Monday, January 16, 2012

The Doughertys of Philly Were Distilling Sons of St. Patrick

When a poor Irish boy left his home in Innishowen, County Derry, Ireland, for America he can scarcely have imagined the major distillery that he would establish and operate with two sons -- an organization that would endure and prosper for 70 years. That boy was John A. Dougherty, born in 1788 who arrived in Philadelphia in 1814 at the age of 26.

Beginning his career in America as a baker, John soon became involved in the whiskey business, learning the trade while working for local distillers on Philadelphia’s Spruce and Shippen Streets, shown here. During this period he married Eliza Sherbourne, herself an immigrant from Bristol, England. They had two sons, William P., born in 1825 and Charles A., born in 1827.

When William came of age, he worked with his father in the liquor trade for a time but became entranced with telegraphy, a new technology that was just coming into vogue. In 1847 he became an operator and later Assistant Superintendent of the Bain Chemical Telegraph, extending from Baltimore to Washington. Undetered by William’s defection, John Dougherty brought son Charles into his whiskey activities and in 1849 founded a business he called John A. Dougherty & Son.


Within a year the company’s distillery, above, was erected -- Distillery No. 2 of the 1st District of Pennsylvania. The still and warehouses were located in the 1000 block of Front Street. Shown here, Front Street runs north-south parallel to and near the Delaware River. One of the oldest streets in Philadephia it was constructed when the city was laid out by William Penn in 1682.

In 1851 William abandoned telegraphy to work with his father and brother Charles. They promptly changed the company name to John A. Dougherty & Sons. All three men were active in promoting Irish culture and assisting Irish immigrants to Philadephia. They were recorded as active members of The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and of the Hiberian Society for the Relief of Emigrants from Ireland.



Dougherty’s “Pure Rye Whiskey” met with almost immediate success, capturing a market in the Philadelphia area and beyond. The company’s first still was a wooden one of 750 gallons. It soon was joined by a second copper still with a 1,200 gallon capacity. Both were fueled by steam. A new larger warehouse was built in 1864, with a capacity of 3,000 barrels.

In 1866 John Dougherty died at the age of 78 and was buried at the Cathedral Cemetery. Son William took over as senior manager and the company name was changed once again to J.A. Dougherty’s Sons. The business continued to grow. Three new warehouses were built over the next several years adding 12,900 gallons of storage capacity. The complex, shown here, employed some 30 workers. In 1879 the first warehouse was enlarged to hold 4,000 barrels.

Meanwhile William Dougherty was gaining prestige as a businessman and as a patron of the arts. He was a charter member of the Art Club and a prominent member of the Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Natural Sciences. His collection of mezzotints, etchings and engravings was said to be the finest in Philadelphia. William was also accounted accomplished in botany, gardening, metallurgy and chemistry, as well as conversant with Latin, Greek, French and Spanish.




With Willam’s artistic sense it is a reasonable assumption that he was responsible for the tasteful label design for Dougherty whiskey, as well as the saloon signs,  paperweights and other giveaway items the company featured, several of them shown here. At the age of 67 William died in 1892 at his residence at 1435 Girard Avenue in Philadelphia, leaving Charles as the manager of the firm.

The youngest Dougherty continued the successes forged by his father and brother. He discarded the wooden still in favor of a second copper pot and in 1893 rebuilt one warehouse to hold 3,800 barrels and added new floors to another to increase capacity to 25,000 barrels. The continued expansion was indicative of growing national market for Dougherty Pure Rye. Not as active in Philadelphia society as William, Charles was a member of the Board of Trade.

Important changes occurred in 1898. The mother, Eliza Dougherty, died and was buried next to her husband. That same year Charles, age 71 also died.  Family members who inherited the business continued its operation but sold after the imposition of National Prohibition in 1921. See the material supplied by Ann Richard below. The new owners, recognizing the potency of the name and tradition, continued operations under the Dougherty name but was supplied with whiskey from other sources, including Old Overholt Distillery.



Early in the 1920s during Prohibition a company, under non-family management, called Dougherty Distillery Warehouse Co., was formed and licensed as a concentration warehouse and bottler of medicinal whiskey, available only by prescription. A whiskey bottle from that period is shown here, along with a highly embossed flask. After Repeal, the Dougherty label on whiskey was resurrected by a series of owners and still is being merchandised today. Thus the tradition is perpetuated that was begun by an Irish immigrant and his sons who together created Philadelphia’s most famous whiskey name.





















22 comments:

  1. The reverse glass JA Dougherty sign in the pictures above my in-laws have one any idea of the value?

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    1. Dear Steve: Reverse glass signs are heavily collected today and command good prices. My guess for Dougherty sign in good condition would be $800 to $1,000 and possibly more. Your inlays have a real find. Jack

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  2. Thank for an excellent history of the distillery and family. John A Dougherty is my 3rd great grandfather.

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    1. Ann, do you have any more info on the Dougherty lineage? I am related to a Charles Dougherty (possibly from Antrim, Ireland) but he was likely only a distant relative of the Charles mentioned here.

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    2. Ann, John A. Dougherty, Sr. is my second great grandfather. John A. Dougherty, Jr. is my grandfather. His daughter, Mary (Mollie) Amanda Dougherty, married my grandfather, Oscar Charles Portner in 1912. Oscar Portner was the son of Robert A Portner, a prominent beer brewer in Alexandria, VA. They had two sons: Robert J. Portner and my father John Alexander Dougherty Portner. Oscar Portner died in 1924 and Mollie died in 1929 while on tour in Europe with the two boys who were teenagers at the time. George Dougherty who I believe was Mollie's cousin and the son of Charles Dougherty became their guardian and they lived and were raised in Washington, DC on California Street. This is pretty much all I have on the Dougherty side. I have old photos of John A. Dougherty, Jr., Mollie, Oscar and the baby boys taken at the Philadelphia residense and I have a few bottles of the Whiskey, with contents, still in the orange boxes. A few years ago, a fellow by the name of Michael Gaines wrote a biography about my great grandfather Robert A. Portner and his beer brewing business called "The World's Shortest Dynasty". One of the things Michael produced is a family tree of Robert Portner, his wife Anna Von Valaer, their fourteen childeren and progeny through 1990. Do you know if something of this nature exists for the Doughertys? I would love to see the all lineage if so. I can be reached through this email: cemageneral@aol.com.

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  3. Thank you, Ann, for your kind comments about my piece on your ancestor, John Dougherty. I found him and his family of particularly interest, possibly because I am of Irish ancestry. My personal collection contains three cherished paperweights from the firm. They come up fairly frequently on eBay and are relatively inexpensive. You might want try to get one as a keepsake. All the best. Jack

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  4. Just an update as to when the business actually sold. This was taken from the Philadelphia Inquirer:
    Notice is hereby given that the partnership heretofore existing between Edwin V Dougherty, William H Dougherty, and the Estate of John A Dougherty, Deceased, the Executors being George K Dougherty, Eliza A Dougherty and Alfred W Dougherty, unbder the name of John A Dougherty's Sons, was dissolved on the 12th day of August 1921, said Edwin V Dougherty, William H Dougherty, and the Estate of John A Dougherty, Deceased, withdrawing from the firm.


    The business will be continued by Salvador S Richard and Simon Levinson under the said name of J A Dougherty's Sons.


    Edwin V Dougherty


    William H Dougherty


    Estate of John A Dougherty, Dec'd.


    (George K Dougherty, Eliza A Dougherty and Alfred W Dougherty, Executors)


    Martin V Bergen, Attorney


    1503 Land Title Building.




    Taken from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Volume 185, Issue 81, page 18, appearing under the Business Changes column.

    September 19, 1921

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  5. Thanks, Ann, for this additional, valuable information. The family sold after National Prohibition. This meant that the buyers had a strong belief that after the "dry" period (lasting 13 years but they could not know how long) the Dougherty name on whiskey would still be of considerable value. Jack

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  6. Jack, I'm trying to establish a link between the Doughertys and a home in Ventnor, N.J. Can you shed any light on the subject?

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  7. Unknown: Thanks for the inquiry. Sadly I do not have anything in my notes on this post regarding a New Jersey address.

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  8. Hi, Jack:) I have a question about the sale of the distillery in 1904. With the information that Ann Richards supplied above, did you have a document that shows a sale? I can't seem to find one. I show the youngest John, Jr. maintaining an ownership role until his death in Feb 1920. They shut down production in 1917, but I can't see where the family sold the distillery. Do you have an article or something that you saw that in? I know I'm missing something... Thanks!

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    1. He's still calling himself a distiller and employer in Philadelphia on the 1910 census. His son is recorded as a clerk for same.

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  9. My 2nd Great Grandmother, Mary Daugherty, daughter of John
    and Eliza married Hugh McCormick in 1851 in Philadelphia. They came to San Francisco in 1852. Would love to know more about Eliza.
    Suzie Curtiss

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  10. Unknown: Perhaps another relative will spot this post and let you know.

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    1. Hello Jack, hopefully you'll see the next comment. Thanks for all you do!

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  11. Can anyone identify the time period the heavily embossed bottle on the bottom left is from? I have one and am trying to get an idea of it's worth. Thanks in advance!

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  12. Anonymous: The bottle you identify is pre-Prohibition so must be at least 100 years old. Am not good at values but believe a bottle as well embossd as that one will have some value.

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    1. Thank you Jack! Kindest regards, Steve

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    2. Hi Jack, After doing more research, I found out that the embossed bottle actually has no relation to JA Dougherty from Pennsylvania. This bottle, Old Dougherty Special Reserve Pure Rye Whiskey was produced by Distillers Corporation Limited (A Montreal Canada Company) sometime between when the company was founded in 1924 and when this brand was last produced in 1939.
      Thought the folks here might find this to be of interest. Cheers!

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  13. Anonymous: This is indeed a good bit of information and something completely unknown to me. And very interesting.

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    1. See the details in the label. neehttps://decg5lu73tfmh.cloudfront.net/drinksplanet.com/images/fbfiles/images/xOld-Dougherty-Special-Reserve-Pure-Rye-Whiskey-1924-1928--sh10y4lnrn_v_1634914655.jpg.pagespeed.ic.BL_NlbUuqD.webp

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