Charles Feisst — History Remembered in Watertown WI

After writing some 1,050 posts for this website I have discovered is that it is very often the mid-sized or small cities are the most likely to celebrate their liquor-related enterprises of the past, while large cities often ignore them.  As a result we are indebted to the Watertown, Wisconsin, Historical Society for preserving photos of C.A. Feisst & Company, Fine Liquors.

A city of about 23,000 located about half way between Milwaukee and Madison, the capitol, Watertown largely was settled by English Episcopalians, German Catholics and Lutherans, none them with any strictures against the moderate use of alcohol.   As a result C.A. Feisst, a youthful immigrant from Switzerland, had a receptive customer base both for wholesale and retail liquor.  The company flagship was “Roland Rye.”

Located at 202 N. Third Street in Watertown, Feisst began business early in the 1890s with a partner, Simon Molzhahn, an immigrant from Germany. The company featured both liquor and imported wine lines. The Watertown Historical Society has preserved a photo of the establishment that also likely held a saloon.  Shown below, the sidewalk at the site impressively displayed at least 25 barrels of whiskey.

A Society photo of the business interior is equally interesting.  It shows additional barrels both stored on the floor of the store and on a rack at the right side of the picture.  Those barrels had been tapped, allowing the contents to be decanted into jugs or bottles.  Molzhahn, also shown in portrait, is at far left, next to the bookkeeper-cashier’s cage, an office found only in larger whiskey wholesalers.  Eventually Molzhahn would withdraw from the partnership, leaving Feisst as sole proprietor.

The liquor house apparently was a success, epitomized by the serving tray shown below.  Entitled “The Dice Throwers,” the picture is of four men gambling in a saloon.  Each is distinguished by his clothing.  From left are a cowboy wearing a ten gallon hat, a gambler with a fancy cravat who has rolled the dice, a Union cavalry veteran still wearing his uniform, and a woodsman sporting a coonskin cap and buckskin jacket.  The tray seems to have been specially made for Feisst, bearing a wall sign advertising the company and displaying a bottle of his flagship brand.  One commentator has noted:   “For a company to produce a piece like this C.A. Feisst Wholesale Liquor Dealer serving tray, they had to have a significant business.”

As shown above, Feisst also commissioned other trays with standard designs.  For example, the woman and horse format was widely used by liquor dealers across America.  Although I have never seen the flower tray before, my guess is that it too was a standard offering.  Those would have been given to saloons, restaurants and hotels carrying Feisst’s whiskey and other products.  As shown below, The Watertown dealer also provided wholesale customers with shot glasses advertising “Roland Rye.”

Feisst was not a distiller.  Rather he was obtaining his whiskeys from the National Distilling Company, located down the road in Milwaukee.  National Distilling had its roots in a distillery launched in 1868 by German immigrant William Bergenthal with his brother August.  [See my post on the Bergenthals, September 1, 2014].  Eventually the Bergenthals were implicated in the Whiskey Ring.  August took the rap, spent minimal time in a Milwaukee jail, and emerged to co-found National Distilling.  Shown here, the building still stands, used for other purposes.

In addition to his liquor business, Feisst was also was involved as a co-owner and navigating officer of a local steam-driven launch that plied the Rock River, a three hundred mile long waterway that flows through Wisconsin and Illinois into the Mississippi River. Accommodating a dozen persons, the boat was twenty-two feet long, powered by an eight horse-power engine and propelled by a steam wheel.  Top speed was eight miles an hour.  The craft was used to take Watertown residents and tourists on scenic cruises.  One observer described the trip as “most delightful and picturesque.”

Feisst also had a family life.   Born in 1875 and originally from Madison, Feisst had moved to Watertown about 1890 where he met Verena Hahn, described as “a young lady of accomplishments and possessed of both charm and grace.” She hailed from a wealthy local family.  The same newspaper story called Charles “pleasant, active and energetic” and noted that “…During his brief residence among us has become popular in the community.”  They married on April 25, 1893, at St. Henri’s Catholic Church.  Following a honeymoon to the famed 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, the couple returned Watertown to produce six children during the ensuing 14 years, two girls and four boys.  Unusual  for that era, all six children survived infancy to live long lives. Two sons became Catholic priests. 

Feisst’s Company remained in business until the imposition of National Prohibition in 1920 forced its closing.  In the interim, Feisst became recognized as a leading Watertown businessman.  He helped establish the Wisconsin National Bank and served on its board of directors.  After Prohibition was enacted Feisst is recorded in local directories working as a salesman.  Although  he lived to see the ban on alcohol repealed, he declined to reenter the liquor trade.

After Verena’s death in 1937, and with only one of their children still living inWatertown, Feisst moved to Spokane, Washington, where his two priest sons resided, and moved in with one.  He after died in a hospital there two year later at the age of 70 and was buried in Spokane’s Holy Cross Cemetery.  Eventually both his sons would join him there. 

Note:  This post was instigated by seeing the Feisst serving tray of four men, shown above, a unique whiskey artifact.  Information came from a number of sources, including a May 2018 internet article by Randy Huetsch and from the Watertown Historical Society photo collection.  Unfortunately I have been unable to find a picture of Charles Feisst but am hoping a descendant will see this post and be able to supply one.

 

 

Native Americans Advertising Whiskey

The use of American Indian themes in selling a range of medicinals was common in the 19th and early 20th century.  Native peoples were believed to have herbal and other cures beyond Western medicine.  Whiskey advertising and marketing also made use of Native American images.  Distillers and dealers disregarded discretion suggested by rampant alcoholism among Indians and Federal laws forbidding liquor sales on reservations.  Here are just a few examples of the Indian images used to sell whiskey.

Shown here are two whiskey jugs issued by Martindale & Johnson, a Philadelphia liquor house headed by Thomas Martindale, esteemed as a big game hunter and civic leader.  Both jugs bear the name “Minnehaha - Laughing Waters,” the female heroine of the poem “Hiawatha” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  The ceramic at left shows the Indian maiden sitting by a waterfall as if looking expectantly for her love.  The jug at right apparently shows Hiawatha in a canoe shooting arrows at a fire-breathing sea dragon.  The scene, by the way, has nothing to do with Longfellow’s poem.  

The Indian brave made another appearance on whiskey jugs issued by George Benz & Sons of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, a German immigrant who specialized in packaging his whiskey in attractive containers. Hiawatha is shown against a background of wigwams, striding down a path with bow and arrows.  He appears to have an Indian war club tucked in his tunic.  The jug at left sold at auction for $332 several years ago.

“Indian Hill” was a whiskey produced by William Cate of Knoxville, Tennessee.  Not only did it bear a paper label showing Indians, embossed into the glass were the heads of two chiefs.  Cate had a difficult time with prohibition forces, moving several times from state to state to avoid local or state restrictions on making or selling alcohol.  This brand survived through the period of National Prohibition and was re-introduced by another distiller after Repeal.

The Indian maiden illustrated in “Tippecanoe,” a double fire copper whiskey was issued from Union Distilling Company, a Cincinnati rectifying (blending) operation.  For saloon signs, almost always displayed in places where women and children were excluded, the husky lass was shown barebreasted.  When used on the label of a bottle that might find itself on a grocer’s shelf or a druggist’s display case where the eyes of the world might see, the maiden was more chastely dressed. 

The man who produced the tray of the Indian brave hunting a buffalo was a larger-than-life character who called himself Andrew Madsen Smith, “The Wandering Dane,” and eventually settled in Minneapolis. Leaving Denmark as a boy his career took him to many adventures as a ship’s cook,  a London street urchin, and then back to sea and, through jumping ship, into the clutches of Indians in the jungles of Brazil.  He lso had encountered Native Americans in the West during a period living in Utah.  

“Red Chief Whiskey” was the product of another man whose life reads like a novel and who knew plenty about Indians.  He was Jack Danciger, born in 1877 in Taos, New Mexico, His was only one of two non-Spanish, non-Indian families in the small town.  His father ran a general store in Taos and owned a ranch outside town where he raised cattle.  One story told about Jack is that at six years old he was kidnapped by a nearby Indian chief who was childless and wanted the boy as a son.   When Jack’s whereabouts were discovered,  his parents through careful negotiation were able to retrieve him.

The picture of the Indian princess, Pocahontas, as displayed on the letterhead of R. T. Dawson & Company of Baltimore does not inspire confidence that she appealed to John Alden.  Her nose and chin seem woefully drawn on the Baltimore wholesale whiskey dealer’ letterhead from 1911.  “Pocahontas Whiskey” appears to be Dawson’s only proprietary brand, trademarked by the company in 1907.  My hope is that the bottle label carried a better image.

The final example is the label of a post-Prohibition whiskey called “Indian Trader,” from Frankfort Distilleries Inc.  This was an outfit that originally came under the ownership of Paul Jones with a distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky, and offices in Louisville and Baltimore.  The operation survived the period of National Prohibition by being licensed to sell “medicinal” whiskey, with its brands surviving into the 1940s when it was taken over by Seagrams.

There they are, a dozen images of American Indians in whiskey advertising and merchandising.  Looking them over, it is clear that when Native Americans were depicted, in virtually every case they were presented in heroic or at least dignified ways.

Note:  Biographic posts on several of the “whiskey men” cited here may be found elsewhere on this website:  George Benz, Sept. 22, 2011;  Jack Danciger, June 20, 2013;  Thomas Martindale, Jan. 26, 2013;  A.M. Smith, May 9, 2013.

Henry Schuetz and the Rest of the Story

Foreword:  On May 10, 1914, this website featured a post that featured “whiskey man” Frederick Renziehausen, who began his career as a junior partner in a Pittsburgh liquor house.  Since then the vignette has garnered more than 3,500 “look-ins.”  Subsequently I discovered that the senior member of that partnership, Henry Schuetz, also deserves attention.  This post is devoted to Henry and revealing “the rest of the story.”

Shown here, Henry Schuetz was born in 1850 in Pittsburgh, the son of Carolina Theobald and Johannes Heinrich Schutz, both immigrants from Germany.  His father was a tavern owner while his mother acted as hostess for guests staying at the hostelry.  As a result, the boy grew up immersed in the liquor trade while apparently receiving ample education.  The 1870 census found him in Pittsburgh at 20 living with his parents and acting as the tavern bookkeeper.  His 17-year-old brother, August, was a bartender.

In 1873, at age 23, Henry married Rose Bihlman, of a similar age, the daughter of German immigrants.  Some accounts erroneously have them siring eleven children, although more reliable sources suggest five, four daughters and one son. It may have been these growing family responsibilities that caused Henry to strike out on his own.  In 1879, he opened a wholesale liquor business at 100-102 Market Street in Pittsburgh.  With him as a “junior partner” was Frederick Renziehausen.

From the beginning their liquor enterprise appears to have been successful.  After 14 years at the original address the Schuetz, Renziehausen Company in 1905 was able to move into the building shown here.  At eight stories, all apparently devoted to the whiskey trade, it was an imposing edifice at 427 Liberty Avenue.  There the partners were able to blend several of their proprietary brands including “Crusader Whiskey,” “Drink a Little Sarge,” and “Liberty 427.”

The company’s flagship was “Diamond Monogram Pure Rye,” a brand registered with the U.S. Trademark Office in March 1890.  Shown here the stylish label included a red monogram on a green background that claimed that the whiskey was “copper distilled.” The monogram, as shown below magnified on a pint whiskey bottle, entwined Schuetz’s “S” with Renziehausen’s “R,” seemingly symbolizing the close relationship of the partners.  The situation, however, was more complicated than the monogram. 

 

Just four years after teaming with Schuetz, Renziehausen purchased an interest in a distillery owned by Henry Large located near West Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, about 18 miles south of Pittsburgh.  During the lifetime of the owner, the liquor dealer is said never to have interfered in the making of Large’s whiskey or its merchandising.  When Large died in 1895, however, Renziehausen purchased from his estate the farm, distillery, recipe for the whiskey, and the right to use the name “Large.”  Now the sole owner, Renziehausen in 1897 set about vigorously to modernize and expand the facilities.  He also began a campaign to make his product known wherever rye whiskey was being exhibited,  seldom missing an opportunity to show his wares at world expositions in the U.S. and overseas..  Although he had a partner in name, Schuetz now was required to bear the management burden of their liquor house virtually alone.

He seems not to have “missed a beat.”  I am particularly impressed with an ad that the Schuetz issued that is both well conceived and humorous.  It depicts an elderly gentleman with a twinkle in his eye dressed as an Amish farmer holding a quart bottle of Diamond Monogram Pure Rye — an image that reflects the product’s Pennsylvania origins and age.  Similar good taste was on view in trade cards Schuetz issued for Diamond Monogram.  The one featuring the rose reads on the reverse:  “Good heath is best preserved by the proper and careful use of good Whiskey, and when Diamond Monogram is partaken it helps digestion and drives away dull care.”

The wholesale liquor dealer also featured shot glasses that would have been given to saloons, restaurants and hotels using company products.  The majority of those shots advertised Diamond Monogram, a whiskey that under Schuetz's management had become highly popular in Pennsylvania and beyond.  From a 1929 court document:  “…The firm enjoyed the patronage of the most substantial retailers in the territory in which it did business.”

All this came to a screeching halt with the imposition of National Prohibition in January 1920.  Despite Schuetz’ efforts to sell off company stocks before the deadline, considerable liquor was still on hand.  The merchandise, according to court documents, included brandies, cordials, gins, wines and other liquors.  Although there was a market for “medicinal” whiskey with wholesale and retail druggists who were allowed to sell it under prescription, the druggists could not buy or sell these other classes of drink.

In another effort to dispose of liquor stocks, Schuetz, accompanied by his wife Rose, embarked to Europe as other merchants were doing,  Shown here in a passport photo, the couple on August 12, 1922, traveled to Germany, Switzerland, France, England and Belgium.  The purpose of the trip was underscored by a letter from the State Department authorizing Schuetz to be listed as a “liquor merchant” on official documents.  The trip may not have been as successful as the couple desired.  Schuetz returned still holding substantial quantities of alcohol.

In desperation Schuetz obtained a permit from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to donate stocks to hospitals that had been authorized a specific quota of whiskey.  Although he scrambled to make contact with those institutions, the process was laborious and consumed months.  When this method of liquidation took too long, impatient Federal authorities decreed in 1925 that the remaining stocks be destroyed.  Accordingly, all of the company’s remaining liquor was dumped into the sewers of the Liberty Avenue building under Government supervision.  The scene is replicated here in a stock photo.

His liquor gone, Schuetz retired.  After Rose died in 1927 he lived with his widowed daughter, Carrie, and her two daughters until his passing in 1930 at age 82.  His death certificate cited the cause as blood poisoning, the result of a burst appendix.   After a funeral ceremony at his home, Henry was buried in Allegheny Cemetery next to Rose, Section 28, Lot 43.  A newspaper obituary called Schuetz simply “a pioneer resident.”  It did not mention his alcohol -based lifetime.  

Note:  This post was fashioned from a wide range of sources.  Of particular note were Schuetz’s obituary in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, court documents, and genealogical sites.

The 178 Spiritous Years of James Moroney

On industrial North 63rd Street in Philadelphia sits a nondescript one-story stucco building that holds a liquor and wine company that at 178 years is distinguished by being the oldest in continuing such operation in America. It still bears the name of its founder, James Moroney,  an Irish immigrant who sixteen years before the Civil War first sold “spirits” to affluent residents of the City of Brotherly Love.

James Moroney Inc.’s secret to success?  First, continuous family ownership over its entire existence.  Second, the ability to sell sacramental wine to Catholic and other churches during the 14 years of National Prohibition when the making and selling of other alcoholic beverages was completely banned.

Facts about Moroney’s early life are scant.  He was born in Ireland in 1815 but I have been unable to ascertain his date of emigration to the United States nor his occupation upon arriving.  It would appear that he early had settled in Philadelphia likely working in one of the many liquor houses that city harbored.  The company website indicates that the founder sold his first  bottle of liquor in June 1845, when Moroney would have been 30 years old.

Five years later, he married for the  first time, his bride Phoebe Hoffman.  Tragically Phoebe died, perhaps in child birth, just a year later.  Later James would marry again, another Irish immigrant, Jane Duffy.  The 1880 census indicates they had three sons, Edward 16, James E. 11, John J. 2, and a daughter Kate, 6.

Moroney’s liquor and wine import and wholesale house first appeared in Philadelphia directories about 1875.  The business was initially was located at 317-319 Walnut Street, moving to 205 South 13th Street in 1900, the address shown here.  Among the brand names it used were “Moroney,” "Moroney Pure Rye,” "Old Navy,” “Old Navy Gin,” and "Round the World Scotch,” and “Whiskey Whiskey.” Moroney’s flagship label was “Army and Navy Whiskey.” In 1906-1907, when Congress tightened the laws the company trademarked that brand name and three others.

My interest in Moroney initially was drawn by a variety of rhymes provided on tip trays advertising Army and Navy Whiskey issued by his enterprise and gifted to saloons, hotels and restaurants.  The verses ranged from a full poem, to four-line stanzas summoning up the grim reaper.  Here is the Moroney offering entitled “The Glittering Mirror”

"The Glittering Mirror

(Written by the Victim)

A glittering mirror, a polished bar,

Myriad glasses, straws in a jar,

A kind young man all dressed in white,

Are my recollections of last night.

A sidewalk narrow, far too long,

A sloppy gutter, a policeman strong,

The slamming door of a jolting hack,

Are my recollections of coming back.

The steps were slippery, hard to climb,

Rested often, had lots of time,

An awkward keyhole, a misplaced chair,

informed the folks that I was there.

A heated interior, an aching head,

A seasick man and a revolving bed,

Cocktails, fizzes, drinks galore,

I emptied them all on the bedroom floor.

And in the morning came bags of ice,

So necessary in this life of vice,

And when the ice had eased the pain,

Did I swear off? Nope, got drunk again.”

Indicating the worldwide reach of Moroney’s “Army and Navy Whiskey” the bottle on the tray bears the inscription: "CALDBECK, MACGREGOR & CO, DISTRIBUTORS. Hong Kong, Shanghai, China, and Singapore, India.  This outfit was the largest and best known Far East wine and liquor distributor, likely servicing American troops in the Philippines.

The two “Army and Navy” tip trays above each carried Moroney quatrains of a somewhat lugubrious sort:

"Then stand by your glasses steady, boys,

And drink to your comrade's eyes;

And here's to the dead already

And here's to the next who dies!”

"Drink to-day and drown all sorrow,

You shall not do it to-morrow;

But while you have it use your breath --

There is no drinking after death."

The second tray bears the inscription "FRIEDLEIN & CO, DISTRIBUTORS. Obrapia y San Idnacio, HABANA, CUBA,” again indicating the international scope of Moroney whiskey.

The question remains if these verses and the trays were the inspiration of James Moroney or his successors in the family.  As they matured, the father in succession had brought his three sons into his liquor business.  The verses above and the overseas location of the distributors seem to indicate a post-Spanish-American War origin.  Because James died at 80 in 1896 two years before that conflict, the evidence points to the work of his heirs.

Although Edward was the eldest son and clerked for a time at James Moroney Inc., his younger brother, James E. assumed the company presidency after his father’s passing, with John joining him in a management role.  They seemingly had inherited the merchandising talents of their father.  The verses above likely came during their management of James Moroney Inc.

The sons also expanded the domestic reach of their Philadelphia liquor house, becoming so popular that liquor retailers across America were willing to advertise it on their own, as demonstrated by the examples above.  The Hanlen Bros. ad is particularly noteworthy for its hyperbole:   “Moroney’s Army and Navy Whiskey is a toppy drink for for toppy chaps.  It’s as old as the man who owned the farm that raised the goose that gave the quill that wrote the Declaration of Independence.”

[See my post on the Hanlens, August 9, 2012.]

The Moroneys continued to exhibit ingenuity in their marketing.  Shown above is a postcard issued by the company, considered one of the earliest baseball cards and eagerly sought by collectors.  It honors the Oswego N.Y. team as champions of the Empire State League.  Note player No 3.  He is the star pitcher, Jim Moroney, and the reason this card advertises Army and Navy Whiskey, although Jim is not identified as a relative.

James Moroney Inc. took National Prohibition in stride.  Sacramental wine used by churches and synagogues was permitted and orders for it quickly increased by millions of gallons a year.  The Moroneys discontinued their liquors to concentrate on this large and growing market, mainly in providing wine to the nation’s Catholic and Orthodox churches.   It also branched out into selling candles, hosts, and other religious items.

With the end of National Prohibition in 1934, James Moroney Inc., with family members still at the helm,  returned to marketing liquor along with wines of all varieties.  A series of match boxes helps tell the story.  From that time to this, the family has continued to sell wine to churches and the general market, including a single brand of Moroney whiskey, while occupying the unmarked building shown here.  Although financial data indicates revenues last year of $1.8 million, the company lists only  three employees and recently took down its website on the Internet.  The run of 178 years may be coming to an end.

Meanwhile, the founding father of this longstanding enterprise lies in St. Joseph Cemetery, in Downingtown, Chester County, Pennsylvania.  He was joined there in April 1910 by his widow, Jane Moroney, who suffered a heart attack while living at the home of a son. She was 80 years old at her passing.  The Moroney’s joint monument is shown above. 

Note:  Unfortunately this post does not adequately reflect the 178 year history of the wine and liquor enterprise founded by James Moroney.  Although his great, great, grand-daughter, Mary Moroney McCarty, is listed as the current owner of the company, I was unable to communicate with her through the contacts provided on the James Moroney, Inc. webpage, a site that subsequently has been taken down.  I am hopeful some alert reader will be able to help open a line of communication with Ms. McCarty or other knowledgeable sources.