Edward Sheehan: Georgia’s Irish Lord of Bottles and Booze

      

Note:  The tall, distinguished-looking man above standing in front of his bar is Edward Sheehan, saloonkeeper, liquor and beer dealer and bottler of soft drinks in Augusta, Georgia.  Sheehan’s story is one of an enterprising  immigrant Irish boy who made good in America.  As in the past, when a valid account already exists of a notable whiskey man, I try to use it.  In this case a short biography was written several years ago by Sheehan’s great grandson, Atty. Chris Edwards of Jupiter, Florida,  With his kind permission it is reprinted here.

Edward Sheehan [also shown left] was born in Castlemagner, County Cork, Ireland, on June 24, 1849 (his birth name was “Edmond,” but he was known as “Ed” and upon immigrating to America, everyone assumed his name was “Edward,” so he adopted the name to avoid confusion.)  He was baptized in 1849 in Mallow Parish, County Cork, by the Reverend W. Hogan. Edward was the son of Edmond Sheehan and Catherine Ring. He spent his childhood on Bitter Hill Farm, where he helped his father try to make a living as a wheat farmer. 

In 1864, when the rent on the property became excessive, his father shipped him and his three elder siblings to America in the company of their cousin, James.   Edward was only fifteen years old at the time. They sailed from Cork in an overcrowded disease-ridden cargo vessel called a “coffin ship.” Their fare only included transportation so they had to bring all their own provisions for the journey.   They arrived in New York Harbor in early 1865, where James took up residence in Brooklyn, establishing a branch of the Sheehan family in the state of New York.

Edward and his siblings then traveled south to Savannah, and finally made their way to Augusta, Georgia, where they arrived on February 14, 1865. They were taken in by two Irish families, the Barretts and Harrises, who lived on Milledge Road.  Edward Sheehan soon found employment at a city bottling business, washing bottles by hand. He started work each morning after attending six o’clock mass, worked all day, and then went to the local night school under the instruction of Professor Pelot.  Four years later, in 1869, he and his family had saved enough money to send for their parents, Edmond and Catherine. 

On October 27, 1874, Edward Sheehan married Anna Catherine Hickey, the daughter of John A. Hickey and Mary Hallinan, who had immigrated from County Limerick, Ireland, in 1851 (Annie’s birth on June 20, 1851 was first noted in New York City, where she was baptized, however, she may have actually been born during the passage across the Atlantic Ocean.) Edward and Annie were married in Augusta, Georgia, by Father O’Riley in what was then called St. Patrick’s Church (now the Church of the Most Holy Trinity). His best man at the wedding was also his best friend and future business partner, James Doyle. 

Edward Sheehan and his new wife, Anna Hickey, moved to Savannah, where Edward worked at several places, including a grocery store. He was then taken under the wing of John Ryan at the John Ryan Excelsior Bottle Works on Bay Street near the Savannah River. In 1880, when yellow fever broke out in Savannah, Edward Sheehan sent his pregnant wife and two young children (John & Catherine) back to Augusta, Georgia.  Their son, Edward “Knockie” Sheehan, Jr., was born later that year on October 27, 1880. Edward and Anna eventually had thirteen children (three of whom died during infancy).

In 1882, after rejoining his family in Augusta, Edward started the Sheehan Excelsior Bottling Works with his old friend James Doyle. The company was originally located at 1025 Greene Street, but in the 1890’s was moved to the 1100 block of Broad Street, right next door to a bar. The company’s mainstay was the beer they bottled for another firm, but Edward also marketed his own soft drinks, including sarsaparilla, orange juice and lemon soda. 

Toward the end of the century, Edward and his family moved into a five-bedroom house at 1334 Broad Street. The house had a big front porch with a hallway running the length of the house from the entrance to the back porch. On the ground floor were a front parlor, sitting room, dining room, butler’s pantry and an enormous kitchen. The bedrooms were on the second floor along with one bathroom near the back porch.

The house was built next to the home of Mayor Walsh, who offered a small pecan tree to Edward as a housewarming gift. Edward declined the offer, explaining that the horses and wagons from his transfer company would surely trample over the small sprig if planted in his front yard. Mayor Walsh then planted the tree next to the fence that separated their two yards and invited the Sheehan children to gather as many of the pecans from the tree as they desired. The tree is still standing in the Curtis Baptist Church parking lot (Edward’s house was demolished in the 1950s to make room for the parking lot.)

Edward was a man of great stature, both physically and in character. He stood six feet two inches tall, but was known to be quite a gentle man, never raising his voice or using a word of profanity. He did not smoke or drink, and his whole life was centered around his family, church and business. When his brother, Michael, drowned in the Savannah River on November 4, 1896, Edward assumed financial responsibility for his wife and young children. Edward was also a devoted and generous member of the Sacred Heart Church, and he attended mass on a daily basis. He donated the “Marriage Feast of Cana” stained-glass window in the church in memory of his younger brother, Michael.

As the century turned, Edward shortened the name of his bottling company to Sheehan Bottling Works. During this period of time, he was also approached by representatives of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company concerning the possibility of operating a bottling franchise in the Augusta, Georgia area. Prior to 1899, Coke was a small business which only sold syrup to soda fountains, but that year they divided the country into territories and started selling the bottling rights to local entrepreneurs. 

Edward had an opportunity to become the first bottler of Coke in his area of Georgia and South Carolina. He declined the offer because he thought Coca-Cola was a fad, and he preferred the taste of his own sodas. By 1909, nearly 400 Coca-Cola bottling plants were operating, most of them family-owned businesses. Edward did, however, start to branch out into other businesses. He continued to operate his transfer company, and he also opened a grocery store, as well as several saloons and bars. In addition, he managed the Robert Portner Brewing Company. 

Edward’s wife, Annie Hickey, died on June 24, 1912, of cancer, and was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Augusta, Georgia. Annie’s younger sister, Mary Hickey, was a Catholic nun who became Mother Superior of the Sacred Heart Convent in Augusta, Georgia. After the death of his wife, Edward Sheehan continued to operate his businesses, but also started to spend more time with his children and grandchildren. 

As a hobby, he raised “game” chickens in his back yard with his eldest son, Johnnie. These chickens were used for cockfighting, not eating. At any given time, Edward and his son would have hundreds of “biddies” in an incubator they kept near the chicken coop. Edward also took care of the family horse “Row Locks,” which he housed in the stable behind his home. 

When World War I broke out in 1916, Edward Sheehan started having difficulties replacing the bottles in his business. Unfortunately, there was no deposit system in place, and a bottle of soda only sold for five cents a piece. When prohibition was ratified in 1919, his business began to crumble. 

Edward Sheehan died in Augusta, Georgia, on December 26, 1922, his bottling business at an end. He was buried in Magnolia Cemetery next to his beloved wife, Annie. Prior to his death at the age of 72, he had the distinction of being the oldest living independent bottler in the nation.

 

His youngest son, Aloysius “Bubba” Sheehan, died the following year. His eldest son, Johnnie, thrived during Prohibition, both as a bar owner and bootlegger (although he claimed never to have consumed the whiskey he sold). Johnnie was arrested seven times during the "dry" years  and he and his employee (a black man named Will Davis) took turns going to jail. Their cell had rugs on the floor, curtains on the windows, and a door that was never locked.

Afterword:  Some of the images I have added to Chris Edward’s biography come from photos of a display created by Augusta bottle collector, Walter Smith, who graciously allowed me to take and use them.  Other assistance came from Bill Baab who has written a much more comprehensive account of Sheehan’s career in his informative book “Augusta on Glass.”  Bill added the following comment:  "Edward Sheehan established his Excelsior Bottling Works on his own in 1880, celebrating his independence by dating all of his bottles with that year. Doyle was employed by the Augusta Brewing Co., as a wagon driver. Sheehan was best man at Doyle’s wedding and vice versa. Sheehan & Doyle existed in business only one year – 1888. For reasons unknown to the family, the two separated in 1889, Doyle returning to the brewery, They may have been best of friends, but did not click as businessmen together."

Steinhardt Bros.: Big Business in the Big Apple

Four brothers named Steinhardt -- Lewis, Morris, Henry and David -- created a pre-Prohibition liquor business in New York City that boasted multiple locations, a plethora of brands, attractive giveaways and fancy ceramic containers.  With that combination, the Steinhardts for a long time did big business in the Big Apple.

The four brothers were the sons of Simon and Sophia Steinhardt.  The parents were born in Austria and,  if census data is accurate,  moved to Germany where Lewis and Morris were born.  Sometime between 1853 and 1857 the family emigrated to the United States, settling in Manhattan.   All their other six children would be born in New York.

Simon seems to have forged a business career in his adopted country.   The 1870 census found him, Sophia and all eight children living on 16th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A.   Simon gave his occupation as cigar merchant.   By the time the next census was taken, things had changed significantly.   Lewis and Morris were no longer in the home but not recorded in other census data.   The rest of the family was still together, but Simon, 59,  and the two remaining sons,  Henry, 22, and David, 18,  all listed their occupation as “liquor dealer.”

And well they might have.  1880 marked the year that Steinhardt Bros. & Company first showed up in New York Business directories.  Their initial location was 456-458 Greenwich Street.   Lewis, the eldest Steinhardt appears to have been the top manager there.  Another location opened that same year and was listed at 192 Division Street.

There followed a proliferation of stores.  In 1885,  a Steinhardt location was listed for 313-315 Bowery.  David Steinhardt was recorded as manager there.  In 1890 stores were at  87-93 Hudson,  that Morris apparently was running, and at 2259 Second Avenue, the Harlem Branch.   A 1991 Steinhardt calendar cited the Bowery and Second addresses adding 299-301 Patchen Av., corner of Chauncy Street, in Brooklyn.  In a 1902,  a business directory shows the Steinhardts at 2207 Third Avenue and 134-138 Mott Street. A 1903 directory lists an outlet at 29 Ninth Street.   With four brothers and apparently for a time their father,  the Steinhardts could run multiple liquor stores.   Henry, for example, is listed as having a shop at 143 Broome.

The Steinhardts were not distillers.   They collected whiskey from a variety of sources,  “rectified” (mixed), probably at their Mott St. facility.  Now considered part of Chinatown, Mott in the early 1900s was a hotbed of new immigrants from Europe. The brothers sold their liquor both nationally and from outlets in New York.  For example,  Roxbury Rye,  one of the Steinhardt’s flagship labels, was a made in Maryland by George Gambrill [See June 2011 post].   Hauled into court by a disgruntled employee, Gambrill made the bizarre claim that he was not in the distilling business since his entire product  for five years -- 3,000 barrels of whiskey -- had been consigned to the Steinhardt Brothers and that, in effect, the Steinhardts owned his distillery.  The court rejected that defense out of hand.  Roxbury Rye deal apparently held, however, and the label was heavily advertised by the Steinhardts.

Other Steinhardt brands were “Littlemore,” “Old Methusalem,”  “Hill Side,”  “Lafayette Club Old Rye,”  ”Old Ballymore,” “Hill Brook,” “The Kintore,” “Emerald Brand,” “Mountain Dew”  and “White Lily Pure Rye.”  Like  many whiskey dealers of their time the Steinhardts featured lots of giveaways to favor customers.  If you stocked their Littlemore “whiskey of merit” in your saloon,  their largesse might include  colorful lithographed tip trays or a wooden wall clock.  For Hill Side Rye, the Steinhardts gifted a reverse glass sign.

What initially drew my interest to the Steinhardts, however, was not their giveaways but the quality of the ceramic containers in which they packaged their liquor.  They had a “fancy for the fancy.”  A prime example is the White Lily jug.    This container was the product of the Knowles, Taylor and Knowles Pottery of East Liverpool,  Ohio.    The white semi-china jug is known  in three colors -- blue,  red and green -- of which the green is the most common.    All three have a round yellow monogram in the lower left corner.   About the size of the new dollar coin,  the mark shows a tiger-like beast pierced through by a spear on which is written “trade mark.”   Below are the initials “S.B. & C.”   The Steinhardt brothers featured this whiskey a great deal in their merchandising. In addition to displaying an illustration on their case labels,  an artist’s rendering of the KT&K jug also was featured on their annual calendars. 

But this New York City outfit didn’t stop there.   In the early part of the 1900s,  it  ordered up -- likely from Sherwood Bros. pottery of New Brighton, Pennsylvania --  another series of very fancy whiskey jugs.  Among them was one furnished for their Kintore “Scotch.”  Its underglaze label features Scottish thistles, a coat of arms topped by a crown that seems vaguely old country, and the Steinhardt name in script. 

Not shown here were “twin” ceramic containers.  They were matching jugs of which one appeared to contained Irish whiskey and the other Scotch.   Neither jug,  however, was explicit about its contents.  Both Emerald Brand  and Mountain Dew are cited on the label as “a blend of whiskey.”   The former boasts an “art nouveau” label with shamrocks rampant and a woman playing a harp in a circle at the center, indicating Irish whiskey.  The other is similar but its motif is thistles and a wolf-like creature,  indicating Scotch.  Steinhardt Bros. & Co.  New York is identical on both ceramics.   Those probably were meant to be placed next to each other on the liquor store shelf and to entice the customers by standing out from spirituous products in glass containers.

Lavish giveaways and fancy jugs could not save Steinhardt Bros. & Co. from the inroads of Prohibition.  As state after state went dry,  the company’s mail order business suffered repeated blows.  By 1915, if New York directories are accurate, the brothers were down to one outlet,  at 29 Ninth Street.   In 1918 all mentions of the firm disappear.   By this time Lewis was 67 years old and Morris 65.  Time to retire.  It had been a 38 year run of business success in the Big Apple.  To paraphrase the song, “New York, New York:”  If they could make it there they could make it anywhere.