Related by marriage and operating the only two distilleries in Madison County, Thompson Burnam and W.S. Hume almost certainly were constantly chivvied by other Kentucky whiskey-makers about the benign-looking lady shown here. Her name was Frances “Little Beachie” Beauchamp, also a native of Madison County, who gained national attention as a powerful voice for Prohibition, leading a successful fight to turn America’s “Whiskey State” dry.
William Stanton “W.S.” Hume had married Eugenia Burnam, a child of Thompson, and Lucinda Burnam. Thereby was forged a close bond between father-in-law and son-in law in the Kentucky whiskey trade. The first indication was in 1868 when the two were joined in a five-person financial group that built Madison County’s first distillery along Silver Creek, shown here, registered as 8th District, No. 541. The company hired George Stagg as manager and made him a co-owner [See post on Stagg, April 30, 2016].
About 1884, Stagg had departed and Hume took full control of the distillery. He rapidly built the facility into a major Kentucky whiskey producer. W. S. Hume & Co. had the capacity to mash and ferment 950 bushels of corn daily with a yield of three-and-one half gallons per bushel. This meant that every day in operation the distillery could produce 3,325 gallons. Hume had warehouse space for 39,000 barrels to age on premises. With a cooperage on site, he made his own barrels.
The insurance map above demonstrates the large expanse of the distillery, dependent on steam for power and encompassing large pens where cattle were fed the spent mash from the distilling operations. Note too that the Louisville & Nashville (L&N) railroad maintained a freight depot on premises, adjacent to a large Hume warehouse.
Meanwhile, Thompson Burnam, with a partner, constructed Madison County’s second (and last) distillery,immediately adjacent to Hume on Silver Creek. Designated 8th District, No. 1, this was a smaller plant but still able to mash and ferment 300 bushels of corn per day and yield three-and-one half gallons per bushel. Burnam called his distillery and his brand, “Warwick.”
In their cosy and successful relationship, neither Hume nor Burnam likely paid much attention to little Fannie Estill, born in May 1857, an only child growing up on a nearby homestead in Madison County. They may have noted when at the age of 18 she married 33-year-old James H. Beauchamp, a Confederate veteran and noted Kentucky lawyer. Sometime after 1880 the couple moved to Lexington. There in 1886, Francis joined the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). After a rapid rise through the ranks she became the elected president of the Kentucky WCTU which she led for 32 of 33 years until her death in 1823.
As one biographer has noted: Beauchamp was a hands-on leader, and she established close relationships with WCTU women in her state, allowing the organization to grow significantly. In 1887 there were less than ten local chapters of the WCTU in Kentucky. During her presidency, the number of Kentucky chapters rose to over three hundred.”
Beauchamps also melded the prohibition movement with women’s suffrage, actively advocating that women should vote in school board elections when Kentucky law opened that possibility. “She mobilized both white and black women, bringing National WCTU President Frances Willard to Lexington in 1895 to speak at St. Paul’s African Methodist Episcopal Church. The organizational power of Lexington’s black women grew rapidly in these years, so much so that in the fall of 1901 they out-numbered white women in registering to vote for the upcoming Lexington School Board election.” Frances Willard would give the Kentuckian the nickname “Little Beachie.”
By 1903 Beauchamps had been instrumental in passing a “local option” bill in Kentucky allowing localities to ban the sale of alcholic beverages if voters agreed. In 1906 she saw the option expanded to counties. By 1907, 95 of 119 Kentucky counties had voted “dry,” a stunner in a state known internationally for its whiskey production.
By now the Madison County distillers were all too aware of who Francis Beauchamps was. In addition to being constantly reminded by their fellow Kentucky whiskey makers for their county having given rise to this Prohibition firebrand, they could see that local option was a disaster for sales. Both men promptly sold out. By 1905, W.S. Hume Distillers had become a part of the Kentucky Distilleries & Warehouse Company, New York capitalist-fueled, second major attempt at a Whiskey Trust. A year later the Burnam, Bennett Distillery with its popular Warwick Whiskey brand sold out to Bernheim Distilling Company of Louisville who operated the distillery until National Prohibition. [See post on Bernheim, Dec. 10, 2014.]
Although it is difficult to tell for sure, my instincts are that the Bernheims may have been responsible for a more aggressive advertising campaign on behalf of Warwick Whiskey, including a saloon sign with a definite Oriental aspect. A similar source may be behind the advertising material with a distinctly racist approach. Although “Little Beachie” successfully had sought out African-American women to recruit to her causes, other Kentuckians preferred to objectify blacks in demeaning ways.
Shown below is a drawing prepared for Warwick Whiskey, part of a pamphlet entitled “The Sage of Silver Creek.” It depicts an elderly African-American gentleman called “Uncle Rastas” who is fishing and being quoted on the subject of religion, horses and whiskey. The figure is the stereotyped Southern black whose fracturing of the English language obviously was believed to be a lively source of humor. And, of course, Rastas heartily endorses Warwick Whiskey.
Meanwhile W. S. Hume, having sold his successful distillery, was moving on with his life. With a household that included wife Eugenia and seven children, about 1880 he had built a mansion home on Silver Creek after tearing down the original brick structure on the property. He called it “Holly Hill,” shown here as it was later remodeled.
Tragically, the retired distiller would die in 1906 as a passenger on the ill-fated U.S. passenger steamer S.S. Valencia, shown below. The ship struck a reef near the west coast of Vancouver Island during a violent storm. Attacked by vicious winds and unrelenting waves it proved virtually impossible to remove the passengers safely. Of 108 on board only 37 survived. Hume was not among them.
Meanwhile Francis Beauchamps was untiring in her efforts to bring a total ban on alcohol to Kentucky. Even though still denied the vote herself, Beauchamp stepped into the male realm of politics by chairing Kentucky's Prohibition Party for ten years. Lobbying state and federal legislators to support a constitutional amendment, her work is said to have gained Kentucky approval for the 18th Amendment that ushered in National Prohibition. Frances Beauchamps died in 1923 and is buried in Lexington Cemetery with family members. Madison County has erected a historical sign in her honor.
A summary comment on the Madison County distillers and the effect of “Little Beachie” was penned by a local historian: “Both distilleries were closed down when the constitutional amendment on National Prohibition, led in no small part by Madison County’s own Frances Beauchamps, was passed in 1919. Neither operation reopened when the amendment was repealed in 1933.”
Note: This post was researched from a number of sources. The principal source for information about Frances Beauchamp was an Internet article published by Randolph Hollingsworth on January 19, 2019.
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