Ellison & Harvey Rode the Bull To Success

In the wake of the Civil War in the former capital of the Confederacy, wounded veteran Lucas “Luke” Harvey met Irish immigrant William Ellison and together they created a successful Richmond, Virginia, liquor house whose flagship whiskey celebrated a Durham bull that collectors today celebrate as “iconic.”

The story began in 1843 when Luke was born in Amherst, a small Virginia town about 100 miles due west of Richmond, the son of Catherine and Joseph L. Harvey.  When the boy was six, his 30-year-old father died leaving Luke’s mother to care for six children ranging in age from eight to infancy.   As the eldest son, Luke appears to have left school at an early age.  The 1860 census found him at 17 in Lynchburg, Virginia, working as a salesman for a merchant named Engledore and living in his home.

After the Civil War broke out,  Harvey was quick to enlist in the 11th Virginia Infantry Regiment.  Unlike most recruits, he entered as a corporal in Company A, indicating leadership skills.  His early service apparently was exemplary. By September 1861 Harvey had advanced to sergeant.  By then, the 11th Virginia Infantry had seen fierce combat at Bull Run, Williamsburg, and other early battles.  In the process the regiment steadily suffered losses.

In May 1862 Harvey sustained a serious wound at Seven Pines, Virginia, the battle shown above.   It kept him out of combat until September 1863 when he returned to his unit.  Apparently still plagued by his injury, Harvey was discharged from further service the following September. The 11th fought to war’s end, suffering many soldiers killed or captured.  At the Appomattox surrender only one officer and 28 men remained of the regiment.

Harvey’s employment after being mustered out of the Confederate army appears to have been in the grocery business, operating a store on South 17th St. between Main and Cary in Richmond.   As with most grocers Harvey almost certainly was selling liquor.  The year 1870 was a pivotal year for him.  He married. The new Mrs. Harvey was born Betty Barbara Hargrove from Hanover, Virginia, a hamlet about 18 miles from Richmond.  She was 17, Luke was 27.  They would have three sons, one of whom died in adolescence. 

The same year, perhaps motivated by his new marital responsibilities, Harvey abandoned selling lettuce and lentils in favor of opening a liquor store.  As shown below left, in a 1870 ad the veteran announced the opening of L. Harvey & Co., Wholesale Liquor Dealers,  at 1512 Main Street in Richmond.  He featured Jos. Robinson’s “Olive Branch Rye.”  Shortly after, an Irish immigrant named William Ellison published an ad, below right, that proclaimed him to be a “wholesale liquor dealer” featuring “wines, liquors and Virginia rye whiskies.”  Ellison’s establishment was located at 1440 Main Street, less than a block away from Harvey’s.  Note that the newspaper used the same stock illustration for both ads.

Apparently it dawned on both men that they would be better off combining their enterprises rather than competing.  Thus in 1871 the liquor house of Ellison & Harvey was born in Richmond.  The partnership proved to be a stable one, existing almost 35 years.   As further proof of the good relations between the men, in 1881 Harvey gave his second son the name “William Ellison.”  

The collaboration resulted in the partners establishing their own brands of whiskey, likely undertaking their own “rectifying,” that is, blending whiskeys to achieve the desired taste, color and smoothness.  Among their labels, as shown here on a shipping crate, was “Virginia Club.”  Although the box proclaims that the partners had trademarked that name, I can find no record of it.  Another label, “Old Bull” was registered with the federal government in 1906 and the company flagship, “Old Durham,” in 1878.

The early trademarking of the name “Old Durham” indicated that Ellison & Harvey knew they had hit on a whiskey and a name that captured public attention.  Bull Durham Smoking Tobacco was a highly popular brand of loose-leaf tobacco manufactured by W.T. Blackwell and Company in Durham, North Carolina originating during the 1850s.  In an era of roll-your-own Bull Durham was a household name.   The partners had struck gold.

They advertised Old Durham aggressively.  An ad that ran in  the Richmond Dispatch on February 24, 1879, read in part:  “Durham Whiskey.—The great  success we have met with thus far in the sale of this whiskey, and the satisfaction given wherever introduced induces us to recommend it to all who wish to get a really pure article of whiskey.  All we ask is a fair trial, and we are satisfied it will compare favorably with any whiskey in the United States.”   A later ad carried a testimonial from an M.D. identified as “state chemist” who found Durham Old Rye “free from adulterations” and “an excellent article of whiskey” with medicinal qualities.

Ellison and Harvey also designed a distinctive quart bottle for Old Durham.  The firm commissioned an amber blog top quart unique among whiskey bottles. As shown above, the back side featured a flat raised disc known as a "foot".  It served two purposes:  First, as shown above, it allowed the bottle to rest on its side in situations where it might be inclined to roll, as for example aboard ship.

 

Second, the disc provided a perfect backdrop for the embossed label.  The depiction of a bull — the only one like it on a whiskey bottle — is straightforward and the label a simple “Durham Whiskey.”  Found in shades of amber, the bottle frequently draws comments for its suggestion of bull genitalia.  As one observer has noted: “…There’s no doubt about the sex of the critter when you look at the embossing pattern.”

The bull was similarly displayed prominently on shot glasses made to the partners’ design.  Those would have been given to saloons, restaurants, and hotels selling Old Durham and their other brands.  I am particularly impressed with the acid etching on the glass at left below.  Not only is the bull well realized but has been given something of a personality as it gazes directly outward. 

Over the lifetime of their firm, Ellison & Harvey Company apparently located at only two addresses, 1309 East Carey Street, shown here at it looks today, and later at 1216 East Carey.  Both addresses are in a district of Richmond known as Shockoe Slip.  This area was destroyed by fire at the conclusion of the Civil War when the Confederates torched tobacco warehouses and the conflagration spread.  The district was rebuilt in the 1860s and flourished during ensuing decades. Now considered historic, in recent years Shockoe Slip has been the trendy site of restaurants, shops and high priced apartments.

Ellison & Harvey rode the Durham Bull to success and prosperity in Richmond for more than 30 years.  Prohibition’s vice was tightening in Virginia, however, as towns and counties by local option voted “dry.”  The market for the partners’ whiskey was dwindling steadily.   By the turn of the century both men were aging and possibly experiencing health problems.  Early in the 1900s the partners closed the doors on Ellison & Harvey Wholesale Liquors and retired.

Within the next decade both men would die. The first to succumb was Luke Harvey at age 65 in 1908.  He was buried in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery, beneath the Celtic cross monument shown here.  His wife, Betty joined him there in 1928.  William Ellison followed three years later at age 71.  He lies buried with his wife, Allie Hix, under a memorial bearing a Masonic symbol. 

Note:  This post was composed by referencing a wide variety of online sources, including particularly ancestry.com, pre-pro.com, and the FOHBC Virtual Museum.