Michael Cronan: “A Lad from the Old Sod”

 Foreword:  For years Steve Abbott has been an excellent historian of antique bottles whose many informative articles have graced the pages of collector magazines.  Although I have featured a number of guest authors on this website, I have never had a contribution from Steve.  Recently I was researching a story about Michael Cronan, a liquor dealer of Sacramento, California, when I encountered an article on Cronan that Steve published in the December 2018 issue of “Bottles & Extras” magazine.  His story offered an opportunity to recognize the many contributions Steve has made to whiskey history.   He graciously has allowed me to abridge and adapt his text for presentation here.

Michael Cronan

Michael Cronan, Sacramento whiskey and soda dealer, was too ill in the early fall of 1908 to attend the funeral of one of his best friends in San Francisco, so he sent his son Joseph in his stead.  San Francisco cemeteries are mostly at the edge of town in Colma, San Mateo County.  The horse drawn funeral proceeded through a drizzle along the dirt road, stopping at taverns, not necessarily saloons, every so often to water the horses and warm the mourners.

At the last stop, Malloy’s, the bereaved went inside for a final toast to the deceased friend.  Then, one of the sentimental Irishmen thought how unkind it was for the living to be having a drink inside a warm tavern while the deceased lay in a hearse out in the rain.  So the boys brought their friend in from the cold.  Not only did they bring him in, but they took him out of his coffin, stood him by the fireplace, and toasted him for the last time, hopefully with a glass of Irish dew.

This story was passed down by Joseph Cronin whose son “Bud,” passed it on to this writer.  It is a great story from an Irish family whose American origiins began with Mike’s birth in Caven County, Ireland, December 12, 1846.  Family history says that he probably came from a farm family and immigrated in the late 1860’s.  Mike worked in mills of some sort in the East, then worked his way to California, where he was employed on a railroad route headed to the Bay Area.  Somehow, and it seems to be true of other early immigrants, he came up with a substantial amount of cash., which the family says was about $10,000.  With this money in 1872 Mike bought his way into the Brooklyn Hotel at 85 Front Street (address pre-1880) Sacramento.

Within three years, he went into business with Hugh Casey, the son-in-law of Owen Casey, the proprietor of Eagle Soda works, and together Hugh and Mike morphed that business into Casey-Cronan at 50 Front Street (218 Front Street post 1880).  They were not only business partners, but best friends, Hugh being Mike’s best man at his wedding to Julia O’Brien in 1875.  At some point Hugh decided to go back to Ireland for a few years and Mike began his liquor dealership in 1887 at 230 K Street, a building earlier occupied by whiskey distributors Hall, Luhrs and Mazzini Bros., then Cronan, Cronan-Wissemann, and later George Wissemann.  The earliest ephemera for this budding  company is a forwarding card which would be sent to retailers when Mike would be in their vicinity for sales.  

By 1887 Mike had gone into business under his own name, M. Cronan.  Circa 1898 Mike decided to take an up-and-coming German businessman, George Wissemann, as a partner.  The merger of Irish and German immigrants did not last past 1900 when Wissemann stayed at the 230 K Street location and Mike, incorporated as Cronan & Company, moved to 323 K Street.  Upon splitting with Wissemann the company incorporated with Mike owning 365 shares, his wife Julia with 5 shares, his sister Anna Blanche with 5 shares and two investors, Thomas Kennedy and Thomas O’Neil with 12.5 shares each.  According to information passed through the family, Mike knew that national prohibition was coming and had already become law in some states. 

 

Sharing his risk and welcoming the investments of two other Irishmen (Kennedy and O’Brien) seemed prudent.  Plus Mike wanted day-to-day help running the business.  Apparently Mike did not keep an agreement with Kennedy who was paid a salary, but whose dividends in the company were not paid off in cash but used to pay off his investment in the company.  When Mike died and the estate was settled, Kennedy sued the estate for what he considered to be his share and won.

Michael Cronan’s part of the whiskey business came to an end on November 10, 1908, when, as the Sacramento Bee so delicately put it, Mike “dropped dead.” He was buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery.  The company was worth between $50,000-$75,000, had a good credit rating, and paid good wages according to the Dunn credit rating reports.  The company continued until 1911 when Mike’s widow closed shop, moved to San Francisco, and tended to her business interests in Sacramento and elsewhere.

Michael Cronin’s life spanned his youth on an Irish farm, then in America as a mill and railroad worker, hotel owner, liquor dealer, property owner, and Sacramento businessman.  He was a true “Lad of the Old Sod,” who applied an immigrant’s ambition, risk, hard work, and left part of his legacy to those of us who collect bottle related objects and who try to preserve some of the history related to them.

Notes:  My thanks to Steve Abbott for allowing me to bring his narrative about Michael Cronin back to attention. Steve provides an informative story about a successful immigrant “whiskey man” that fits well with the purpose of this website. Most of the images shown here are from the original article.  Two other liquor dealers mention in Steve’s text have been featured in past posts on this website:  Hall, Luhrs, May 1, 2015, and George Wissemann, July 18, 2016.