Foreword: When I find material on an individual or family engaged in the liquor trade that is well written, I frequently ask permission to incorporate it into this website, with appropriate modifications or additions. Recently Rick Lynch sent me a piece on his Lynch great grandfather whom I had been researching. After reviewing Rick’s input I decided that his contribution should be incorporated into my material and images. Rick agreed and the following is the co-authored result.
John Kennedy Lynch I, shown here, was born in Woodville, Jefferson County, New York, on November 11, 1844. He was the first of the Lynch family line to be born in the United States. His father, Matthew, born in Limerick Ireland, emigrated to the United States with his wife, Hannah Kennedy, also a native of Ireland. Matthew died at the age of 55, while Hannah lived to be 82.
Educated in Oswego, New York, in 1864 at the age of twenty Lynch’s entrepreneurial spirit emerged as he opened a retail grocery store on Seneca Street. He conducted his grocery business for nine years but was not satisfied with the results. Lynch always kept his eye and mind open for new business opportunities, and soon he became convinced a new chance was to be had in strawberries.
In 1863, Morris Pierce brought a few quarts of strawberries to a local Oswego market to sell. They were “gazed at as a curiosity by hundreds of persons and sold at one cent per berry.” This initial sale established market demand in Oswego for the delicious berries, and soon other cultivators were growing strawberries in the region.
In 1873, Lynch decided to join the strawberry race, and launched a new produce business, cultivating and selling strawberries in Oswego, and beyond. He became largely instrumental in building up the well-known Oswego strawberry industry, and eventually emerged as one of its two leading producers. He was noted as the first strawberry producer to send a shipment of berries by rail in a refrigerated car in 1888. Lynch sent his shipments to New York City, Philadelphia, and Newark via the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&WRR), using rail distribution to reach a broader market, and his berries gained popularity for their unique attributes, noted for “possessing a flavor and solidity unequalled”.
Lynch’s main competitor was J. Heagerty, and it was noted there was “active competition in buying” between the two. By 1894, over 15,000 36-quart crates were shipped from Oswego to the market, that now expanded to the Boston area as well. The wholesale price was nine cents per quart, which represented a $50,000 annual industry for Oswego - roughly $1.5 million in value in today’s dollars.
As he was advancing in business, Lynch also found time for a personal life. In 1870, at the age of 28, he married. His bride was Ellen Wing, 20, a resident of Oswego who had been born in Ireland. The couple would go on to have ten children over the next 21 years, of whom nine would live to maturity. In time Lynch would house this growing family in a spacious home on Oswego’s East Eighth Street, one featuring six bedrooms and three baths. Shown here, the building is still used a residence.
As he entered his 30s, Lynch already was an experienced entrepreneur with a reputation as a “man of energy and enterprise” and considered “experienced and reliable in his business dealings”. The strawberry business was going well. With a growing family to house and feed, however, he may not have been content with profitability and looked around for other opportunities. He found one in selling whiskey.
In 1882, Lynch formed a partnership with Edward V. Mitchell to operate a wholesale liquor store on West First Street in Oswego, purchasing the business from Mitchell’s father for $16,000. Mitchell apparently was not a great partner, as it was noted he “did not give the attention to the business that it demanded.” Moreover, during the years of their relationship, Mitchell drew out more than $14,000 for his personal use, a large portion of which was used in betting and maintaining fast horses.
Although Lynch himself was interested in owning and racing horses and had won some recognition for his track successes, Mitchell’s vices eventually became too much. In June 1892, the pair agreed to end their partnership. Lynch’s share bought out for $5,000, paid by Mitchell’s father. Although the local press wrote that Lynch was retiring from the liquor trade, in fact, he was not done selling whiskey. In July 1892, just a month later, the press reported the launch of his new business, with the headline “Mr. Lynch Will Go It Alone”.
With aggressive efforts similar to those he had brought to marketing strawberries, by August 1892, Lynch had obtained a saloon license and eleven days later secured a contract to become the exclusive Oswego distributor for Imperial Beer. Soon after he travelled by horse and wagon as far as Cincinnati and Louisville to establish partnerships with distillers and liquor distributors. His objective, Lynch announced, was to secure “the best line of goods” to merchandise.
The Oswego Palladiam frequently provided updates of John K. Lynch’s business (he was also a frequent advertiser) “J.K. Lynch, the liquor dealer, is driving about town with his new delivery wagon. The horses and wagon both present a fine appearance.” Just a year after his opening the Oswego Chamber of Commerce in its annual publication recognized Lynch’s success in a “relatively short time,” noting that “his business extends throughout Central and Western New York and portions of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.” The Chamber write-up also cited the size of Lynch’s store and basement warehouse, the quality of his stock and the efficiency of his staff which included two “on the road” representatives.
Lynch was the distributor for many popular liquors from his 101 East First Street business location, including advertising a substantial array of national brands, among them: Ryes: Old Horsey, Mount Vernon, Guckenheimer, Finch’s, Old Overholt. Bourbons: Meadow Run, Old Kentucky, A. Kellar, Lenox, Hanning, Chimney Corner. Blends: Old Mountain, Mechanics Club, Hawthorne, Silver Creek, Monogram.
He also offered his own house brands, including “Monte Carlo,” “JKL & Sons Bourbon” and “Lynch’s Malt.” His flagship label was “Lynch’s Golden Wedding Whiskey,” said to be made by “wedding” five whiskeys, primarily bourbon and rye, into one distinct blend. The label was a direct aping of the most popular “wedding” whiskey of the time, Finch’s Golden Wedding. Lynch’s version is believed even to have used a similar bottle style.
Much of Lynch’s “house” whiskey came in ceramic jugs ranging in size from half gallons to full gallons and larger. Shown here are examples of his containers. At top left is an example of a “scratch jug” in which the label has been directly scratched into the brown Albany slip glaze. This was considered the most primitive way of advertising the origin of the contents. Many Eastern distillers and dealers, Lynch included, preferred a cursive over-glaze labeling method shown right above and below. After a jug had been partially fired, a label would be applied with a special stylus, often using a cobalt blue “ink.” Because script was done by hand and by various pottery workers, no two jugs look exactly alike. Today collectors find this a valuable trait.
By 1913, Lynch’s business was thriving and expanding. He purchased a large bottling plant across the road from his liquor house. It allowed him to bottle Crown Beer under his own label, advertising as the “local agent” for Bartels Brewing Company, the Syracuse brewery that produced it. As shown here, bottles bearing the embossing of “John K. Lynch” can be found in both amber and clear. He also advertising vigorously in newspapers and periodicals and through shot glasses bearing his name and brands. In turn the local press celebrated Lynch with a caricature and a verse:
As he aged, Lynch could look to a career that, as one newspaper put it: “In business and in a social way, he has been prominent for many years, and as to know him was to like him, his friends were legion….He was a liberal contributor to charity and to every cause that would tend to the improvement of Oswego.” He could also bask in the affection of his many children, their spouses and a host of grandchildren. The marvelous family photograph below, likely taken at Christmas 1914, shows a grandfatherly Lynch, age 70, sitting with a toddler on his lap while across the room, Grandmother Ellen, holds two. What pride he must have felt to be surrounded by so handsome a family.
Thought to be in good health by acquaintances, news in February 1916 that Lynch was ill with pneumonia came as a surprise in Oswego, turning to shock two days later when he succumbed to his illness at age 72. After a funeral Mass at his parish church, Lynch was buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery. Surrounding his burial site today are the graves of his widow, Ellen, their son, John Patrick Jr. and other family members.
Until his 1916 death, Lynch had operated his liquor house for 30 years. Along the way his son John Kennedy Lynch Jr., had joined his father in business, After his father’s death, Lynch Jr. continued to operate the business under the same name. He had only five more years before National Prohibition was imposed on January 1, 1920, a devastating blow for the alcohol manufacturing, distribution and retail industry.
Shown here, despite Prohibition Lynch Jr. tried to keep the business going. In January 1920, he was reported offering to sell his whiskey for medicinal purposes, still legal with a doctor’s prescription. Local drama erupted over this issue. Druggists in Oswego had refused to put whiskey on their shelves. Local doctors, after posting a $1,000 bond, had obtained permits to prescribe whiskey as a medicinal. With no drugstores providing it, however, their patients had no place to obtain spirits. Doctors and druggists both were decried for “passing the buck.”
Lynch Jr. stepped up to announce he had applied to the Collector of Internal Revenue for a permit to wholesale liquor for non-beverage purposes. Local press reported that Lynch had fifty barrels of whiskey in bond, “which by the way would have netted him a profit of about $20,000, had the the war-time prohibition ban been lifted.” The whiskey cost him about $1.50 per gallon to produce, and the tax on non-beverage liquor added an additional $2.20 per gallon. Lynch Jr. estimated he could sell his whiskey for medicinal purposes for “around $2 per quart” ($8.00 per gallon). It appears his request was denied buy authorities and after 35 years in the liquor trade, the Lynch liquor house closed its doors permanently.
Lynch Jr., like his father, was well connected socially and politically. The local press credited him with being responsible for bringing then presidential candidate, Franklin D Roosevelt, to Oswego for a campaign stop. He also served a term on the Oswego Board of Health and subsequently was named City Chamberlain, a highly responsible post. As Chamberlain, Lynch Jr. collected all taxes, water and sewer charges and other fees and rentals owed the city. He also was charged with enforcing the collection of delinquent property taxes and liens due the city and responsible for receiving, holding and disbursing city funds.
Lynch Jr. also had a private life. In April 1922, he married Helen Genevieve Troll, who was described in the press as “a charming and accomplished young woman, a talented musician, and possessed of many graces and a winsome personality which has endeared her to a wide circle of friends.” Over the next 15 years they would have four children.
In 1921,Lynch Jr. decided to apply his well-honed business skills to a new product — the automobile. Aggressive in business like his father, in April 1921 he launched a new auto dealership, called the J. K. Lynch Sales Company. The first vehicle he offered was the Republic Truck, somewhat ironically a vehicle commonly used pre-Prohibition to transport beer. In 1923, Lynch Jr. also became a dealer for the popular Willys-Knight Overland, built in Toledo, Ohio, then one of the nation’s largest automobile manufacturers. Although Prohibition ended in 1934, Lynch Jr. declined to re-enter the whiskey trade, well satisfied to sell motor vehicles.
Notes: Rick Lynch, co-author of this post, and his wife Gia in 2020 founded Everwild Spirits, a craft bourbon distillery and bistro in downtown Sandusky, Ohio. Keeping alive the Lynch family tradition, the couple feature their own brands of whiskey, including “Seeker’s Wheated Bourbon.” The establishment also offers other beverages, appetizers and desserts. I also am indebted to Rick’s mother, Judy Lynch, for her help in filling in and correcting details of the family story.
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