return and at which time the funeral service will be conducted by the officers of the Grand Commandery. He was a useful and active citizen and served his city as he had served his Masonic bodies, faithfully and well. John B. Atkins received the symbolic degrees of Freemasonry at Fort Union, New Mexico; and his Chapter and Commandery degrees in Council Bluffs. He was an active and enthusiastic member of Bluff City Lodge, No. 71; Star Chapter, No. 47, and Ivanhoe Commandery. No. 17, and had served each body as its presiding officer. He had been seven times in succession elected as Eminent Grand Treasurer of the Grand Commandery, Knights Templar, of Iowa, his first election being in 1897. He was also Treasurer of the Grand Chapter Charity Fund. His accounts and official acts show the utmost integrity and painstaking, and prove the honesty and trustworthiness of the man. Thus another of Iowa’s pioneers, a man loved and respected by all who knew him, has passed to his final reward.

Posted in Bitters, Civil War, Druggist & Drugstore, History, Medicines & Cures, Remedy, Tonics | Tagged army, beverage, bitters, Bottle, Broadway, cherry bark, Civil War, Council Bluffs, Cumberland, Detroit, Doctor, drug, Freemason, Fruit, Iowa, J B Atkins, John Brown Atkins, Los Angeles, Lydia B. Allen, Magic, Mark Wiseman, Mason, Medicine, Michigan, Mollie, Remedy, Rye, Smith, stimulant, store, T. B. Lacey, Tonic, Western, Whiskey, William Conger | Leave a comment

Kohn & Adler’s Bitters – Rock Island, Illinois

Posted on 8 December 2018 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Kohn & Adler’s Bitters

Rock Island, Illinois

08 December 2018

I recently received an email and 1866 newspaper clipping from Mark Wiseman about an unlisted Adler’s Celebrated Anti-Cholera Bitters which led me to do a search for “Adler” information. This led me to another unlisted bitters advertisement for Kohn & Adler’s Bitters from Rock Island, Illinois (see top of post). There is no relation though, as the ad is from 1889. Here we are talking about Solomon and his two sons, Edward and Monroe Kohn and Joseph H. Adler.

Solomon Kohn was born in Austria in 1826 and received his U.S. citizenship in 1866. Adler was born in Bohemia (Dolní Pochlovice, Czech Republic) around 1832. I suspect the families knew each other well and they both came to America together. Margaretha Adler, daughter of Moses Adler and Elisabeth Adler would later marry Salomon Kohn, so there is a pretty solid link.

The new listing by Bill Ham for the forthcoming Bitters Bottles Supplement 2:

Advertisement
K 70.5 KOHN & ADLER’S BITTERS, Rock Island, Illinois
The Rock Island Argus, April 25, 1889
Kohn & Adler’s Bitters sold as a medicine “To Cure Spring Fever” $1.50 per Gallon.

Rock Island, Illinois

This bird’s-eye view print of Rock Island, Illinois was drawn by Henry Wellge and published by American Publishing Co. in 1889. Rock Island was an industrious town along the Mississippi River. The lumber industry was thriving and railroad interests were growing. Furnishings and supplies for the railroads were manufactured in Rock Island as well as agricultural implements. Most railroad enthusiasts are certainly familiar with the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad.

One listing on the bottom of the print notes Kohn & Adler, Wholesale Liquor Dealers, 122 to 128 16th Street. They were one of the anchor businesses in the city. The illustration below is circa 1865 when Kohn & Adler were just getting started. Maybe that is Solomon and Joseph in the row boat.

Kohn & Adler

We first find Solomon Kohn listed as a storekeeper in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1860 when he was 34 years old. He was probably a merchant long before that. Joseph Adler was a liquor dealer during this same time period though records are scarce for both of them in the early to mid 1860s. War years.

The liquor business of Kohn & Adler was established in Rock Island in 1868 though there was some type of business relationship as early as 1863 when Kohn & Adler were supplying the army for the Confederate States of America. The receipt below shows the sale of paper and ink.

In 1871, a newspaper notice states that “Kohn & Adler have fitted up their store in style, and have this day received a new sign.” I guess the 1868 date was a soft opening. Their address was noted as “opposite Harper House” which was a prominent hotel on 2^nd Avenue and 19^th Street built in 1871.

Kohn & Adler thrived throughout the 1870s and 1880s and they served the midwest region of United States. Solomon Kohn would die on November 25, 1874 after a long illness and his son Edward would take his place in the business. By this time they were dealing in all types of spirits and alcohol including whiskies, brandies, gin, rum, wines ands cordials. The full-page directory advertisement below is from the 1868 Holland’s Rock Island City Directory.

In 1888, some type of odd legal action occurred between Kohn & Adler and M. Levy & Son, a competitor in Rock Island. Seems like you had two companies competing for mail which of course contained liquor order information and payments.

In 1889, they advertised their Kohn & Adler’s Bitters as a medicine “To Cure Spring Fever.” You could buy it for $1.50 a gallon. This sounds like a stoneware jug. I am not aware of any examples of bottles or jugs. Kohn & Adler were then located on the “Post Office Block” on Second Avenue & 16^th Street.

Later in 1889 the partnership would dissolve by mutual consent, Joseph H. Adler was retiring, and Monroe Kohn would continue the business under the old name of Kohn & Adler until 1894, when the business would shut down.

Kohn-Bradford House

Kohn-Bradford House (Margaret Kohn), 602 18th Street, Rock Island Landmark, 1993.

Front gable brick Italianate with good integrity associated with doctor and merchants.

Architectural Style: Italianate, Construction Date: ca. 1878-80. Ornate Brick Italianate
This front gable Italianate structure is constructed of brick. Rarely are Rock Island’s 19th century homes constructed of brick, and then they are usually of this Italianate style. The Kohn-Bradford house features brackets, stone hoods above the windows and a cut stone foundation. The front porch is an early alteration, probably around 1906. There is a one-story addition on the rear that was added around 1900 for a doctor’s office. This office mimicked the main house with two over two windows, brick arches and virtually identical brick.

Succession of Owners: Margaret Kohn, a widow, and her sons Edward, Lewis, Max and Monroe, first occupied this home. The Kohn family operated Kohn & Adler, one of the largest distributors of fine wine and liquor in the Upper Midwest.

*Joseph H. Adler would live in Rock Island then Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Select Listings:

1826: Solomon Kohn, Birth Date: 28 June 1826, Birth Place: Hungary – U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

1860: Solomon Kohn, Storekeeper, Age: 34, Birth Year: abt 1826, Birth Place: Austria, Home in 1860: Oak Creek, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Post Office: Oak Creek, Dwelling Number: 280, Family Number: 280, Personal Estate Value: 400, Household Members: Solomon Kohn 34, Margret Kohn 30, Edward Kohn 9, Ann Kohn 6, Michael Kohn 4, Luis Kohn 2 – 1860 United States Federal Census

1863: Solomon Kohn, Merchant, Birth Year: abt 1824, Place of Birth: Austria, Age on 1 July 1863: 39, Race: White, Residence: Oak Creek, Milwaukee, Wisconsin – U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865

1866: U.S. Naturalization, Solomon Kohn, Birth Place: Austria, Court District: Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Date of Action: 3 Feb 1866 – U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992

1868: Kohn & Adler established (large advertisement further above).

1870: Joseph H Adler, Liquor Dealer, Age in 1870: 38, Birth Year: abt 1832, Birthplace: Bohemia, Dwelling Number: 71, Home in 1870: Rock Island, Ward 1, Rock Island, Illinois, Personal Estate Value: 5000, Inferred Spouse: Kate Adler, Household Members: Joseph H Adler 38, Kate Adler 34 – 1870 United States Federal Census

1870: Solomon Kohn, Wholesale Liquor Dealer, Age in 1870: 43, Birth Year: abt 1827, Birthplace: Austria, Dwelling Number: 287, Home in 1870: Rock Island Ward 1, Rock Island, Illinois, Personal Estate Value: 3500, Inferred Spouse: Margaret Kohn, Inferred Children: Edward Kohn, Annie Kohn, Max Kohn, Louis Kohn, Bertha Kohn, Morroe [Monroe] Kohn – 1870 United States Federal Census

1871: Newspaper notice (below) “Kohn & Adler have fitted up their store in style, and have this day received a new sign” – The Rock Island Argus, Friday, March 10, 1871

1873: J H Adler, Residence Year: 1873, Residence Place: Rock Island, Illinois, Occupation: Dealer In Wines, Liquors, Etc., opposite Harper House, res Orleans nw corner Deer – Rock Island City Directory, 1873

1874: Newspaper notice (below) – Mr. Kohn, of the firm of Kohn & Adler, started for New York for the benefit of his health – The Moline Review Dispatch, Friday, March 13, 1874

1874: Solomon Kohn, Death Date: 25 November 1874, Cemetery: Chippiannock Cemetery, Burial or Cremation Place: Rock Island, Rock Island County, Illinois, Spouse: Margaret Kohn, Children: Edward D Kohn, Max Kohn – U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

1875: Newspaper Personal (below): J.H. Adler leaves for Europe for his health – The Rock Island Argus, Monday, April 5, 1875

1880: Newspaper notice (below): Lightening Strikes Kohn & Adler Building – The Rock Island Argus, Friday, July 2, 1880

1882: Full-page Directory advertisement (further above) – Kohn & Adler, Established 1868, Wholesale Wines & Liquors – Holland’s Rock Island City Directory

1882-1888: J H Adler (Kohn & Adler, Rock Island, Illinois), residence 610 18th, Moline – Moline, Illinois, City Directory, 1882

1888: J H Adler (Kohn & Adler), residence Milwaukee Wisconsin – Moline, Illinois, City Directory, 1888

1888: Newspaper notice (above in post): “A peculiar Suit” Kohn & Adler vs M. Levy & Son – The Rock Island Argus, Friday, August 3, 1888

1888-1889: Various Kohn & Adler newspaper advertisements – The Rock Island Argus

1889: Newspaper advertisement (top of post) “To Cure Spring Fever take Kohn & Adler’s Bitters, $1.50 per Gallon. Post Office Block, Rock Island, Illinois” – The Rock Island Argus, Thursday, April 25, 1889

1889: Newspaper notice (below): The firm of Kohn and Adler has been dissolved by mutual consent, J.H. Adler retiring, and Monro Kohn continuing the business under the old name of Kohn & Adler – The Moline Review, Dispatch, Friday, July 5, 1889

1891 & 1892: J. H. Adler, Monroe Kohn, Rock Island, Illinois, Kohn & Adler, r Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Rock Island and Moline, Illinois, Directories

1894: Newspaper notice (below) Kohn & Adler relocated to 1610 Second Avenue – The Rock Island Argus, Wednesday, June 6, 1894

1894: Newspaper notice (below) Kohn & Adler shuts its doors. – The Rock Island Argus, Monday, October 29, 1894

Posted in Bitters, Civil War, History, Liquor Merchant, Medicines & Cures | Tagged Austria, bitters, Bohemia, Civil War, illinois, Joseph H. Adler, Kohn & Adler, liquor, M. Levy & Son, Medicine, merchant, Monroe Kohn, Post Office, provisions, Railroad, Rock Island, Solomon Kohn, spirits, wholesale, Wine | Leave a comment

Adler’s Celebrated Anti-Cholera Bitters – St. Joe

Posted on 6 December 2018 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Adler’s Celebrated Anti-Cholera Bitters

Simon Adler | St. Joe & St. Louis

06 December 2018

I recently received and email and 1866 newspaper clipping (below) from Mark Wiseman about an unlisted Adler’s Celebrated Anti-Cholera Bitters put out by S. Adler & Company in St. Joseph, Missouri. This rang a bell. After researching, I found out that this is the same “Adler” embossed on Landsberg’s Century Bitters (see top of post).

The new listing by Bill Ham for the forthcoming Bitters Bottles Supplement 2:

Advertisement
A 11.5 Adler’s Celebrated Anti-Cholera Bitters
The Council Bluffs Weekly Bugle, June 28, 1866
S. Adler & Company (Simon Adler), St. Joseph, Missouri
The Adler Company embossed on Landsberg’s Century Bitters bottles

Simon Adler

Simon Adler was a life-long liquor man born in Darmstadt Germany around 1830. His parents were also from Darmstadt which is a city near Frankfurt in southwest Germany. It’s known for the Mathildenhöhe district’s art nouveau buildings, like the iconic Wedding Tower. I’m not sure when Adler came to America, but he most likely arrived in New York at a young age and made his way to Saint Joseph, Missouri, arriving in 1859. St. Joseph (informally St. Joe) is north of Kansas City. Speaking of weddings, Adler would marry Anna Cohen (1847–1914) and they would have four boys, Irvin, Jessie, Arthur and Charles.

We next see Civil War Draft Registration Records for Simon Adler in 1843 in St. Joe. Then we see Simon Adler as the proprietor of Adler’s Celebrated Anti-Cholera Bitters addressed at E. Side Market Square and 17 Third in St. Joe in 1866 and see him listed as a liquor dealer and rectifier with S. Adler & Company in 1870. They were housed in a 3-story brick building. Abraham Furst was his brother-in-law and partner.

The bitters was a remedy targeting a scourge named Asiatic Cholera. The second cholera pandemic (1826–1837), also known as the Asiatic Cholera Pandemic, was a cholera pandemic that reached from India across western Asia to Europe, Great Britain and the Americas, as well as east to China and Japan. Cholera caused more deaths, more quickly, than any other epidemic disease in the 19th century. Adler said the concoction or versions of the medicine and been in use for fifty years and used testimonials from Professors Chapman, Bird and Andral in London and Professors Geradin and Gatmard of Germany. I can find no examples of this bottle which could have been embossed or just sold with a label.

The 1870 United States Federal Census lists Adler’s personal estate value at $2,000 and his real estate value at $30,000 so he must have been fairly successful at that time. He reportedly was one of St. Joe’s most energetic and successful business man and popular and influential with his friends and business associates.

A 1975 St Louis Missouri City Directory, lists Adler, Furst & Company comprising of Simon Adler, president, Abe Furst, Henry I. Ruggies and Emanuel Fist. They were listed as distillers, rectifiers and wholesale liquor dealers located at 19 and 21 S. 2nd Street in St. Louis. Simon Adler would still reside in St. Joe while maintaining A. First Distilling Company in the same locale.

Events took a turn for the worse later in 1875, as Simon Adler became the target of U.S. federal agents in a scandal involving the switching of uncancelled duty stamps on liquor bottles and a series of articles appeared in the Missouri newspapers including the Globe-Democrat. At one point Adler’s stock was confiscated and the principals, Adler and his partner Abraham Furst, were imprisoned for a year and each assessed a fine of $10,000. They were accused of being conspirators with other indicted companies in the area.

By 1877, the company is listed as Adler Company with Simon Adler (president) and Emanuel Fist selling liquors at 19 S. 2nd Street in St. Louis, Missouri. Abraham Furst was still his partner. The Landsberg’s Century Bitters bottles, embossed “THE ADLER COMPANY, ST. LOUIS” were made during this period and were embossed 1876.

Read: Professor Byrne and Landsberg – Some Highly Decorative Bottles

Read: Looking at some Landsberg bottles

By this time, Adler had moved from St. Joe to St. Louis in 1878 and would die of softening of the brain (senile dementia) on September 7, 1884. Adler had gone abroad for several years prior to his death to obtain some sort of relief. He would leave his children a considerable fortune. The renamed Adler Distilling Company would continue with Abraham Furst as president located at 111 S. Main Street.

Landsberg’s Century Bitters

L 13 Landsberg’s Century Bitters

LANDSBERG’S / “CENTURY” / BITTERS // sp // THE / ADLER COMPANY / ST LOUIS // sp // // u // motif eagle // 1876 // motif shield // motif sunburst with 1776 //
11 1/2 x 2 7/8 (6 1/4) Square, Amber, LTCR, Applied mouth, 4 sp, Rare
12 stars on bell shaped shoulder. An especially ornate bottle.

Note: Design No. 12,861 patented April 11, 1882 by Moses Landsberg of Chicago, Illinois. “The object of my present invention is to furnish a novel design for a bottle; and it consists of making the body of the bottle with four rectangular sides (panels), having arched tops, two of the alternate faces or facets being left smooth; or all four of the sides may be left plain; and in the arch spaces over the rectangular faces are represented respectively a shield, the figures 1876, a spread eagle, and a rayed sun. The edges of the sides of the bottle are corrugated in lozenges, while the base is surrounded by a series of hexagons. The neck of the bottle represents the handle, and the shoulder of the body of a bell, the bell being encircled midway by a ring of stars”.

Select Listings

1863: Civil War Draft Registration Record: Simon Adler, Birth Year: abt 1830, Place of Birth: Germany, Age on 1 July 1863: 33, Race: White, Marital Status: Unmarried (Single), Residence: Washington, Buchanan, Missouri, Congressional District: 7th – U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865

1866: Newspaper clipping (above): Adler’s Celebrated Anti-Cholera Bitters – The Council Bluffs Weekly Bugle, June 28, 1866

1867: S. Adler & Company, Simon Adler, rectifiers, E. Side Market Square and 17 Third, Saint Joseph, Missouri – Frank Swick´s Resident and Business Directory of Saint Joseph, 1867-68

1870: Newspaper clipping (below): S. Adler & Co. rectifying house, three stories, brick – Saint Joseph Daily Union, Friday, April 1, 1870

1870: Simon Adler, Age in 1870: 40, Liquor Dealer, Birth Year: abt 1830, Birthplace: Baden, Dwelling Number: 269, Home in 1870: St Joesph Ward 4, Buchanan, Missouri, Personal Estate Value: 2000, Real Estate Value: 30000, Inferred Spouse: Anna Adler, Household Members: Simon Adler 40, Anna Adler 23, Irvin Adler 7, Jessie Adler 3, Arthur Adler 1 – 1870 United States Federal Census

1875: Adler, Furst & Co., (Simon Adler, president, Abe Furst, Henry I. Ruggies and Emanuel Fist), distillers, rectifiers, and liquors wholesale, 19 and 21 S. 2nd, Simon Adler residence St. Joseph, Missouri – St Louis, Missouri, City Directory, 1875

1875: Passage: Matters were looking bad for Simon Adler as well, and he soon became the target of US federal agents in a scandal involving the switching of uncancelled duty stamps on liquor bottles and a series of articles appeared in the Missouri newspapers including the Globe-Democrat. At one point Adler’s stock was confiscated and the principals, Adler and his partner and brother-in-law Abraham Furst, were imprisoned for a year and each assessed a fine of $10,000. They were accused of being conspirators with other indicted companies in the area. – Diary with Description of Legal Case of S. Adler Liquors. St Joseph, Missouri, 1875

1876: Adler, Furst & Co., (Simon Adler, president, Abraham Furst, Henry I. Ruggies and Emanuel Fist), liquors, 19 S. 2nd – St Louis, Missouri, City Directory, 1876

1876: Newspaper clipping (below): U.S. vs. Simon Adler & Abraham Furst. Indictment for implying certain packages of distilled spirits without effacing or obliterating the stamps thereon. – The State Journal, Friday, March 17, 1876

1876: Newspaper clipping (below): Simon Adler and Abraham First, of St. Joseph, liquor dealers, each one year in county jail and fine of $10,000 – St Louis Post Dispatch, Saturday, April 15, 1876

1876: Newspaper clipping (below): Simon Adler, one of the prisoners of the Cole County jail – St Joseph Weekly Herald, Thursday, September 11, 1884

1877-1878: Adler Co., (Simon Adler, president, E Fist), liquors, 19 S. 2nd – St Louis, Missouri, City Directory, 1877

1880: Simon Adler, Age: 51, Liquor Merchant, Birth Date: Abt 1829, Birthplace: Darms, Home in 1880: Saint Louis, St Louis (Independent City), Missouri, Street: Purton Place, House Number: 1725, Dwelling Number: 60, Father’s Birthplace: Darmstadt, Mother’s Birthplace: Darmstadt, Household, Simon Adler 51, Anna Adler 33, Irvin Adler 16, Jesse Adler 13, Arthur Adler 10, Charley Adler 8 – 1880 United States Federal Census

1884: Simon Adler death 7 September 1884 (aged 53–54), Burial, New Mount Sinai Cemetery and Mausoleum, Affton, St. Louis County, Missouri – U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

1884: Newspaper clipping (below): The Death of an Old St. Josephite – St Joseph Weekly Herald, Thursday, September 11, 1884

1884: Newspaper clipping (below): The Death of Simon Adler – St Joseph Gazette Herald, Tuesday, September 9, 1884

1885: The Adler Distilling Co., A. Furst, pres, 111 S.Main – St Louis, Missouri, City Directory, 1885

Posted in Bitters, History, Liquor Merchant, Medicines & Cures, Remedy | Tagged 1876, Abraham Furst, Anna Cohen, Asiatic, Celebrated, Century, Cholera, Darmstadt, dealer, Distiller, Emanuel Fist, fined, Germany, Henry I. Ruggies, imprisoned, indicted, Landsberg, liquor, Mark Wiseman, Missouri, rectifier, Saint Joseph, Simon Adler, St. Joe, St. Louis, wholesale | Leave a comment

Pond’s Bitters “Makes You Go Some”

Posted on 28 November 2018 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Pond’s Bitters “Makes You Go Some”

28 November 2018 (R•120418)

The story here is about three related Chicago-sold bitters. The first is Lash’s Bitters from California which inspired Rex Bitters and Pond’s Bitters, the subject of this post. Pond’s Bitters was a direct competitor of their Windy City rival, Rex Bitters.

These were primarily bitters sold as a laxative and ‘a permanent cure for constipation’ but contained quite a bit of alcohol, hence the Pond’s Bitters “Makes You Go Some,” monkey drinking on a chamber pot above. Doesn’t get much better then that.

First of all, some may think that Pond’s Bitters Company is related to Pond’s Extract Company which started out in 1846 as a patent medicine company when Theron T. Pond [1880-1852], a pharmacist from Utica, New York, began selling ‘Golden Treasure’, a homeopathic remedy he developed from witch hazel. This is not the case. Most of us remember Pond’s Cold Cream. I’ve gone back in ancestry trees but can not find a connection. There probably is somewhere down the line as both Pond’s came from New York.

Read: Pond’s Extract Company

Lash’s Bitters

Lash’s Bitters starts with John Joseph Spieker who moved to California in 1875. In 1876, at the early age of 20 or so, Spieker became a druggist in Sacramento and by 1878 he was a partner in Tufts & Spieker (A. C. Tufts and J. J. Spieker) who were druggists and apothecaries. In February 1884, John Spieker formed a new partnership with Tito M. Lash, and named the company T. M. Lash & Co. to produce Lash’s Kidney & Liver Bitters.

Tito hired an accountant in 1889, who found questionable accounting problems in the company’s books. In October of that year, an injunction was granted that denied Spieker access to any accounts, money, or property, and the partnership was officially terminated. Ten days later, Spieker bought out his former partner, and also Lash’s half of the rights to produce and market the firm’s line of products.

John Spieker then established a new company called Lash’s Bitters Co. and continued to manufacture Lash’s Bitters. The company moved to San Francisco in 1893, and a year later, it was officially incorporated as Lash’s Bitters Co. The business was very successful and in 1901, the Chicago office was opened with $1,000 in capital, and in 1904, the New York City office opened.

Read: Lash’s Bitters | San Francisco – Chicago – New York • PART ONE | The Bottles

Read: Lash’s Bitters | San Francisco – Chicago – New York • PART TWO | History

Read: Lash’s Bitters | San Francisco – Chicago – New York • PART THREE | Humorous and Clever Advertising

George Morgan Pond

Pond’s Bitters is named after George Morgan Pond who was born in Tareytown, New York on 29 May 1854. Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about 25 miles north of midtown Manhattan in New York City. He was the son of Loyal Sylvester Pond (Vermont) and Harriet Sarah Taylor (New Hampshire). He later married Louise Fitch in 1882. Their children were Annie, Kate, George Jr., Guy and Rainsferd Pond.

As noted above, Pond grew up in New York but something made him move to the west coast as we see him working as a clerk in Los Angeles, California in 1879. He was 25 years old at the time. In 1880, he is listed as working as a bookkeeper in Los Angeles. He moved to Sacramento in the 1880s and eventually Santa Cruz. In the mid 1890s, Pond was living in San Francisco and was working as a manager at A. Schilling & Co. (August Schilling and George F. Volkmann) wholesale dealers in coffee, teas, spices, flavoring extracts and baking powder at 108-112 Market Street. One block from Lash’s. It is during this period that he met John Spieker and Tito Lash. Whether he worked directly with them or as a business associate, I can not determine, but he must have gained their confidence as he moved to Chicago and opened and managed the Lash’s Bitters Co. office in 1901. The ad below is from a Chicago business directory that year.

The move for Pond to Chicago must have been sudden as the San Francisco City Directory in 1901, lists George M. Pond, as president of Pond & Company. They were doing foreign and domestic commissions, advertising novelties and calendars located at 12 and 22 Market Street in rooms 32-33. The directory would’ve already gone to press. I wonder if his company was doing advertising promotion for Lash’s and that was the connection? I doubt it was his son George Jr. as there would have been double listings in the resident section of directories from that period.

Pond’s Bitters Company

In 1909, George M. Pond left Lash’s and formed his own firm, Pond’s Bitters Company at 147 Fulton Street in Chicago. This picture card below shows Pond sitting on three boxes of his Pond’s Bitters surrounding by his office staff. [Joe Gourd Collection]

They would manufacture and sell Pond’s Bitters, their signature product. They also manufactured Pond’s Ginger Brandy, Pond’s Gin-Ger-Gin, and Pond’s Rock and Rye with Horehound. Their trade mark was a discobolus. Interesting that the head has been altered to face forward and down. Pre-PhotoShop cut-and-paste.

Pond would run the company with grand success until 1911 or 1912. It is then that we see John Schweger listed as president and Jacob Lamfrom as secretary at Pond’s Bitters Company now located at 723 Fulton Street. Pond would die on 30 May 1919, so maybe ill health or just advanced age made him leave the company.

Pond’s Bitters was now going national and in 1914, William F. O’Brien signed a contract with Pond’s Bitters Company to sell the bitters in parts of Pennsylvania and New York. The company would go on to manufacture Pond’s Cherry Whiskey (Cordial), Pond’s Kil-a-Kol and Pond’s Vermo Stomach Bitters. The Vermo Stomach Bitters was sold from 1919 to 1924 and was pitched as a tonic and appetizer. At this time, Jacob Lamfrom was President.

Suggestive Advertising

Just like Rex Bitters which started in Chicago in 1902, Pond’s Bitters put out a lot of advertising material and some of it was mildly risqué. Remember, Pond had a background in advertising and promotions in San Francisco. They would get in trouble with the same police chief and judge that hounded Rex Bitters when William E. Slaughter was president. In 1910, a summons was issued to Pond’s Bitters Company for distributing indecent advertising pictures near school houses.

Other complaints were filed against Pond’s Bitters Company by the city prosecutor for circulation of a picture postcard that, while innocent looking in itself, becomes offensive when held at a certain angle. Look at the card below when you turn it upside down and use your thumb to frame the new derriere image. [Joe Gourd Collection]

Of course, this is how advertising works. Catch your attention and then hopefully, you will read about the product and then buy some.

Read: If you can’t do business, drink Rex Bitters – Chicago

More trouble with the law

The Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 did not spell good news for the Pond’s Bitters Company. This act was set up for preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors, and for regulating traffic therein, and for other purposes. On August 23, 1912, Congressman Joseph Swagger Sherley’s proposed amendment, the Sherley Amendment, to Section 8 of the Pure Food and Drug Act, was enacted. It prohibited ‘false and fraudulent’ labeling of a product (though not advertising). The red tape was piling up.

In 1916, the City of Chicago sued Pond’s Bitters Company for selling spirituous liquor without a license. Tests proved that their product was 20 per cent alcohol. Obviously the feint of selling the bitters as a medicinal product was wearing off.

With Prohibition taking effect in January 1920, this would all come to a boiling point. In October of that year, a U.S. judge specifically targeted the heads of Rex Bitters Company and Pond’s Bitters Company. The judge went on to say, “and I want the presidents, not the office boys or any other minor officials of these two companies.”

Subpoenas were issued after a jurist had examined 60 quarts of liquor that had been seized by federal agents at local Chicago saloons. According to a newspaper report, “The 60 quarts were piled high in front of the jurist when he reached over and at random picked out two bottles. The first was that of the Rex Bitters Company, labeled ’22 percent alcohol’. The second was that of the Pond’s Bitters Company labeled ’20 percent alcohol’. These are rare remedies indeed to be found in saloons when Prohibition laws are in force,” said the jurist. Each of the defendants was fined $500.

In another bit of courtroom drama in 1920, Rex Bitters Company and Pond’s Bitters Company fought it out in front of the judge. A newspaper clipping (further below) was titled,”Bitter Folks Seem to be in Bitter Tangle.” where a Judge Landis made attempts to discover the extent of the sale in the trade of Pond’s Bitters. He had asked for samples from three saloon raids. He called to the stand Jacob Lamfrom, now president of Pond’s Bitters Company and asked,

“How much of this stuff did you make last month?“

“Fifteen Hundred cases” Lamfrom answered, and added that all of it had been sold to wholesale druggists and grocers.

“You didn’t sell any of it to saloons?“

“We do not solicit that trade.” sidestepped the president.

“I asked you if you sold and of it to saloons,” replied the judge vehemently.

The conversation degraded from there and eventually the judge ordered Lamfrom to be taken by United States Marshall’s and put behind bars.

Interestingly enough, a witness for the rival Rex Bitters Company was present and supplied information that Pond’s Bitters contained 21 per cent alcohol. Hmmm…, Rex Bitters contained 22 per cent alcohol.

1924 would pretty much wrap it up for Pond’s Bitters Company.

Fulton Market

Pond’s Bitters, throughout their years in business, had many Fulton Street addresses. They hopped down Fulton Street (pictured above) a number of times from 1909 to 1924, eventually landing at Fulton Market on the corner of Fulton and Green Streets.

James Thompson’s original 1830 plan of Chicago was centered on Wolf Point at the fork of the Chicago River and included much of the area that is today the Fulton River District. The street grid and block layout imposed on this small area defined the pattern of Chicago’s development as the city grew. Commerce dominated the district for much of its history. Lumber and grain were shipped through the district, and Sears and Roebuck’s first mail order warehouse was located at Fulton and DesPlaines. Randolph Street became the center of wholesale produce distribution in the late 19th Century and was the site of the famous Haymarket Square labor riots of 1886 on Des Plaines Street.

The Bottles

The Carlyn Ring and W.C. Ham listings in Bitters Bottles is as follows:

P 120 Pond’s Bitters (above)

POND’S BITTERS // f // AN UNEXCELLED / LAXATIVE // f //
L…Pond’s Genuine Laxative Bitters
9 5/8 x 2 3/4 (7 3/8)
Square, Amber, LTCR, Common
Also some ABM

P 121 Pond’s Kidney and Liver Bitters (above)

POND’S / KIDNEY AND LIVER / BITTERS // f // AN UNEXCELLED / LAXATIVE // f //
9 1/2 x 2 3/4 (7 1/4)
Square, Amber, LTCR, Common
Also some ABM
Considered to be the original and older than preceding. Some with Kidney and Liver partially obliterated.
Drug Catalogs: 1880 and 1885 Goodwin

V 15 Vermo Stomach Bitters (above)

VERMO / STOMACH BITTERS // f // TONIC AND APPETIZER // f //
833-845 Fulton St., Chicago, Illinois
9 1/2 x 2 3/4 (7 1/2)
Square, Clear, LTCR, Common

Newspaper advertisement for Vermo Stomach Bitters manufactured by Pond’s Bitters Company, Chicago – The Akron Beacon Journal, Wednesday, March 12, 1924

Newspaper advertisement for Vermo Stomach Bitters manufactured by Pond’s Bitters Company, Chicago – The Akron Beacon Journal, Monday, March 24, 1924

Advertising Trade Cards

The advertising cards in this post are primarily from the Joe Gourd and Ferdinand Meyer V collection. Most are catchy, humorous and inspire you to turn over and read the Pond’s Bitters Company product information. The addresses date the cards.

Probably the most interesting Pond’s Bitters advertising trade card of many. Reminds me of a piece by Dutch artist and graphic designer Maurits Cornelis Escher (M C Escher). Is this Sigmund Freud, George Morgan Pond or someone else? The reverse of the card provides no answer. – NIH U.S. Library of Medicine

Advertising Sign

Pond’s Laxative Bitters “Makes You Go Some” metal sign. 6 3/4 w x 5 h – Steve Ketcham

Facsimile Bank Note

Pond’s Bitters Co. Bank of Prosperity Facsimile Bank Note, circa 1910. – Ben Swanson collection.

Select Listings:

1854: Birth: George Morgan Pond, 29 May 1854, New York, the son of Loyal Sylvester Pond and Harriet Sarah Taylor, married Louise Fitch – U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

1860: George Pond, Age: 4, Birth Year: abt 1856, Birth Place: New York, Home in 1860: Scarsdale, Westchester, New York, Post Office: Scarsdale, Family Number: 4448, Household Members: George Pond 4, Louis Pond 1 – 1860 United States Federal Census

1870: George Pond, Age in 1870: 14, Birth Year: abt 1856, Birthplace: New York, Dwelling Number: 16, Home in 1870: New York Ward 15 District 3 (2nd Enum), New York, New York, Inferred Father: Loyal Pond, Inferred Mother: Harriet Pond, Household Members: Loyal Pond 56, Harriet Pond 51, Annie Pond 23, Kate Pond 16, George Pond 14, Guy Pond 11, Rainsferd Pond 8 – 1870 United States Federal Census

1879: George Morgan Pond, Age 25, birth act 1854, Clerk, Los Angeles, California – California, Voter Registers, 1866-1898

1880: George M. Pond, Occupation: Bookkeeper in Store, Age: 27, Birth Date: Abt 1853, Birthplace: New York, Home in 1880: Downey, Los Angeles, California, Dwelling Number: 189, Marital Status: Single, Father’s Birthplace: New York, Mother’s Birthplace: New York – 1880 United States Federal Census

1887: Newspaper notice: George M. Pond registers at the Wilken’s House hotel – San Francisco Examiner, Sunday, 17 July 1887

1888: George M. Pond, Sacramento, $10 contribution “The Pratt Murder Fund” – The San Francisco Examiner, Sunday, 12 August 1888

1890: Mr. & Mrs. George M. Pond from Santa Cruz came to San Francisco Monday – The San Francisco Call, Monday, 14 April 1890.

1896: George Morgan Pond, Age: 42, Birth Year: abt 1854, Residence Year: 1896, San Francisco, California – California, Voter Registrations, 1900-1968

1896-1897: George M. Pond, Manager, A Schilling & Co. (August Schilling and George F. Volkmann) wholesale dealers coffee, teas, spices, flavoring extracts and baking powder, 108-112 Market), r 1318 Masonic Ave., San Francisco – 1897 San Francisco, California City Directory

1898: George Morgan Pond, Age: 44, Birth Year: abt 1854, Residence Year: 1898, San Francisco, California – California, Voter Registrations, 1900-1968

1898: George M. Pond, Com. Salesman, A Schilling & Co. r 1318 Masonic Ave., San Francisco – San Francisco, California City Directory

1899: George M. Pond, Com. Merchant, Luning Bldg,, r 1318 Masonic Ave., San Francisco – San Francisco, California City Directory

1900: George M. Pond, Merchant, Age: 46, Birth Date: May 1854, Birthplace: New York, Home in 1900: San Francisco, San Francisco, California, Street: Masonic Avenue, House Number: 1318, Marital Status: Married, Spouse’s Name: Louise Pond, Marriage Year: 1882, Father’s Birthplace: Vermont, Mother’s Birthplace: New Hampshire, Occupation: Merchant (General Index), Household Members: George M Pond 46, Louise Pond 43, Florence Pond 16 – 1900 United States Federal Census

1900: George Morgan Pond, Age: 46, Birth Year: abt 1854, Residence Year: 1900, Street address: 1318 Masonic av, Residence Place: San Francisco, California – California, Voter Registrations, 1900-1968

1901: George M. Pond, President, Pond & Co., foreign and domestic commissions, advertising novelties and calendars, 12 From and 22 Market, rooms 32-33, San Francisco – San Francisco, California City Directory

1901: Newspaper notice (below): Lash’s outlay $1,000 capital in Illinois – The Inter Ocean, Wednesday, May 29, 1901

1901: Lash’s Bitter’s Co., George M. Pond, manager, 149 and 151 E. Huron – Chicago, Illinois City Directory

1902: Newspaper notice (below): Lash’s Bitters Co., George M. Pond, Manager, 149 and 151 E. Huran – Chicago, Illinois City Directory

1903: George M. Pond, r 1318 Masonic Ave., San Francisco – 1903 San Francisco, California City Directory

1909: Pond’s Bitters Co., 147 Fulton – Chicago, Illinois City Directory

1909: Pond’s Bitters advertising trade card circa 1909. Pond’s Bitters Co., 149-155 Fulton Street

1910-1911: Pond’s Bitters Co., 723 Fulton – Chicago, Illinois City Directory

1910: George M Pond, Manufacturer Patent Medicine, Age in 1910: 51, Birth Year: abt 1859, Birthplace: New York, Home in 1910: New Trier, Cook, Illinois, Street: Elmwood Ave, House Number: 730, Married, Spouse’s Name: Louise Pond, Father’s Birthplace: Vermont, Mother’s Birthplace: New Hampshire, Household Members: George M Pond 51, Louise Pond 50, Florence Pond 25 – 1910 United States Federal Census

1910: Newspaper notice (below): Summons issued to Pond’s Bitters Company, 721 Fulton Street, for distributing indecent advertising pictures near school houses – The Inter Ocean, Thursday, November 17, 1910

1910: Newspaper notice (below): Pond’s Ginger Brandy and Pond’s Rock and Rye, Pond’s Bitters Company, Chicago – Chicago Tribune, Saturday, July 16, 1910

1910: Pond’s Bitters advertising trade card circa 1910. Pond’s Bitters Co., 721-723 Fulton Street

1912-1913: Pond’s Bitters Co., (John Schweger, President, Jacob Lamfrom, Secretary), 723 Fulton – Chicago, Illinois City Directory

1914: Newspaper notice (below): William F. O’Brien sign contract with pond’s Bitters Company to sell the bitters in parts of Pennsylvania and New York – The Scranton Truth, Saturday, June 20, 1914

1915: Pond’s Bitters Co., 833 Fulton – Chicago, Illinois City Directory

1915: Pond’s Bitters advertising trade card circa 1915. Pond’s Bitters Co., 833-845 Fulton Street

1916: Newspaper notice (below): City Sues ‘Pond’s Bitters.’ for selling spirituous liquor without a license, 833 Fulton Street, Tests prove 20 per cent alcohol – Chicago Tribune, Saturday, June 17, 1916

1916: Newspaper notice (below): Pond’s Bitters Bookkeeper Felled by Bandit in Elevated Station (Mary O’Shea) – Chicago Tribune, Saturday, December 3, 1916

1919: Death: George Morgon Pond, 30 May 1919, Wilmette, Cook County, Illinois, Cemetery: Graceland Cemetery, Burial or Cremation Place: Chicago, Cook County, Illinois – U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

1920: Newspaper notice (below): Boys, over 16, Wanted for light factory work at Pond’s Bitters Company, Fulton and Green Streets – Chicago Tribune, Thursday, March 11, 1920

1920: Newspaper notice (below): Subpoenas issued for heads of Rex Bitters and Ponds Bitters companies – Journal Gazette, Saturday, October 16, 1920

1920: Rex and Pond’s Bitters fighting it out in court. “Bitter Folks Seem to be in Bitter Tangle, Jacob Lamfrom, president called to stand – Daily Arkansas Gazette, Monday, October 18, 1920

1922: War on all Dealers Selling “Bitters.” Vermo Stomach Bitters made by Pond’s Bitters Company – The Akron Beacon Journal, Thursday, May 4, 1922

1923: Pond’s Bitters Co., Jacob Lamfrom, President & Treasurer, J K Lamfrom, Secretary 833 Fulton Market – Chicago, Illinois City Directory

1924: Newspaper advertisement (above in post) for Vermo Stomach Bitters manufactured by Pond’s Bitters Company, Chicago – The Akron Beacon Journal, Wednesday, March 12, 1924

Posted in Advertising, Apothecary, Bitters, Druggist & Drugstore, Ephemera, History, Liquor Merchant, Medicines & Cures, Spirits, Tonics, Trade Cards | Tagged advertising, Antique, bitters, Bottle, chicago, Fulton, George Morgan Pond, History, illinois, Joe Gourd, John Joseph Spieker, judge, kidney, Lash, law, Laxative, Liver, manager, Medicine, New York, Pond, Pond's, Prohibition, Rex, risque, San Francisco, sex, Steve Ketcham, Vermo | Leave a comment

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