The Life & Love of H.S. Barton — Kentucky’s Erudite Distiller

 

Educated at leading American universities in multiple areas of engineering and earning a law degree, Henry Shepard “Harry” Barton likely was the most highly educated distiller in pre-Prohibition Kentucky and possibly America.  Moving from academia to making whiskey, Barton is said to have studied hard in order to learn proper distilling technique.  But what had Barton’s education taught him about romance?

Harry Barton was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in October 1873, the son of Frances Pierce and Samuel Bailey Barton.  A prosperous farmer, the father had been born in Pennsylvania from a family that could trace its ancestry back to an officer in the Revolutionary War.  As Kentucky opened its lands to settlers from the East, Samuel migrated there and claimed a substantial acreage of fertile farmland.  Harry’s mother was a New Yorker who had married Samuel about 1860.  Over the next 15 years the couple would have three children, daughters Mary and Atlanta, and a dozen years later, Harry.

From the beginning the parents apparently recognized that the boy was gifted with unusual intelligence.  At a time when most farmers’ sons quit school at 16 or earlier, they mustered the resources to send the boy through secondary education and onto some of America’s most prestigious universities.  After graduating from the University of Louisville, Harry studied electrical engineering at Rose Polytechnic University in Terre Haute, Indiana, shown here. That was followed by courses in civil and mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  By this time Samuel Barton had died and some of his estate may have settled on Harry. Still collecting knowledge, the youth then went east to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he earned a law degree.  He was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1900 at the age of 27.  

There is no indication that Harry Barton ever practiced law.  By now related through marriage to one of Kentucky’s premier whiskey making dynasties, he gravitated to distilling.  His sister Atlanta had married James Thompson, an Irish immigrant whose cousin was George Garvin Brown [See post on Brown, January 9, 1920]. With help from Brown, Thompson opened a liquor house in Louisville, purchasing bulk whiskey and creating a blend he called “Old Thompson.”

In order to assure a continuing supply of whiskey for his brand Thompson was on the lookout to buy a distillery of his own.  The opportunity came when Richard  Monarch, a Kentucky “Whiskey Baron” with lavish spending habits, found his debts exceeding his assets by $1 million dollars ($25 million in today’s dollar) and declared bankruptcy. [See post on R. Monarch, Jan. 4, 2017.] In 1901 Thompson bought the Monarch Distillery in Owensboro, Kentucky, and promptly asked brother-in-law Harry to take charge.   Despite Barton’s lack of experience in the distilling industry, Thompson was banking on his intelligence and studious temperament to carry the day.  He had made a wise choice.

Barton promptly moved from Louisville 105 miles west to Owensboro.  There he found a distillery with a mashing capacity of 750 bushels per day that was suffering from several years of uncertain management — and went back to school:  “To perfect himself in the distilling technique and in the knowledge of fermentology, Mr. Barton studied and worked under the direction of eminent chemists.”  Now known as The Glenmore Distillery, the facility under Barton’s care quickly gained a reputation for making high quality whiskey.  The facility became one of the largest distilleries in Kentucky.  Shown below, it was said to be capable of producing 720 barrels of whiskey a day.

This quantity of production made possible a blizzard of new brands for Thompson, including “Owensboro Club,” “Anchorage,” “Old Cabin Brooks,” “Old Happy Days,” “Kentucky Midland,” “Old Prescription,” “Kent,” “Tom Hardy,” “Two Naturals,” and “Short Horn Club.”  In tribute to Harry’s success another brand was named “H.S. Barton.”  Labels such as “Kentucky Beauty” and “Kentucky Tavern” would be credited to “H.S. Barton, Distiller.”  Harry was advanced to vice president of Thompson Distilling, a position he held for the rest of his life.

Despite his growing wealth and prestige in the Kentucky distilling community, Barton must have felt something missing in his life:  the companionship of a woman.  Living in a rented room in an Owensboro boarding house, he went home at night to a solitary and likely lonely existence.  Enter Anne Lee, shown here.  Anne was the daughter of Joseph Lee, the mayor of Owensboro from 1884 to 1890.  Three years younger than Barton, she worked as a stenographer and clerk in her father’s insurance business.

When and where the couple met is lost in the mists of history.  The romance that ensued, however, would be a lasting one.  Yet for unexplained reasons the couple never married.  Early in the 20th Century, a liaison such as theirs must have caused considerable consternation and disapproval in Owensboro.  Two biographies by descendants on Ancestry state that Anne was Harry’s wife.  The distiller’s obituary in the local newspaper indicated — correctly — that bachelor Bolton never married.

The photograph above indicates the aplomb with which both families apparently accepted the relationship between the two.   It shows four adults sitting together obviously having a good time.  At left is Harry Barton who is holding the arms of his sister, Atlanta.  Facing her is a smiling Anne Lee, backed by her married sister, Forrest Lee Sweeney.  It appears that whatever the relationship between Harry and Anne, it was all in the family. 

 

Barton branched out into other activities.  Major operations like the Glenmore Distillery used thousands of glass and ceramic containers monthly.  Kinks in the supply lines could cause serious disruption in production and sales.  Apparently having difficulty receiving the quantity, and perhaps the quality of whiskey jugs required, Barton founded the Owensboro Clay Products Company.An outdoorsman, he also undertook the promotion of a small lake as a private retreat about 25 miles from Owensboro.  Shown below, the place was known as the Indian Lake Club.

  

Unlike the vast majority of other distillers who lost their livelihood with the coming of National Prohibition, Barton stayed engaged in making whiskey throughout the 14 “dry” years.  Federal regulations authorized six licenses to continue to make whiskey for “medicinal purposes.”  The Glenmore Distillery in Owensboro was fortunate to obtain one of them.  Throughout Prohibition, local directories continued to identify Barton as “distiller.”   With Repeal in 1934, he once again moved to increase production.

The era of Repeal, however, was not without its challenges.  In 1938 a fire virtually gutted Glenmore Distillery.  Four warehouses, the bottling house and a shipping building were destroyed, 33,000 barrels of whiskey burned and a substantial stock of bottled goods lost. The flaming whiskey set the Ohio River on fire and spread the conflagration to the Indiana shores, incinerating several barns.   Under the guidance of Bolton, Glenmore survived.  The distillery itself was saved and quickly resumed production.  To prevent future disasters the warehouses were rebuilt a distance from the main plant.  Dike were built along the river to prevent fiery spillage from reaching shore. 

As he aged, Barton’s health declined although he continued to hold the title of vice president of the Thompson company.  In early December 1941, after an extended illness, he died and was buried in Louisville, the city of his birth, in Cave Hill Cemetery, a place of rest for many of Kentucky’s “Whiskey Barons.”  Shown here is the tall obelisk that marks his grave.  Anne Lee, who died 15 years later, never having married, is buried separately at the Rosehill Elmwood Cemetery in Owensboro.

Whatever the arrangement between Harry and Anne may have been in life, the provisions of Bolton’s will left no doubt of the bond between them.  The legal document revealed:  “Paragraph 2 of the will establishes a trust with a life estate in one Anne Lee.”  While she lived, Harry’s entire inheritance was hers.  Bolton’s next of kin were twelve nephews and nieces, all of whom might have expected a bequest.  Yet they made no move to challenge their uncle’s will, indicating their recognition of the important role Anne Lee had played in Barton’s life.

Note:  This post, including images, was gathered from multiple Internet sources.  Barton’s obituary from the Owensboro newspaper was particularly helpful as was material on the Barton “find a grave” site.

Addendum:  Just one day ago this Internet site reached the mark of 1.3 million “hits” from viewers worldwide.  Once I would have thought this an impossible number, but it more than validates my belief that many individuals are interested in the universe of distillers, dealers, brokers, saloonkeepers and bartenders who personified the American whiskey trade in the days before National Prohibition in 1920.