Whiskey Men Who Helped Build Cities II

Foreword:   This is the second post featuring “whiskey men”  who made major contributions to their cities, all of them major urban centers — Dallas, Texas;  Cincinnati, Ohio, and Patterson, New Jersey.  The money these individuals made from the liquor trade, coupled with their community dedication, provided the fuel for their investments and philanthropy that impacted their cities in major positive ways.

When Charles A. Mangold, shown left, died in 1934, the Dallas Morning News devoted part of its front page to his passing.  Among tributes, he was hailed as “one of the leaders in developing Dallas from a small village to a major city” subsequent to his arrival in town 47 years earlier.  Mangold’s contributions to Dallas included land development, promotion of the arts, an amusement park, two hotels, horse racing, quality livestock and assorted other enterprises.  

After being employed in a Lexington, Kentucky distillery, in 1887 Mangold joined a boyhood friend, Joseph Swope in Dallas, then a town of about 35,000. Together they formed the firm of Swope & Mangold, dealers in fine wines, liquors and cigars. Shown here, their headquarters were in a three-story building on Main Street, marked by a large sign.  From the beginning, the liquor house was successful.   Married and with his business on solid ground, Mangold began exerting seemingly endless energy into making his presence felt in Dallas. 

His accomplishments included land development.   When Mangold died, one newspaper proclaimed him as the “Man Who Visioned Oak Cliff.”  Mangold was one of the first men to dream of “a city west of the river" when Dallas was only a straggling village and Oak Cliff was a wilderness of rocks and trees.  Along with other pioneers he helped lay out the first streets and constructing the first homes in Oak Cliff, now a section of Dallas.

 A pioneer of the Dallas park system, Mangold was appointed to the first city park board created in 1904.  He also was the founder and manager of Lake Cliff Park, a well known summer amusement park on the outskirts of Dallas.  Shown here, the park was clustered around a large lagoon offering bathing, boating, carnival rides, 10,000 lights, fireworks displays nightly and other attractions that made Lake Cliff for a time the most prestigious amusement venue in the American Southwest.

Many in Dallas remember Mangold for building hotels.  Opened in October 1917, the  Hotel Jefferson stood across from the newly opened Dallas Union Station.State of the art for its time, the hotel featured one floor for “the exclusive use of women unattended, no men were quartered on that floor.”  Nine years later Mangold would erect a second major hotel, the Cliff Towers Hotel, overlooking the Trinity River.  To these contributions can be added his support of the Dallas Opera, co-founding a German language newspaper, and bringing national conventions to Dallas.

When Mangold died in 1934 one newspaper obituary opined:  The city of Dallas owes a great deal of its present greatness to the dreams, the work and the money of Mr. Mangold.” Another account acknowledged that his financial means had been generated by years of hard work and intelligent management in the liquor trade.

Born in Piqua, Ohio, in 1849 Jacob Schmidlapp moved to Cincinnati in 1874 and opened a liquor store that proved highly successful.  About 1890, with his profits from his liquor business, Jacob organized a group of local business men to found the Union Savings Bank and Trust Company, serving as its chairman and guiding light.  The bank met with almost immediate success, with its $500,000 in assets growing to $5 million and paying liberal dividends for most of its existence. Union Trust was accounted as one of the foremost financial institutions of the Midwest. Under Jacob’s leadership, in 1900 the bank erected Cincinnati’s first tall building.

Describing his occupation as”capitalist” to the census taker, Jacob could point to a dozen or more enterprises in which he was a director or trustee.  They included the American Surety Company, Equitable Life Insurance Society, The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Degnon Contracting Company, Degnon Realty and Improvement Company, Queens Place Realty Company, Electric Securities Corporation, Montana Power Company, Champion Fibre Company, Monitor Stove and Range Company, and the Export Storage Company.  He also sought to improve transit in Cincinnati by offering a plan for a tunnel to facilitate railroad and interurban rail access to downtown.

Jacob is best remembers in Cincinnati today, not as a liquor dealer or banker or wealthy business man, but as an outstanding philanthropist.  Following the deaths of his wife and two daughter, Jacob began giving away large portions of his millions.  He financed a “magnificent annex” to the Cincinnati Art Museum, built a dormitory for the Cincinnati College of Music, and created an institution for women’s education in the name of daughter Charlotte.  He also gave a library and memorial monument to Piqua, his home town. Jacob is said to have been particularly proud of Washington Terrace, Walnut Hills, below, a development of more than 400 homes he built to house working class African-Americans, “in whose welfare he was deeply interested.”  Said an observer: “His model homes form the most outstanding effort along this line in the country.”  Jacob also was a trustee and contributor to Cincinnati’s McCall Colored Industrial School.

Jacob’s philanthropic works did not end with his death in December 1919. Having given most of his money away during his lifetime, he willed his residual estate, then amounting to about $1 million to create a charitable trust.  Known as the Schmidlapp Fund the assets have grown to almost $30 million.  The fund has financed scholarships for women, helped reduce preterm births in neighborhoods that are disproportionately affected by poor pregnancy results and infant mortality,  strengthened health education systems for pregnant women, and assisted children vulnerable to “toxic stress” from unfavorable home environments.

No man has been more important to his community than Irish immigrant James Bell. In 1860 Bell relocated from Boston 330 miles southwest to Paterson, New Jersey, and opened a wholesale and retail wine and liquor business he called the “The James Bell Company, Importers of Wines and Liquors.”  By 1870, his net worth according to census records was $90,000, equivalent to almost $2 million today.

Bell’s liquor-fueled wealth also allowed him to become active in the development of Paterson’s neighborhoods and industries, as well as modernizing transportation and other public services.  In 1866 Bell organized a land improvement company in the Riverside district of Paterson with the purpose of developing that section of the city.  The syndicate under his leadership induced the New Jersey Midlands Railroad — later the New York, Susquehanna & Western — to lay its tracks through Patterson by buying a $15,500 stake in the line and donating land for the tracks.

When Riverside Land Improvement Co. dissolved in 1872, Bell claimed one-fourth of the property it owned, amounting to some 1,000 lots.  Of them Bell donated an estimated 90 to bring new industries to Paterson, sometimes erecting the manufacturing facilities.  His investments included silk mills and a plant that wove tapestries.   According to a biographer:  “He had large interests in the Passaic and Orange oil companies and in the Excelsior and Empire oil companies, the latter being the first companies of their kind organized in the country.”

Bell obtained the charter and organized People’s Gas Light Co. of Paterson, credited with reducing the price of gas to consumers from $3.80 to $1.50 per thousand units.  He also helped form the Paterson & Little Falls horse trolley company, improving transit to and from that nearby New Jersey town.  Wrote a another biographer:  “He takes a leading position among the foremost in the advancement of every enterprise that has for its object the general benefit of all classes of the citizens….”  After Bell’s death at 59 in 1894, the fruits of his enterprise continued to be enjoyed for decades as Paterson tripled in size from his day to ours. 

Note:  Longer biographies of each of these individuals can be found elsewhere on this website:  Charles Mangold, January 25, 2019;  Jacob Schmidlapp, June 18, 2020;  and James Bell, September 1, 2020.  Three other whiskey men  featured for their contributions to building their cities may be found on this site at August 13, 2018.

Isador Bush: Renaissance Whiskey Man of St. Louis

Forward:  In doing research on a “pre-Prohibition whiskey man” for this website, I sometimes come across an existing biography that tells the story as well or better than I could.  Such it is with Isador Bush.  Ferdinand Meyer V in his Peachridge blog of February 27, 2019 provided an excellent portrait of this St. Louis wine and liquor dealer, a “Renaissance man,” as Ferd described him.  Ferd graciously has given me permission to reprint the article here.

Isidor Bush was born in the Prague, Bohemia on January 15, 1822. He was the great-grandson of Israel Honig Edler von Honigsberg, who was the first Jew raised to nobility in Austria. As a child, Isidor was favored by his father Jacob as his mother, Fredericka had died when he was only three years old. Isidor Bush was privileged and was able to surround and associate himself with many Jewish intellectuals while growing up.

Bush was somewhat of a Renaissance man in that he was, among other things, an author, publisher, journalist, grocer, banker, railroad freight agent, politician, abolitionist, insurance agent, civic leader, philanthropist, capitalist, patriot, wine and liquor merchant,  and a viticulturalist, one of the first grape growers and wine producers in Missouri.

When Isidor was fifteen years old, he moved to Vienna and worked at Schmid’s Oriental Printing Establishment, which his father had acquired. At this young age, Bush became engrossed in the printing business and turned to the study of languages. Soon he could read and write in Greek, Latin and Hebrew along with his native German. For six years (1842–47), Bush edited and published the Kalendar und Jahrbuch für Israeliten among many other important works. Eventually, Bush became a partner and a leading book pioneer and publisher in Vienna and the firm was renamed Schmid and Busch.

With the Austrian Empire Revolution in 1848, Bush had to flee to America and settled in New York City along with many other liberal Jewish intellectuals. He arrived on January 8, 1849 with his wife Theresa Taussig who he married in 1844 and their son Raphael. There Bush opened a store that sold newspapers and stationery. On March 30, 1849, Bush founded and published the first issues of Israel’s Herald, the first Jewish weekly in the United States which was patterned after the journal he had published in Vienna. Unfortunately, the effort failed financially, so Bush had to stop operations after only three months.

With little available funds, Bush moved to St. Louis, Missouri in the summer of 1849 where his wife’s family, the Taussig’s had settled. There Bush entered into partnership with his wife’s father Charles Taussig, in the firm of Bush & Taussig. They were one of the leading merchants in the city specializing in groceries and hardware located at Carondelet and Park Avenue. Bush and Taussig would run the general store successfully on the south end of St. Louis for many years.

Isidor Bush became a naturalized citizen in 1854 and ardently opposed slavery and championed the Union cause. In 1857, Bush helped incorporate and was made president of the Peoples’ Savings Bank in St. Louis. In the late 1860s he was also president of the Mechanics Savings Bank, and later served as actuary for the German Mutual Life Insurance Company.

When the Missouri Convention was called to determine whether the state should join in the secession movement, Bush was chosen a member on the Unconditional Union ticket, and was made a member of the Committee of Nine, to which most important matters were referred such as abolishing slavery and forming a new constitution. He was also elected a member of the Missouri state board of immigration to repair losses in population resulting from the war, which post he retained for twelve years.

Despite many successful endeavors, Bush never really became a wealthy person in the traditional sense. He certainly suffered his share of financial setbacks but typically was able to rebound, take care of his debts and move on. He was always on the forefront of thought and innovation and prospered sufficiently to position him as a leader in the Jewish Community and the city of St. Louis. One of those associations that Bush was prominent in was the B’nai B’rith, the famous national Jewish fraternal and philanthropic organization. His achievements within the organization were substantial. Bush also served on the City Council and Board of Education in St. Louis as he held public education in high regard.

Bush apparently suffered physical disabilities in a fire when he was a child that prohibited full military service, so he assisted the Union cause in other ways. When Gen. John C. Fremont (the Pathfinder) took command in 1861, with headquarters in St. Louis, Bush was made his secretary and aide-de-camp, with the rank of Captain. He submitted to Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase a plan for a government loan of one hundred million dollars, similar to the famous Rothschild premium loans of Austria. Chase feared its rejection by Congress, but was impressed with Bush’s financial genius, and offered him a Treasury clerkship.

Bush refocused after the Civil War back to St. Louis, and became for six years the auditor and general freight and passenger agent for the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad Company. He later would become director of the railroad, serving until 1865 when the line was taken over from New York by financier Jay Gould and the State foreclosed its liens on the railroad.

Next, Bush partnered in the real estate firm of Barlow, Valle & Bush. Interesting enough, Bush was able to purchase many tracts of land south of the city in Jefferson County that were next to the railroad tracks and Mississippi River. The first tract was purchased in February and March 1865 and included 241 acres near the present-day town of Pevely. He had become familiar with this land during his years with the Iron Mountain Railroad. This land was ideal as his research assured him that the land was adaptable for growing grapes and fruits while having an excellent steamboat landing.

Owning this land would play out as Bush became interested in wine-making and created the Isidor Bush Wine Company. He called all his land “Bushberg,” which of course he named after himself. The image above shows the town of Bushberg facing the river in 1880. It was at one time a thriving community complete with steamboat landing, railroad station, post office, wood yard, hotel and a saloon. The image below shows the Bushberg hotel. Both images courtesy of the Missouri Historical Society.

Bush even had the foresight to send his son Raphael to apprentice with viticulturalists in Hermann, Missouri and Cincinnati, Ohio to learn the trade. Their grocery business had suffered during the Civil War and the senior Bush wanted to spare his son from the whims of commercial life. He also felt that agriculture was a more noble Jewish pursuit.

By 1868, the vineyard had nine acres with 20 varieties of grapes. That year the vineyard purchased the post office to handle its growing mail-order business as the company was extremely successful in raising grapes and became known for its products. Before long, Bush was considered a leading expert in viticulture. He even sent large quantities of cuttings from his vineyards to France to replace the ravages there by phylloxera as his wild American vines had a greater resistance to the root louse. In 1871, Bush hired Gustavus E. Meissener who was operating a nursery in Waterloo, Iowa to become his foreman at Bushberg. He would eventually become a partner in the wine growing and vineyard business.

Bush, after years of preparation, published his first catalogue of grapes in 1869-70 called the Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue of Grape Vines, Small Fruit and Seed Potatoes. The vineyards’ reputation had spread in the 1870s so The Bushberg Catalogue evolved and only focused on grapes. This catalogue went through a number of generations and was translated into several languages with international acclaim.

In 1870, Bush and his son Raphael organized the firm of Isidor Bush & Son to run the wholesale and retail trade which grew into one of the most successful wine and liquor enterprises in St. Louis. Their primary address was 314 Elm Street. It was during this period that the Missouri IXL Bitters was produced. I have only seen one example. I believe it was dug in Pekin, Illinois before it came to its present owner.

The northern California wine business was rapidly growing by the end of the 1800s and impacted the Bush wine business. There seemed to be less demand for his vines and his research. The vineyard would close in 1895. The town of Bushberg would cease to exist.

Isidor Bush died in St. Louis on August 5, 1898 and is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery. His wife Theresa had previously died in 1893. Isidor Bush was a admired person and was considered one of St. Louis’s finest citizens. He also had his name on a bitters bottle.

Note:  Ferd amply has referenced his sources for this post on his Peachridge site, https://www.peachridgeglass.com.  His interests primarily are bitters, mine is whiskey.  Because many pre-Prohibition distillers and liquor dealers carried a line of bitters, our research often coincides. Ferd’s article on P. J. Murray and his Boston saloon can be seen on this site at September 7, 2017.

Bond & Lilliard: Whiskey Born of U.S. Wars

 

During the 53 years from 1812 until 1865, the United States was embroiled in three wars, one against a colonial power, one against a neighbor, and one internecine.  Members of an extended distilling family are counted as having participated in all three, a distinguishing element in the story of Bond & Lilliard, distillers of Anderson County, Kentucky.  William F. Bond, shown here, anchored the family.

William’s father was John Bond born in Anderson County, Kentucky, in August 1791,  the son of pioneers William and Sarah Cranston Bond.  Some writers erroneously have called him a veteran of the Revolutionary War, an impossibility since John was born eight years after that war ended.  John would have been 21 at the time of the War of 1812, however, and a large contingent of Kentucky riflemen fought along side Kentuckian Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans.  Although no direct evidence exists, John Bond may have been among them.

William Bond’s participation in the Mexican War is indisputable.   He was a member of Company C of the Second Kentucky Volunteers, a regiment known as “The Salt River Tigers.”  The name came from the 150 mile long river that flows through Kentucky.  The Tigers are reported to have averaged about six feet with 42  men above that height.  Henry Clay was a colonel with the regiment.

Some accounts have credited the Salt River Tigers with having turned the fate of battle at Buena Vista.  The Mexican and American forces for some time had been facing each other behind the breastworks with only a few yards separating them.  One senior officer suggested to another that a charge would be in order.  “Instantly the tallest and fiercest of the Tigers, seeming to think a charge had been agreed upon, gave their particular yell for advance, and the enemy was repulsed.”  The Tigers lost an estimated six men in the assault, shown above.  William Bond emerged unscathed.

William returned to Anderson County.  John had built his first distillery in 1820 on a site that was not far from the McBrayer plant on Cedar Brook. [See McBrayer post of Oct. 2, 2011.]   In 1836, needing more space, the distillery was moved to a site closer to Lawrenceburg.  Six years later the “Founding Father” died and was buried in a cemetery located on a family-owned farm.  

John and his wife, the former Sarah Utterback, had several children, among them William born in 1826.  When Sarah died, he remarried a woman named Mary Johnson and began a second family.  This may explain why the distillery was left to the youngest child, David, who was still only an infant.  Among Kentucky distillers this sometimes done to insure an income for the widow as custodian.  By 1849 William, returned from the war, officially took over the operation.  He was 23.  The following year William married Sarah Mary Hanks.  The couple would go on to have 12 children over the next 19 years.

Meanwhile, William’s younger sister, Margaret had married Christopher C. Lilliard. Born in 1833, Lilliard, shown here in maturity, enlisted in the Confederate Army in July 1861. He was mustered in as a first Lieutenant in Company I of the Kentucky Second infantry, the same outfit as William Bond’s that had acquitted itself so valiantly in the Mexican War.

 An early engagement of the regiment was at Fort Donelson, the battle shown above.   This time the 2nd Kentucky did not fare so well.  After a stunning victory for Northern forces led by General Grant, the entire regiment of more than eight hundred men was captured.   Among them was Lieutenant Lilliard.  After spending some time in Yankee prison camps, the Kentucky soldiers were exchanged and returned to fought on at Shiloh and other battles, taking many casualties.  Sometime after his release Lilliard resigned his commission and went home.

William Bond quickly realizes that his brother-in-law, also from a whiskey-making family, would make an excellent junior partner.  Thus was born the distilling house of Bond & Lilliard.  Their distillery was described as “located off Bond’s Mill Road about two miles from Sweet Mash.”  The partners rapidly earned a reputation for making a high quality bourbon.  Their whiskey would go on to win the Grand Prize at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.   The award gave the Bond & Lilliard brand tremendous credibility.  Both partners became prosperous as a result.  Bond was able to lodge his large family and attending servants in the mansion home shown below.

In June 1892, the distillery was destroyed by fire, a loss set at $10,000, but uninsured.  The partners quickly built back.  According to insurance underwriter records, the revived distillery, shown here, was of iron-clad construction with three warehouses of which two were ironclad with a metal or slate roof.  The third warehouse was frame but had a fire resistant roof.  Two of the warehouse were fully under “Bottled in Bond Act” government supervision, one was partially “free.”

Things began to change in the 1890s.  In 1894 Lilliard had a stroke that left him partially paralyzed.  He gradually weakened over the next two years until June 1896 and died on the 24th at age 68.  The Lexington Morning Herald obituary saluted him as “one of Lawrenceburg’s most prominent citizens and his death will cause sorrow in many other parts of the state.”  He was buried in Lawrenceburg Cemetery adjacent to the monument shown here.

Lilliard’s death may have resulted in a change of name.  Shown there is a J. Bond & Co.trademark drawing that may relate to the Bond family distilling interests.  I am fascinated by the Nancy Hank’s name — Lincoln’s mother. William Bond’s wife was a “Hanks.”  In this case, however, the name seems to relate to a sulky race horse that in 1892 broke the world record for the mile.

 

After Lilliard’s death William Bond seemed to have lost interest in running the distillery.  By now in his seventies he may have been feeling the effects of age.  In 1899, he sold the distillery and the brand name to the Whiskey Trust, an aggressive attempt by New York financiers at a whiskey monopoly.  Bond lived another eleven years, dying in July 1910 from what was described as “a complication of diseases” at the age of 83.

William’s obituary in  the Lawrenceburg daily accounted him one of Anderson County’s oldest and richest citizens.  It recounted his war record, his 1871-1872 service in the Kentucky legislature representing Anderson County, and his success as a distiller.  The article concluded:  “His benevolence of character made him one of the most popular citizens of this county, and his loss  will be deplored by all who appreciate eminent worth and excellence of character.”  After funeral services in his home William Bond was buried in Lawrenceburg Cemetery.  His monument is seen here.  

Given the stellar reputation of Bond & Lilliard whiskey,  Trust officials retained the name, turning over distillery operations to Stoll & Company, a Lexington-based  firm that worked closely with the cartel . The Stolls on their letterheads and advertising claimed to be “sole proprietors of Bond & Lilliard.”  [See post on the Stolls, April 23, 2017.] The bottle shown here likely dates from that era.

The coming of National Prohibition caused the disappearance of the brand for a number of years but was revived by the owners of Wild Turkey who continue to distill and bottle it at their facility in Lawrenceburg.  While the original Bond & Lilliard recipe may be lost, at Wild Turkey an attempt apparently has been made to mimic what impressed the judges at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition by putting the 100 proof whiskey through a charcoal filtration to give it a lighter color and taste.  The Bond & Lilliard bottle has been given a very distinctive label.  It touts the whiskey as being “linked to the hearts of these two sturdy men.”

In a 1906 supplement to Lawenceburg’s newspaper, the Anderson News, the unidentified author waxes poetic about the still thriving Bond & Lilliard distillery located in a lush natural environment:  “As the traveler winds his way around [the lake stocked with fish and minnows] that leads to this plant, he is greeted by nature’s own sweet breath, spiked with mint, and the pungent and invigorating aroma of Bond & Lilliard grown ripe and mellow.”  A contemporary photo of the site shows the surroundings still lush but of the distillery William Bond and Christopher Lilliard created, only a single wall remains.

Notes:  This post, including photos, has been gathered from a number of sources available on the Internet.  Of particular help were obituaries of the principals from Lawrenceburg newspapers.

 

Sam McHarry and His Distilling Guide for the Ages

In 1809 when Samuel McHarry wrote his book, “The Practical Distiller,”  he was apologetic.  In pursuing his own distilling efforts, he said, he could find little help from practitioners or in print:   “Could I have witnessed the publication of a similar work by a man of science and education, mine should never have appeared.”  The jottings of this farmer from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, not only was published, it apparently has never been out of print.   A dozen different covers from ensuing years of publication, reproduced below, attest to its longevity.

Although McHarry had a lot to say about the state of distilling, he was silent on why he decided to make alcohol from the rich grain and fruit lands that are Lancaster County.  My assumption is that his farm was producing more output than he could feed to livestock or easily sell.  It also was abundantly clear that a gallon of whiskey could fetch as much money as ten bushels of rye grain.

McHarry’s silence on “why” is more than made up by his distain for American distillers.  He deplored “the circumstance of so many knaves, blockheads and conceited characters being engaged in the business” and describes his own futile efforts to learn from a highly regarded local distiller only to find out that the man had no idea why the quality and quantity of his runs differed sharply from day to day.  He inquired of other distillers, some of whom attributed whiskey variability to “witchcraft.” 

 Nor could McHarry find any written material on the subject:  “To my surprise, after a diligent search of all the book-stores and catalogues in Pennsylvania I found there was no American work extant, treating on this science….”  European manuals he found at variance with American “habits, customs, and mode of economy.”

As a result, after years of working things out “from scratch” for himself, McHarry decided to write his own distiller’s handbook.  In this endeavor, he had the expert help of John Wyeth of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a journalist, and experienced publisher whose presses had printed numerous books with a Pennsylvania flavor that were said to be “extremely popular and extremely profitable.”  Approached by McHarry, Wyeth enthusiastically agreed to publication and likely supplied needed editorial services to McHarry’s manuscript.  Thus in 1809, “The Practical Distiller,” shown here, saw its first edition.  It would not be the last.

The “do-it-yourself” manual was advertised as “An introduction to making WHISKEY, GIN, BRANDY, SPIRITS, etc…from the produce of the United States: Such as RYE, CORN, BUCK-WHEAT, APPLES, PEACHES, POTATOES, PUMPIONS [pumpkins], and TURNIPS.”  In other words, if a grain or fruit could produce alcohol, McHarry would show you how to turn it into booze.

In his chapter on distilling whiskey, McHarry described four different recipes, one of all rye grain, a second two-thirds rye and one-third corn, a third half rye and half corn, but his recommended mix was one-third rye and two-thirds corn:  “That corn has as much and as good whiskey as rye or any other grain, cannot be disputed.”  That, however, was not why McHarry favored this recipe.  Always looking at the “bottom line” of profitability, he contended that the spent mash or “slop” from this mix was “Much superior to that of any other grain for feeding or fattening either horned cattle or hogs….”  Fatter hogs meant a fatter payday.

Again with an eye to profit, McHarry contended that it should be possible, given good grain, pure water, and suitable weather to eke four gallons of whiskey out of a single bushel of grain.  (Later, whiskey scientist Dr. James Crow would decree not more than 1.5 gallons per bushel.)  The Lancaster County farmer also included advice on transporting whiskey to market.  He calculated that a distiller who sent a wagon load of 300 gallons of whiskey worth $150 to buyers seventy miles away would pay an $18 hauling cost.  If found upon arrival and inspection to be both under-proof and having lost volume, the whiskey might fetch only $105, a loss of $27, more than $600 in today’s dollar.   McHarry’s lesson:  Be sure of proof and tight barrels.

McHarry also recommended distilling potatoes.  Although nowhere does he mention vodka, he contended that potatoes made “a very good spirit” that might substitute for brandy or rum.  Morever, potatoes were cheaper to grow than rye and would be “a source of profit…, encouragement to the farmer, and be of benefit to our country at large.”   McHarry followed his recipe for potatoes by suggesting it could be adapted to pumpkins and turnips.  Of turnips, however, he warned that they “will produce nearly as much spirits as potatoes, but not so good.”

Following chapters of “The Practical Distiller” contain advice on making various types of wine and beer. Nowhere in the volume, however, do we learn anything about McHarry’s personal life.  We know he was born in Lancaster County about 1785, just two years after the end of the Revolutionary War.  His father, Alexander, who spelled his name “Maharry,”  was an immigrant from Ireland and a farmer.  His mother was Ann Robesson, of Pennsylvania stock.  She was 30 at Samuel’s birth; Alexander was 31.  McHarry had one brother, William, born in Leacock, Pennsylvania, when Sam was one year old.  The distiller/author apparently never married.  He died in 1843 when he was 58 years old.  I have been unable to identify his place of interment.

McHarry lives on in the book published in 1809, a work that to my knowledge has never been out of print.  Every succeeding generation, it would seem, has been interested in “home” distilling and a raft of publishers with no copyright to worry about have rushed to put McHarry’s recipes and advice into print.  In January 2008, an original leather-covered copy, shown above, sold at auction considerably above estimate at $4,800.

Note:  More recently another original copy of “The Practical Distiller,” said to be “in delicate condition” and bearing some water stains went up for sale at $2,500. This copy had the additional provenance of being originally owned by John Hoge, an early Pennsylvania settler and Revolutionary War soldier.  Hoge is believed to have run a tavern in Washington, Pennsylvania.