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.

Crigler & Crigler: A Family Affair

No better example of close familial relationships in the whiskey trade exists than the story of Crigler & Crigler -- Robert and Llewellyn -- uncle and nephew. Together they created one of Kentucky’s leading distilling dynasties, one with a nationwide reach. The Crigler family were early immigrants from Germany to Madison County, Virginia. Jacob Crigler, the founder of the family, is recorded arriving in 1717. His descendent, Nicholas, an American soldier in the War of 1812, emigrated about 1828 from Virginia to Boone County, Kentucky, with his family. With him was an older son, Ephraim; another son, Robert, would be born in Boone County in 1834. 

 According to a Kentucky history published in 1887, Robert, sometimes known as “R.L.” left Kentucky at age 16 to seek his fortune in Cincinnati where he clerked in a dry goods store. By age 21 he had struck out on his own, successively running dry goods establishments in Cincinnati, and Paris and Lexington, Ky. In the latter location he began to invest in land. About 1874 he moved back to the Ohio city in the mercantile trade. In 1880 he married Jessie F. Talbert, a Cincinnati girl from a prominent family. 

Enter Llewellyn Crigler, shown above.  He was Ephriam’s son, born in 1841, and reared on the family’s Boone County farm. He was educated at the White Haven Seminary near Union, Ky., and at the age of 22 embarked on a business career as a storekeeper in Lawrenceburg and Lexington, Ky. Clearly a strong entrepreneurial spirit existed in the Crigler family and by the early 1870s -- probably 1874 -- Llewellyn was in Covington running a wholesale liquor business in partnership with A.R. Mullins of that city. By 1880, Mullins was out of the picture and Llewellyn had formed a new partnership with his Uncle Robert. 

Thus the firm of Crigler & Crigler was born, destined to be one of the Nation’s leading distillers. Robert was president, Llewellyn the vice president. The company was well located. Kentucky was the premier whiskey-making state. Cincinnati, across the Ohio river, was a commercial center for the entire Midwest with good access to Eastern markets. The pair lost no time in building their whiskey empire. The record suggests that by the time of the partnership, Llewellyn Crigler already was at least a partial owner of the Buffalo Springs Distillery, located in the colorfully named Stamping Grounds, a town in Scott County, Ky. This community was sited where huge buffalo herds once had congregated, probably to drink from a large natural spring, and had trampled down the surrounding vegetation.

 

According to Kentucky histories, the Stamping Grounds distillery first had been erected as a woolen mill in 1864. It had been turned to whiskey-making several years later by a man named Robert Samuels who was not a fulltime distiller and produced only 15 barrels a day. He sold out to a group of investors, among them Llewellyn Crigler. They expanded the facilities and increased production. Eventually the Criglers bought full ownership and began to advertise Buffalo Springs Whiskey prominently. Shown here a pre-Prohibition bottle, shot glass, and metal paperweight the partners issued with the Buffalo Springs logo. In 1898, Crigler & Crigler also acquired the Woodland Whiskey brand name and distillery operation. That Lexington area distillery was located on land leased from Robert Crigler. 

In 1872 Headley & Peck Co. had built a distillery, a brick warehouse, and three metal-clad warehouses with a total value of $30,000. It could produce up to 4,000 barrels of whiskey annually. In 1894, however, a scandal involving fraudulent warehouse receipts tainted the Headley & Peck operation and helped to throw it into bankruptcy. The Criglers were there to pick up the pieces and almost immediately established Woodland Straight Kentucky Whiskey as their flagship brand. The firm engaged upon a national advertising campaign that capitalized on the fact that Woodland Whiskey in 1899 had been selected by the U.S. Government for use at the National Hospital for the Insane (now St. Elizabeth’s) in Washington D.C. 

The Criglers also offered attractive giveaway items to favored customers, including match cases and tip trays. The whiskey business brought the Criglers great success. They fully exploited the mail order trade. For $4.75, the firm would send a customer two gallons of its whiskey -- express prepaid. The offer was backed by a money back guarantee. If you bought twenty Woodland quarts for $13 by mail and paid cash up front, Crigler would throw in four quarts of Old Special Stock Whiskey (guaranteed to be more than 12 years old) for free. The firm eventually (1908) occupied a six-story office building in Covington, Ky., shown here, and had dozens of employees. In 1909 the firm incorporated By 1914 the Criglers had opened offices in Kansas City, Missouri, to handle their Western trade and in Jacksonville, Florida, for Southland business. 

They invested in real estate in Ohio and Kentucky. Llewellyn became a director of the Dayton Syrup Refining Company of Dayton, Ohio. Both men had families and lived in spacious homes in Cincinnati. Over the lifetime of their distilling company Crigler & Crigler also offered other whiskey brands. Among them were “Brier Rabbit,” “Forsythe,” “ John Barley Corn,” “Crigler’s Favorite,” “Col. Bob Corn,” “Kentucky Senator” and “Sweet Sixteen.” However, they registered only Woodland (1906) for U.S. government trademark protection -- indicating its particular market importance. 

During the 1890s, the Criglers sold their Buffalo Spring distillery to the Morrin-Powers Company of Kansas City, who changed the name to the Buffalo Springs Distilling Co. That firm continued producing Buffalo Springs brand whiskey using the Criglers’ original recipe until Prohibition. After Repeal, subsequent owners continued to make and sell Buffalo Springs Whiskey. The distillery closed for good in 1968, after a 104 year history. Crigler & Crigler disappeared from Covington business directories in 1917. The Woodland brand name joined thousands of others that died with Prohibition. Moreover, research into the Crigler family has failed to disclose the fates of Robert and Llewellyn, or even the dates of their deaths.

Harry Bayer Climbed Ohio's "Golden Hill"

More than a half century before Starbucks was conceived, an enterprising Columbus, Ohio, whiskey merchant devised a franchise scheme to market his products throughout the Buckeye State by establishing retail outlets in multiple cities. The merchant was Harry Bayer. The network he created was linked by a single name -- “The Golden Hill.” Bayer began as a partner in Bayer, Schwartz & Co., a whiskey distributor first listed in Columbus business directories in 1903, located at the northwest corner of Town and Fourth Streets. The firm, probably whiskey rectifiers, advertised several brands, including “Genesta,” “Grover Rye,” and “Red Lion.” Its flagship was “The Golden Hill Rye.” Shown here is a highly decorated etched shot glass from those early days, advertising the brand by showing a radiant sun rising over five hills. Bayer was eager to expand his market, both in Columbus and throughout Ohio.

 

At the time many breweries were buying up saloons or securing exclusive rights to provide beer to selected drinking establishments. Bayer saw an opportunity to do something similar for his whiskey trade. In 1905 he applied to the Federal Government to register “The Golden Hill” as a whiskey brand. This move was an attempt to discourage anyone else from appropriating the name. 

The same year Bayer opened two more liquor outlets named “The Golden Hill,” in Columbus, one at 76 W. Broad Street and a second at 1020 Mt. Vernon Avenue. Then Bayer went statewide. He soon made arrangements with saloon owners in Cleveland, Toledo, Akron and Youngstown to change the name of their establishments to the Golden Hill and to provide his whiskey on an exclusive basis. A corkscrew advertising the brand issued during this period stated: “For sale wherever good whiskey is sold.” 

How Bayer operated was suggested in evidence from an early 1900s lawsuit. An Ohio court decision described how the Columbus entrepreneur had loaned a Cleveland saloonkeeper named Hornstein a sum of money. In return Bayer controlled a chattel mortgage that covered all of Hornstein tangible assets and held an unsecured note for an additional $1,200. When Hornstein went bankrupt Bayer seized the property and caused the sheriff to sell the saloonkeeper’s liquor license. From the proceeds Bayer collected the amount of the note. Although the settlement was challenged in court by Hornstein’s wife, Bayer’s actions were upheld. A Golden Hill Liquor Co. outlet subsequently opened in Cleveland. 

Most of Harry Bayer’s business moves, however, do not appear to have been adversarial. In Toledo Harry H. Klein operated a saloon and liquor store, doing business as Klein Bros. Company. About 1905 he joined up with Bayer and changed the name of his establishment to The Golden Hill Liquor. Described in business directories as a distributor of “wines & brandies & fine whiskies,” the company initially occupied a building in downtown Toledo at the corner of Monroe and Adams Streets, then moved next door to 519-520 Adams Street. 

 Klein also opened an outlet at 520 Monroe St. Klein gave away Golden Hill mini-jugs and a wooden tip tray, shown here.  Two other Golden Hill franchises opened in 1905, one in Akron at 13 Market Street and the other in Youngstown. Business directories provide information about the Youngstown outlet. Under the name Golden Hill Liquor Company, saloons (or stores) were located at 308 W. Federal St. and 277 E. Federal St. In 1908, the latter outlet moved to 282 W. Federal. 

In 1907 Bayer incorporated his firm under a new name, now calling it The Golden Hill Distilling Company, as shown on a shot glass. It was common for such firms to claim to be distillers when, in fact, they bought their stock by the barrel from Kentucky distilleries, mixed it in the back room, filled bottles, and slapped their label on it. Court documents indicate that at Golden Hill Distilling the hard-charging Bayer held the positions of president, treasurer, chairman of the board and manager. The newly-christened firm also added two new whiskey brands, “American Beauty” and “Rob’s Rye.” Bayer registered both with the government in 1907. 

About the same time N. Trotstein opened a Golden Hill outlet in Lima, Ohio, likely as an adjunct to his saloon. It was located at 34 Public Square, a prime location in downtown Lima, shown above in a period postcard. Trotstein advertised widely in local media. His shotglass advertising Golden Hill Rye is virtually identical to the Columbus-issued versions. The similarity solidifies the notion that the two organizations were closely linked. Also shown here is a Golden Hill flask from Lima.  No artifacts have surfaced from the Golden Hill location in Fostoria, Ohio. It was housed in the downtown Foster Block building, identified as both a saloon and a liquor store. City records show that the owner/operator was L. J. Schild. 

Whatever dynamic was catapulting Harry Bayer and The Golden Hill into prominence in the whiskey trade was short-lived and appears to have waned by 1908. That year the Akron Golden Hill disappeared from directories. By 1910 the franchise was in a severe decline. A Golden Hill outlet opened that year in Cincinnati and closed within months. The Toledo Golden Hill disappeared from directories as did one of the two locations in Youngstown. At the parent organization in Columbus, the Broad St. and Mt. Vernon Av. units closed and the company moved to two High St. addresses. Bayer hired a new manager for his Columbus operations named Samuel Weinfeld. Weinfeld stayed two years, then left to found his own wholesale and retail liquor business. The Cleveland Golden Hill apparently closed in 1913 and the remaining Youngstown outlet in 1914 -- both gone from local business directories. 

Court records from 1914 may provide the best clue to Bayer’s decline. That year he was hailed into court by a man named Bump for sending whiskey by express mail to Mayville, Ohio, a completely “dry” town. Bump was a undercover agent for Prohibition forces and had conducted a sting on Bayer. After a trial in Mayville, the whiskey dealer was found guilty and fined. Bayer appealed on the grounds that he should have been tried in Columbus where the shipment originated. The Ohio Supreme Court agreed and threw out the earlier conviction. 

Bayer’s victory proved to be hollow as town after town under local option in Ohio voted to ban alcohol. The Columbus Golden Hill Distilling Co. -- the linchpin of Bayer’s empire -- disappeared from business directories in 1915, although it continued to be listed in a national directory of shippers as late as 1916. Like all his Ohio outlets, Bayer personally disappeared from public record by 1917, as Ohio voted to go completely dry. 

The Golden Hill proved to be a early experiment in franchising that fell far short of Starbucks. Today its legacy is represented by a few bottles, jugs, shot glasses, cork screws and a wooden tray -- not much to document Harry Bayer’s grand vision. He rapidly climbed The Golden Hill and then even more rapidly descended.

The Success and Sorrows of John P. Gagen

When John Phillip Gagen died, his obituary in his Lafayette, Indiana, adopted hometown newspaper was headlined: “Rising from poor boy to command of thousands; He shows what can be accomplished by hard work.” The obituary went on to recount his triumphs in the liquor trade and other endeavors, but recorded as well the heartbreaking events that plagued his all-too-short life.

Gagen was born in Sandusky, Ohio, in 1848. His father, Patrick, had emigrated from Ireland and fathered eighteen or nineteen children from two wives. For 50 years he ran a grocery store in Sandusky. John’s mother, Mary Moore, Patrick’s first wife, died when John was but seven years old. A contemporary account of young John states: “At an early age, he displayed great business ability and for a time he sold groceries from a wagon direct to consumers through the country in vicinity of Sandusky, Ohio.” He also is said to have saved his money.

When he was in his early 20s, together with his brother Thomas, Gagen moved west from Ohio to settle in Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, Indiana. It is suggested that the brothers worked in the liquor trade in their adopted home town. In 1869, indicative of his increasing business stature, Gagen married Adaline (“Addie”) Green, a native of Lafayette said to be part of an old and well-established family. John was 21 and Addie 23. They would go on to have eight children, one of whom died at birth.

In 1874 Gagen and brother Thomas bought a wholesale liquor house located in the Purdue Block in downtown Lafayette. It is shown in the upper right of the map shown here, across from the Townsend Elevator. Three years later Thomas , still a young man, died and left John as the sole owner. Under his management the business grew steadily until Gagen Wholesale House became one of the largest in Indiana. During the 1880s, the firm was incorporated and Gagen was elected President.

Gagen was a blender of whiskey not a distiller. His flagship brand was “Cedar Grove.” He clearly had a good eye for attractive packaging and frequently went far afield to buy fancy ceramic containers for his whiskey. The gold trimmed one shown here was the product of the Fulper Pottery in Flemington, New Jersey, and the tall jug was produced by Sherwood Bros. of New Brighton, Pennsylvania. He also issued a shot glass advertising Cedar Grove Whisky (which he spelled without the “e”). Other Gagen brands were “Happy Valley" and "Mound Farm."

Gagen’s obituary in the local paper stated: “He had faith in the future of Lafayette and was at all times willing to contribute his share toward bringing an industry to the city. He was one of the promoters of the belt railway and had stock in many factories....He assisted in bringing the strawboard works to the city and was one of the first to sign his name for stock in the new stove foundry.” It also noted that Gagen had invested in real estate and was one of the largest property taxpayers in Lafayette.

He had two farms in Tippecanoe County and was in the habit of visiting  them regularly. His particular interest, according to the press, was in fast horses and fine cattle. One daughter recounted that Gagen also enjoyed hunting with a shotgun on the farm, shooting from his horse and buggy. She would drive the carriage while her father took aim and fired at rabbits and squirrels. Her father also was a skilled poker player, she recalled, and taught her how to play the game.

Success in business, however, was tempered by many personal concerns and sorrows. In addition to losing his mother at an early age, a child who died at birth, and the premature passing of his brother, John himself was troubled with bad health for much of his life. Most tragic, in 1896 his daughter Grace died as a result of being seriously injured by a runaway horse and buggy. It is said her death greatly affected John and that “he never seemed to get it off his mind.” 

Before Gagen’s own death four of his children already had already died and another was hospitalized and soon to go. In 1905 John himself took a serious turn for the worse and was confined to his home at 1123 South Street for the last four months of his life. His 1905 cause of death was attributed to “complications of diseases.” He was only 57 years old. 

Gagen left their home to wife Addie. Shown above, the house was one of the finest mansions in Lafayette. It was described as “modern in every respect, elegantly furnished and tastily kept.” Addie, shown here, also inherited a 320 acre farm and an estate estimated at $300,000 -- worth at least twenty times that in today’s dollar. She would live to see only two of her children survive beyond 1909. Addie Gagen died in 1921 and was buried next to John in Springvale Cemetery in Lafayette. The family cemetery monument is shown here.

A 1909 history of Tippecanoe County extolled Gagen as a poor boy who made good and said he surmounted “every obstacle he encountered in his pathway until he attained a position of eminence in the business circles of Lafayette, Indiana, second to none of his contemporaries.” That account says nothing, however, of the many tragic and premature deaths that afflicted him and his family that make so poignant the story of John P. Gagen.

Toward Solving the Mystery of G.O. Blake

From time to time a pre-Prohibition whiskey man might be be well recognized as a result of his name having been widely circulated on liquor labels but is someone whose personal history is shrouded in obscurity. Such it is for George O. Blake whose name for decades graced a popular whiskey sold throughout the United States. Blake first came into the liquor trade in 1866, in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, working for the J.H. Cutter whiskey operation.  

The owners were Charles P. Moorman and Milton J. Hardy, the latter a son-in-law to the founder, John Cutter. Blake appears to have had a strong aptitude for the business and subsequently was made a junior partner in the firm. His job was to select good bourbon from distillers and oversee the “rectifying,” or mixing of raw spirits, to control the quality of Cutter Whiskey. 

  

As a result of his work Blake became a well-known and respected broker on Whiskey Row -- the trade hub of the American liquor industry located in Louisville. The Cutter firm had a distributorship in Boston and it may have been as its representative that Blake first made the acquaintance of two Beantown merchants named Luther Adams and George Taylor. Adams had been engaged in wide ranging mercantile activities including selling groceries, cigars and liquor. He also was listed in Boston directories as a rectifier of whiskey. 

Deciding to create his own brand, Blake cut his ties with the Cutter organization and moved at least temporarily to Boston. Local business directories shown him living there in 1871, boarding at the Clarendon House. During that stay Blake apparently persuaded Adams and Taylor that he had a formula for blending whiskey that could find and hold a national market. In 1872 the three formed a new company, called Adams, Blake & Taylor, located at 115 Broad Street in Boston. Almost immediately, as shown here, the trio applied for trademark protection for their new brand, “G.O. Blake’s Bourbon County Ky. Whiskey.” 

 Blake’s deal with the Boston partners was that they would have exclusive distribution rights in the East and Midwest, operating distribution centers in Boston and Louisville. Blake also concluded an arrangement with a San Francisco firm to handle West Coast sales and recruited local investors in Kentucky. The Boston firm renewed its registration of Blake whiskey in 1875. At the same time Blake and his partners registered a trademark on “Apple Tree Gin.” As time passed it apparently became clear to Adams and Taylor that the national liquor trade was very lucrative. In 1876 they determined to buy out all the other partners and be solely responsible themselves for producing and marketing G.O. Blake Whiskey, including running the rectifying operation in Louisville. Among those selling out was Blake himself. 

The Boston firm became simply Adams, Taylor & Co. The partners also began to bill themselves as Louisville distillers, which they were not. At that point, George O. Blake took his money and simply walked out of the picture and into the mists of time. But the brand that bore his name continued for years to be sold widely from coast to coast. Initially Adams and Taylor were careful not to emboss their names on the bottles, permitting their sub-distributors around the country to issue G.O. Blake Whisky under their own label. As these distributors gradually dropped away, Adams, Taylor took full control of the brand name, embossing their own name on each bottle beginning in the late 1880s. 

The brand also became known for giveaway items such as tip trays and, most particularly, glass paperweights. At some point Adams apparently jettisoned his grocery and cigar businesses. The firm’s letterhead calls the partners “wine merchants, importers, distillers and wholesale dealers.”

 In 1897 Adams moved into one of Boston’s most notable mansions, called the Bayley House after its original owner. He died in 1901. The firm carried on after his passing as evidenced by a 1909 ad selling G.O. Blake whiskey. Over the years, collectors have sought the identity of Blake, but information has been scant. He appeared on the scene in 1866, gave his name to a national whiskey brand and was gone a decade later. How could someone with such evident talent just walk away from the liquor trade and disappear? That is the ultimate mystery of George O. Blake. 

Note: A George O. Blake is recorded as a Congregational minister in Phillpsburg, Kansas, in 1876, having arrived there in 1875. The timing is about right. Is this our boy? Did he give up whiskey for the pulpit? If so, it might explain his sudden exit from the liquor business.

Persons of Interest: Buffalo's Liquor Quartet

Charles Person seems to have been born to the whiskey trade. According to a local  history, this German-speaking immigrant was familiar with distilling in his native Alsace-Lorraine even before he arrived in America at the age of 14. He spent the rest of his life in Buffalo, New York, and with three of his sons built a liquor business that survived 70 years. 

Charles, shown above with a no-nonsense expression, was born in 1826 and emigrated about 1840. For the first decade of his life in the U.S. he was employed by a large Buffalo liquor firm. In 1850, at age 23, he established his own liquor business renting a store space twenty by thirty feet.  The same year he married a woman named Sophia and started a family that eventually would number 10 children, six boys and four girls. All were educated in Buffalo public schools. 

With hard work and a knack for the liquor  trade, Charles sometime in the 1860s moved his growing operation to historic Elm Street in Buffalo, locating at Nos. 386-392. There he occupied an impressive four-story building. It had been built expressly for his company and would remain Person’s headquarters until Prohibition. A contemporary account said the premises contained the finest facilities “for handling the firm’s immense trade which extends beyond Western New York into Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio.” The sign on the store identified the business as whiskey “rectifiers,” as well as dealers. Charles rapidly rose in business circles. A contemporary Buffalo business history cited his firm as recognized as “the leading whiskey rectifier in Western New York.” 

According to a local account, his success was due to the his firm’s “integrity, the excellence of its wares, and the courteous handling of its customers.” Charles also was a force in Buffalo politics and was elected to several terms as a Buffalo alderman. As his sons matured, one by one he brought them into the business. The first was Daniel Person, his firstborn in 1851. In 1975, recognizing Daniel’s aptitude for the business, Charles changed the name of the firm to Charles Person & Son. During the next decade as sons William and Frank came of age, their father once again changed the name of his company to Charles Person & Sons. At the early age of 49 Charles died in 1885.  His grave monument is shown here.

 After his death Daniel, Frank and William took charge of the firm and changed its name once again, this time to C. Person’s Sons, the one most commonly found on company artifacts. With William listed as president and chief operating officer, business continued to increase. As shown here, the Person boys used both glass containers and particularly use of ceramic jugs for their products, three of which are shown here. C. Person’s Sons featured several brands, including their flagship label, “Buffalo Club Whiskey,” and “Riverside Whiskey,” “Person’s Pennsylvania Pure Rye,” and “Person’s Kraut Bitters.” 

They issued a number of giveaways such as tip trays and signs to saloon customers. They also were distributors for a wide range of liquors, beer, mineral waters and domestic and imported wines. In 1908 importing landed the Person brothers in trouble as Federal agents inspected 93 cases of Canadian whiskey in their possession and found it to be adulterated. The liquor was shown to be nothing but alcohol, coloring, and a dose of fusel oil. Haul into court the Persons apparently saved the product from destruction by agreeing to re-label and pay a fine of $2,000. Who the culpable parties were in this attempted fraud is not clear. 

 All three Person brothers would distinguish themselves as Buffalo businessmen, with good reputations. After his father’s death, William Person was the president and chief operating officer of C. Person’s Sons for the next 21 years. Married to Louisa Boeckel of Buffalo in 1876, he was the father of three children, two boys and a girl. William was avid about firefighting and a member of the Buffalo Volunteer Fire Department, serving as foreman of Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1, for eight years. He also was a trustee of the Firemen's Benevolent Association. 

Daniel Person was married to Caroline Jack of Buffalo, with three children, two boys and a girl. He was a director of the Meadville Distilling Company of Pennsylvania and of the Union Bank of Buffalo, and a member of several German oriented organizations. Frank Person was married to Amelia Walter of nearby Lancaster, New York, and like his brothers had  children, two girls and a boy. Frank was a director of the Buffalo Automatic Smoke Consuming Company and a director of the Freehold Savings and Loan Association. He also was a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Elks and the Red Men.

Under William’s leadership the company continued to thrive into the 20th Century. Symbolic of its success was the building of a 49 ton steamboat in Buffalo in 1899 christened “C. Person’s Sons.” Registered as owned by Daniel Person the ship plied the Great Lakes apparently to bring the firm’s whiskey and other products to adjoining communities. It is possible the steamboat was the one depicted on the Riverside Rye sign shown here. The ship was sold in 1911 and its name changed. 

That same year William, possibly as a result of death or disability, gave up the leadership of C. Person’s Sons. Frank and Daniel became co-managers. They continued to operate the firm until Prohibition was enacted. In 1919 C. Person's Sons was forced to terminate. The Buffalo press reported that two weeks before the official closing, people from all over Western New York began lining up outside the company’s Elm Street facility to stock up on whiskey and other alcoholic beverages that soon would become illegal. The line formed each day, all day, and when the business finally closed its doors, there were still 2,000 cases of whiskey remaining, giving testament to the size and volume of C. Person's Sons business. 

Thus ended forever a 70 year business history for this Buffalo family. An immigrant boy and his three sons had set an enviable record in the whiskey trade and in the process provided collectors with an array of ceramic and glass containers as well as attractive giveaway items. As a result there is considerable justification for finding these four New York whiskey men “Persons of Interest.”