Whiskey Men Who Started as Peddlers

Foreword:  In the process of profiling more than 600 whiskey men — distillers, distributors, saloonkeepers — I have found several who began their careers in what many might consider the lowly occupation of peddler, an individual going from place to place to sell food or other small items.  One writer says:  “A distinctive way of making a living, peddling required that the man–since in the United States women nearly never engaged in it—knock on doors, go up to the homes of each one of his customers, cross their thresholds, communicate with them in their own language and develop a pleasant enough manner to convince them to buy something.” The occupation required long, hard hours of dedicated effort, but the individuals profiled here found success and hewed a better life for themselves and their families.

No one knew the hardships of peddling better than Isaac Merkel, a German-born immigrant who after marrying in his native Germany, emigrated in 1870 with his new wife to the United States.  Settling in Plattsburgh, New York, not far from the Canadian border, Isaac found himself in immediate need of employment. His wife was pregnant. When he arrived in the Adirondack wilderness he found few compatible occupations. Peddling was the best option. 

Sjnce Isaac could no money to open a store, he carried it to others. We can imagine him on Sunday mornings, waking up at dawn, joining dozens of other peddlers, shouldering a heavy knapsack and setting off on foot for a weeklong journey among the mountains and valleys. Merkel’s route took him over poor country roads that were little more than cart paths to isolated New York villages. As a peddler he would travel all day and at night sleep where he could find a warm place, in summer camping out under the sky.  He walked home on Fridays for the Jewish Sabbath.

Years of toil and a keen business sense eventually paid off for Merkel.  In time he established  a liquor blending operation and distributorship.  A 1913 Plattsburgh city directory lists his firm as “rectifiers and wholesale liquor dealers, bottlers and jobbers in cigars.”  His trademarked flagship whiskey was “Bachelor Rye.”  Merkel’s plant and office was at 56-50 Bridge St. and his retail store at 22-24 Bridge. He also founded a brewery and later a department store.  As his sons grew to manhood, Isaac introduced them into his businesses.

Merkel increasingly was recognized as a business leader in northern New York State, specifically cited in a 1891 history of Plattsburgh for his success as a merchant. In addition to his beverage interests, he served as treasurer of the Clinton Telephone Company and in 1915 as a director of the Mountain Home Telephone Company. In 1900 he was active as a court juror and in 1905 served as a member of the Plattsburgh Board of Education.  All this was a far cry from Isaac’s beginnings.

In 1859, Dominico Canale, an immigrant Italian boy of 16 stepped off the steamer “John Simon” onto the dock at Memphis, Tennessee.  Memphis would be his home for the rest of his life and upon his death he had created a liquor and mercantile family dynasty that survived until 2010. 

After working for relatives at their Memphis liquor store, Canale began peddling fruits and vegetables from his own push cart while continuing an interest in the whiskey trade. Before long he graduated from his produce wagon to selling from a warehouse at 8 Madison St., near Front, and called his establishment D. Canale & Co.  In addition to wholesaling fruits and vegetables he featured a quality bourbon whiskey that he labeled “Old Dominick.” The brand rapidly gained a local and regional customer base, advertised lavishly by Canale in large signs in downtown Memphis.

The Canale liquor and produce interests found significant success.  They allowed him to bring his sons into the business and thrust him into the forefront of Memphis commerce.  In 1905 a book entitled “Notable Men of Tennessee” featured him with the photo shown here.  Canale’s biography stated that:  “…Today [he] stands at the head of the fruit business of Memphis and, perhaps, of the South….Mr. Canale is what is rightly termed a self-made man, and has won his position in the social and commercial life of Memphis by his industry, his native ability, and the exercise of correct business principles.”  

In 1889 Moses (Mose) Weinberger, a Wichita grocer, headed for the newly opened Oklahoma Territory to seek his fortune.   Upon arrival in the town of Guthrie he initially made a living through the sale of bananas to homesteaders and later started the first legal saloon in the Territory. Today Moses is counted among “Oklahoma State Greats.” He is the central figure in the photo above, standing in front of his saloon.

An immigrant from Hungary, Weinberger came to America in 1877.  After settling in Kansas for a few years, he joined the Oklahoma Land Rush, taking a train from Wichita to Guthrie Station.  Between noon and 6 p.m. on that date about 10,000 people descended on that once sleepy railroad stop.  By day’s end Guthrie, shown below, was the largest town in the Oklahoma Territory.  Food, however, was at a premium and prices skyrocketed.  

Weinberger sized up the situation and immediately wired the Bryan Brothers Fruit Company of Wichita for boxes of bananas.  They came the next day by train and Moses went up and down the street selling bananas at two for five cents — the equivalent today of $1.25.  With the proceeds he hired a team of mules and a wagon, and during the following months peddled fruit all over town.  Mose staked a claim on two lots, built a house on them and moved his family down from Wichita.  

Tiring of peddling fruit, in June 1891 Mose heard a rumor that it might be possible to obtain a license from the Federal Government to sell liquor in Oklahoma.  Although he never before had run a saloon he made application and obtained a federal license from Leavenworth, Kansas.  Weinberger quickly opened the first legal drinking establishment in the Oklahoma Territory.  Later he added a liquor store.

Operated for 36 years, Weinberger’s “Same Old Moses” saloon was a huge success, even to having Carry Nation take her hatchet to his bar. Today the site in Guthrie bears a historical marker.   Moses also has been acknowledged in a history book used in Oklahoma schools.  On a list of  “State Greats,” the name Moses Weinberger can be found in the company of Humorist Will Rogers and Athlete Jim Thorpe.  His claim to fame:  “Opened first legal saloon in Oklahoma.”  Truly, Moses did -- and he started by peddling bananas.  

The nattily dressed young man shown right is David Feltenstein, a well-known prosperous whiskey man in St. Joseph, Missouri.  Feltenstein had not always known the affluence he attained as a successful wholesale, retail, and mail order liquor dealer.  He was born about 1873 in New York City of Russian Jewish immigrant parents who lived in a tenement on Manhattan’s lower East Side,  David’s father was a peddler, selling merchandise on the street and going door to door to support his family.

About 1893 David Feltenstein left New York City for Missouri where early on he was engaged in the whiskey trade. Exactly when Feltenstein founded his liquor dealership cannot be determined, but his business first showed up in St. Joseph directories in 1902, located at 315-319 Edmond Street.  That would be his location for the life of the company, an enterprise that proved very profitable.

In his success Feltenstein never forgot his roots, demonstrated several ways of saluting his heritage.  Outside his establishment he kept a cart similar to those that peddlers would push though the streets of New York, crying out their wares.  The sides of the cart advertised “Old Joel Whiskey.”  

Note too that in front of his store Feltenstein kept a line of barrels on the sidewalk, reminiscent of peddlers spreading out their products for passersby.  Most important, he named his flagship whiskey “Old Joel” after his father, Joel Feltenstein, the peddler, and put his picture on company bottles.

Briefly profiled here are three peddlers and the scion of a peddler — all of them successful whiskey men.  Clearly the skills and know-how that is required of the itinerant can carry over into more formal businesses, including those doing business in the liquor trade.

Note:  More lengthy profiles of each of the four men featured here can be found elsewhere on this blog:   Isaac Merkel, January 26, 2012;  Dominic Canale, November 26, 2011;  Moses Weinberger, February 15, 2014, and David (and Joel) Feltenstein, February 20, 2016.

Who Was “Old Joel”? —David Feltenstein Knew

The nattily dressed young man shown above is David Feltenstein, a well-known and prosperous whiskey man in St. Joseph, Missouri.  In his hand is a bottle of his flagship brand, one he called “Old Joel,” whose label included the portrait of an elderly bearded gentleman.   Who was Old Joel?   Feltenstein knew, but few customers did.

Feltenstein had not always known the affluence he attained as a successful wholesale, retail, and mail order liquor dealer.  He was born about 1873 in New York City of Russian Jewish immigrant parents.  The family lived in on Manhattan’s lower East Side, the dwelling place for many newly arrived in America with little money.  Like many Jewish arrivals, David’s father was a peddler, selling merchandise on the street and going door to door.  Shown below is a Jewish peddler making a sale on a New York sidewalk.

From a 21st Century prospective, idea of peddling seems curious, if not downright demeaning,  Nevertheless, it was a normal way of life for many Jews from Russia and Central Europe.  The men who immigrated to America took up peddling almost as a matter of course, says one author, adding:  “A distinctive way of making a living, peddling required that the man–since in the United States women nearly never engaged in it—knock on doors, go up to the homes of each one of his customers, cross their thresholds, communicate with them in their own language and develop a pleasant enough manner to convince them to buy something. It necessitated that the would-be peddler learn enough of the local language or languages to be able to communicate with women and men often very different from him.”

The 1880 U.S.Census found the Feltensteins living in an apartment at 30 Essex Street, one of the avenues that defined the boundaries of the Lower East Side.  Their building likely resembled the tenements shown here.  The father and mother, both 43 years old, were raising a large family on a peddler’s income.  The oldest child was Betsy at 18 years, followed by Sarah,10.  Then came four boys, Isaac, 8;  David, 7;  Alexander, 6;  and Moses, 4. There also was an elder son, Abraham, and two children, Jacob and Hannah, born after 1880.  As he grew up, David almost certainly learned the value of hard work from his father, as well as frugality and personality traits to convince customers “to buy something.”  His father’s name, as you may have guessed, was Joel.

With his boyhood spent in what many considered the slums,  Feltenstein had only limited education, telling a census taker that he had left school to go to work after the eight grade. When he was about 20 years old David moved to St. Joseph, Missouri.  He likely made the move at the suggestion of Feltenstein relatives who already lived in the Missouri River town, a “jumping off point” for many heading West.  In St. Joseph at the age of 23 Feltenstein found a bride in Rae, also given as “Ray,”  herself the offspring of Russian Jewish parents.  She was 18 when they married.  The 1900 census found them living in St. Joseph’s Third Ward with one son, Harry, 2 years old.  Feltenstein’s occupation was given as “Merchant, D.S.,” likely meaning “distilled spirits.”

Exactly when Feltenstein founded his liquor dealership cannot be determined, but his business first showed up in St. Joseph directories in 1902, located at 315-319 Edmond Street.  That would be his location for the life of the company. In addition to naming his flagship whiskey “Old Joel,”  David demonstrated other ways of saluting his heritage.  Outside his establishment he kept a cart similar to those that peddlers would push though the streets of New York, crying out their wares.  The sides of the cart advertised “Old Joel Whiskey.”  Note too that outside his store Feltenstein had a line of barrels on the sidewalk, reminiscent of peddlers spreading out their products for passersby.

Feltenstein advertised his whiskey vigorously.  An 1910 ad emphasized that he packaged his brands in gallon glass jars.  These had been made possible by the invention of the Mike Owens bottling machine not long before.   He offered two brands, “Old Joel” at $4 a gallon and a cheaper “house” brand rye for $3.  He also was advertising as “The Old Reliable Mail Order Liquor House,” taking advantage of the many states and localities that had gone “dry” but could still receive interstate express deliveries of liquor.  In addition to his “Old Joel” proprietary label, Feltenstein offered a number of nationally known brands, like “Old McBrayer” “Guckenheimer Rye,” and “Old Oscar Pepper.”  A buyer ordering four quarts of liquor would receive it prepaid express.

Like other whiskey dealers of his time, Feltenstein issued giveaway items to favored customers like saloon owners and bartenders.  Two shot glasses shown here prominently advertised “Old Joel.”  Interestingly, the glasses indicated that D. Feltenstein was the “distributor” of the brand.  This reference may indicate that the company was not doing its own rectifying and bottling but relying on outside sources.  It also is interesting that Feltenstein never trademarked his “Old Joel” brand.

 

As Feltenstein’s wealth increased, so did his family size. In the 1910 census when he was 37, David and Rae’s children had increased to three, joining Harry, now 12, was Gerald, 8, and Edward, 3.  Their father determined to build them a new home.  Designed by Architect Rudolph Meyer, it was a two story brick and stone dwelling in the designated “Prairie Style.”  At the beginning of the 20th century, Frank Lloyd Wright had introduced this distinct new architecture, expressing the flat, sweeping prairie of the Midwest, created to meet Wright's objectives of a simplicity and integrity that combined comfort, utility and beauty,  Shown here and still standing, Feltenstein’s Missouri house was an excellent example of the style.  Moreover, it was a far cry from the tenement residence David had known as a boy.

Although Missouri did not ban alcohol sales until National Prohibition in 1920, as the 20th Century progressed, Feltenstein experienced the dwindling of his customer base.  Beginning 1913 the Webb-Kenyon Act eventually had cut off his ability to send mail-order booze into “dry” states and localities. Nevertheless,  he kept his liquor business going until 1918, then apparently went from “wet goods” into dry goods — selling ready-to-wear clothing and household items.  His liquor store later was torn down to create a bank parking lot.

Feltenstein died at the age of 68 in November 1941, listed on his death certificate as “retired merchant.”  The cause given was heart disease and an upper respiratory infection.  He was buried at the Ashland Mausoleum in St. Joseph.  His life literally had been one that went from rags to riches — but he never forgot the roots of his success.  The face and the name of his immigrant peddler father was ever with him on his bottles, his advertising and the large sign that graced his establishment.  They reminded David Feltenstein daily of his hard-scrabble childhood in a New York tenement ghetto and a father whose efforts made it possible for him and his family to live the American Dream.