"Distilleries Once Rated Among Bourbon Industries"
by Wayne Cottingham
The present agitation in Congress over the manufacture of whiskey during
the period of the war seems to sound the death knell of what was at one
time the most important industry in Bourbon County, Kentucky. Kentucky
in the old days was famous the world over for her pretty girls, fine thoroughbred
horses and old Bourbon whiskey and this county did more than its "bit"
in establishing this reputation for the State.
But, although she is still noted for her beautiful girls and fine horses,
in the last few years Kentucky has lost her prestige as a whiskey state
and even the picture of the Kentucky Colonel, seated on a riding horse
which was as full of spirit as he was of "spirits" has lost its
color.
Natural facilities made Bourbon county an ideal place for the manufacture
of whiskey. Situated in the heart of the Bluegrass where grain could be
grown easily, possessing a plentiful supply of limestone water which is
necessary to give the characteristic flavor of the product and having
excellent means of transportation, the whiskey industry in this county
early became important and for many years "Old Bourbon" whiskey
was renown the world over, having graced the tables of many European emperors.
Commercially, the whiskey manufacture and sale was of importance (words
missing) it is from this (illegible) that this industry will be discussed.
Whiskey Made Early
From the earliest settlement of Bourbon county, the manufacture of
whiskey was numbered among the important industries--fact for a number
of years it was the most important. When the pioneers first settled here
they were chiefly concerned with the growing of grain, but because of the
richness of the soil they soon found that they could grow more than there
was a ready market for, so in order to keep the grain until it could be
sold, they began to convert it into whiskey.
A number of distilleries with a capacity of only a few barrels a day,
sprang up at almost the same time and it is not known with any degree of
certainty who started the first one. According to the historian Collins
the first plant for the manufacture of whiskey was erected in 1790 by Jacob
Spears and others from Pennsylvania, but the exact location is not known.
Others claim that Captain John Hamilton, who ran away from Pennsylvania
on account of his participation in the whiskey insurrection, distilled
in Bourbon be fore Spears. To whom the credit belongs for being the first
to manufacture a product which was to make the county noted the country
over, is not known, but the fact remains that the manufacture of whiskey
was begun very early and continued until a few years ago.
Pioneer Distillers
Emanuel Wyatt operated a small distillery in a very early day or the
land owned by the late Cassius M. Clay. Benjamin Bedford was also an early
distiller. In 1806 Robert Owen built a small distillery near North Middletown
and several were already in existence in what is now known as Centerville.
Those were days of "honest whiskey" when a bushel of grain
would make two gallons that would retail for twenty-five cents a gallon.
The gentle art of mixing water with the liquor, which has proved popular
in recent times was not known then.
Uncle Sam was a disinterested partner in the making of whiskey at that
time and everyone had the privilege of openly making and selling as much
as he desired. The sun then served as light to work by and the distiller
could se everything that went into the whiskey was pure, instead of having
to take the chances of getting impurities in because of the pale light
furnished by the waning moon, as is the case at the present time in some
parts of Kentucky.
Whiskey-Powder Combination
Benjamin Bedford enjoyed the distinction of carrying on an industry
of the most combustible nature ever conducted in Paris, in the form of
a distillery and Powder mill combined. The powder manufactured was used
in the War of 1812, while the whiskey-well, the whiskey was used in camphor
bottles. Among the largest distilleries ever operated in the county were
the following: White's Distillery, at Paris; the Paris Distillery, at Paris;
Ford & Bacon, at Ruddles Mills; and George Pugh and Gus Pugh &
Company, in the northern part of the county. The most famous brands were
"Sam Clay," Chicken Cock," and "Peacock."
Amazing Number of Distillers
In 1810, the first public survey of native industries was undertaken
through the census. Kentucky enumerators were very lax in omitting many
manufactures which we know were carried on. However, they reported that
in Bourbon county there were 128 distillers making 146,103 gallons of whiskey
valued at $48,701. Considering the large size of families at that date
and the number of employees or slaves, one might arrive at the conclusion
that about one of every four or five farmers was a distiller. While it
rated third place as a productive industry it certainly had the largest
number of individuals engaged in it. Because of its superior quality Bourbon
whiskey became known all over the world. For this reason we have given
some time and space to recounting the names of those who helped to establish
its international reputation.
In 1811, a part of John Rice's estate consisted of a 120 gal. still,
one of 80 gallon capacity, 16 mash kettles, and a supply of tubs.
At the time of his death at Ruddell's Mills in 1812, Isaac Ruddle owned
two, stills, two flake stands, and a boiler, which sold for $157.50. He
had been the military leader of those who had taken refuge in his unfinished
fort in 1780 and had vainly tried to protect them from the brutality of
their captors. One of his babies was killed, two of his young boys captured
and adopted by the Indians.
Another Missionary
When they grew up both of them married squaws and one, Stephen Ruddle,
became an early missionary to the Indians sent by the Cooper's Run Baptist
church of Bourbon county. During the War of 1812 he performed a valuable
patriotic service in acting as interpreter and in enlisting Indian aid
against the British. Isaac's wife, Elizabeth Bowman Ruddle, achieved local
fame when she refused to allow him to sell any of his land for a proposed
county seat at the junction of Stoner and Hinkston. After her bitter experiences
and long captivity she craved peace and quiet. And especially did she wish
to save her peach orchard from the probable raids of juvenile delinquents
who might grow up around a town.
The Use Of Steam In Distilling
The Ruddle boiler, mentioned above, is the earliest local reference
to the use of steam in distilling. The process was invented by Dr. Samuel
Brown, a teacher of chemistry and physics at Transylvania College, Lexington,
in 1798. His service in introducing small-pox vaccine into the United States
is probably better known than his agricultural experiments but he taught
Kentucky farmers to use fertilizer, then called "plaister," and
devised a method of clarifying ginseng, a popular export to China.
In the eastern part of the county John Phelps was both miller and distiller
before his death in 1814. In the Little Rock vicinity Lot Hayden had two
stills, and kettles which sold for more than $200 that spring. John Swiney,
probably near North Middletown, also used two stills.
Clement Ross owned 7 mash tubs and other equipment in 1814. George
Mountjoy appears to have invested his earnings from two stills in a gig,
one of the first in the county. Richard Smith owned 12 barrels of whiskey
in "cags" and Sandford Gorham's 14 barrels sold for $275.62 at
the rate of 35¢ a gallon. He also had on hand three barrels of cider,
sometimes called cyder oil or cider royal.
John Miller, the founder of Millersburg, died in 1815 owning two stills
and 15 mash tubs which sold for $142.75. In 1816 Jonathon Musick owned
two stills,
Free Whiskey
One could go on in this vein at great length. A strange custom of the
times was to serve free whiskey at administrator's sales in the hope, I
presume, of inducing spirited bidding (if you will pardon a poor pun).
For instance at one average sized sale in 1799, those who attended consumed
8 gallons, 3 quarts of liquor. Such items were considered part of the necessary
expense of the occasion and allowed as such by the court.
References used: Bourbon County Court Records; files of the Kentucky
Gazette, Lexington; Kerr's History; Arts and Manufactures by Tench Coxe,
1814.
Distilling in the issue of February 8, Mr. Brannon reprinted an excellent
article about the distilling industry, written by Wayne Cottingham, which
mentions a half dozen of the early distillers and eight of the better known
plants of later years. As a footnote to his remarks, I can supply the names
of a few more of the early ones.
Jacob Spears
When Clay Sutherland told me last summer that the Chamber of Commerce
had received a request for information on the use of the name Bourbon,
I could only repeat the Collins History story that Jacob Spears was the
first distiller, as far as I knew. His home was the place where Callie
Jones lives on the Clay and Kiser Pike and the little stone storehouse
where the barreled whiskey was stored was in full view across the road.
With some additions it is used as a barn by Herman Kearns. Jacob Spears
also had a mill which may have been near the point where Cooper's Run empties
into Stoner. A fragment of the old dirt road leading from his house to
it was until 1925 clearly visible behind the voting booth for that precinct
just north of the Cooper's Run bridge on the Cynthiana Road. Our farm neighbor,
Mr. Joe Florence, and my husband agreed to divide the space it occupied
and turned it into our respective farms. We used the remnant of rock wall
that had bordered it to patch our other stone fences.
I have always been told that his son, Noah Spears, floated the whiskey
to New Orleans, walking home after its sale by way of the robber and Indian
infested Natchez trace. He made this trip as many as thirteen times. Once
he was accompanied by his younger brother, Abraham, who at sixteen, was
ready for adventure. A souvenir which corroborates this incident is a beautiful
miniature of the latter, owned by Mrs. Woodford Spears, which was painted
by either John B. or William E. West, Lexington artists who had gone to
Tennessee and worked in the river towns of the deep south. Their progress
downstream was leisurely enough to allow the painting to be done on the
way. The danger surrounding their return is attested by news stories of
the killing of road crews by the Indians. Despite alert guards who watched
while they worked at marking the trace and clearing the undergrowth, the
mortality rate was high on the stretch of the path in Tennessee.
Since Noah Spear' wife, born in 1792, was a half-sister of my great-great
grandmother (who once owned the land where the strip of mill road could
be seen) the story has come down fairly directly. It was she who claimed
that the superiority of their whiskey, labelled Bourbon, established the
demand for it under that name.
By an advertisement of the Kentucky Gazette I can corroborate the story
of Jacob Spears a fine horse to tend, too, but that properly belongs to
another chapter. His liesure time, about which Mr. Cottingham amusingly
speculates, was employed in taking an interest in public affairs. At least,
it would seem so from the meeting at his house to nominate representatives
to the Constitutional convention, advertised for the 14th day of February,
1799.
Later, Jacob Spears' son, Solomon, carried on the distilling business
using the fine still-flowing spring at "Sunny-side" in its manufacture.
He built his home there, a part of which is incorporated in the rear part
of Mr. R. B. Rendrew's house. When the present owner bought the place
a brick granary which had formerly served as a warehouse still stood.
The racks for holding the barrels were gone but the large timbers which
had held them were in place. A door elevated in the wall was used for
unloading directly from wagons onto a floor built about four feet above
the ground. The old rope wind(?)ass employed in raising the barrels to
the wooden loft was usable. The age of the loft was shown by the rough
timbers sixteen or eighteen inches in diameter, hewn only on two sides.
Other Early Distillers
Who were some of the other early distillers? Matthias Lair and Isaac
Keller made whiskey before 796. Lair has bought the part of Captain Isaac
Ruddle's land which included the tract where Ruddles' fort stood in 1780
when attacked and destroyed by the British and Indians. Readers not familiar
with his dramatic chapter of Kentucky history would enjoy its story, written
by a Lair descendant, Mrs. Maude Ward Lafferty, of Lexington, published
in 1957 by the Kentucky Historical Society in both paper back and cloth
bound editions. Built in 1794, the mansion house, though heavily damaged
by fire, stands about a mile from Lair Station in what is now Harrison
County, then Bourbon.
The Whiskey Tax
In assuming that there was no tax on whiskey in early times Mr. Cottingham
was in error. In 1793 a meeting was called at Lexington to protest the
federal excise tax on liquor and especially the provision that it must
be paid in specie, which in the west was almost non-existent. Almost all
businesses were conducted by giving notes and when the local merchants
made their annual trips to Philadelphia to buy new stock they posted notices
to that effect several months in advance asking their patrons to come in
and settle so they could buy new goods. Later we shall discuss the kinds
of produce accepted in payment of goods.
The first reference I found in the Bourbon county records to the payment
of this tax was in the accounts of the settlement of George Lail's estate
when it mentioned two pounds sterling, and seven shillings tax, on whiskey
in 1800. George Lail and his wife were other survivors of the siege t of
Ruddles' Fort, at which time two small sons were captured. One was recovered
by trading a blanket for him, the other was adopted by the Indians who
tested his stoicism by rolling him down a bank. The George Lail house in
the edge of Harrison County, formerly Bourbon, is on a farm which belongs
to Mr. Logan English.
References used: Bourbon County Court Records, files of the Kentucky
Gazette, Collins' History of Kentucky and Kerr's History Of Kentucky.
Source: The Kentuckian-Citizen, February 21, 1957
"Did Bourbon Whiskey Get Its Unique Flavor By Accident?"
By EDNA TALBOTT WHITLEY
From some source, not now recalled, Mr. Brannon says that he heard
that the use of charred barrels to add flavor to whiskey came about by
an accident, a fire in which oak casts were burned but not consumed. We
are reminded of the classic story of how primitive man found that cooked
pork was edible. His pet pig was burned alive in a fire that destroyed
the house. In attempting to rescue it he burned his fingers. Automatically
he thrust them into his mouth to ease the pain. When he did this his taste
buds were treated to a perfectly new sensation and ever afterwards he burned
down his houses to enjoy roast pig when hunger overtook him.
The First Bourbon Maker
Collins' History says that the first Bourbon whiskey was made in Scott
County by Rev. Elijah Craig in 1789. If so, why didn't they call it "Scott"
or "Woodford" for that is where it would have been at that date?
If this is true, how was our busy young friend, Jacob Spears, employing
his time after returning from the Sandusky campaign in 1782? In June, 1786,
the Bourbon County Court set the rates which innkeepers could charge for
rum, brandy, wine and whiskey so it was known and served here at that time.
Perrin says, that Peter Houston built a malt house in 1787 to furnish malt
to neighboring distillers.
In February, 1798, the distillers around Lexington held a meeting at
Brent's stone tavern, Whether it was political in Purpose, directed toward
finding a candidate for Congress who would favor repealing the excise tax
on vvhiskey, I do not know. The federal money was all being spent for improvemerits
in the east while the Kentucky farmers had no outlet for their crops. They
had a point in opposing Alexander Hamilton's revenue measures. In a very
modern fashion of merchandising Andrew McCalla's Drug Store advertised
a long list of distillers' supplies, among others aniseed water, orange
water, clove water, and juniper berries (for flavoring gin). In addition
they furnished instructions for making some of these drinks. In other columns
coppersmiths advertised stills.
Wine Making
At that time the Kentucky Gazette carried a long article on grape culture
written by John James Du Four, one of a group of enterprising Swiss emigrants
who had settled in a colony in Jessamine county. An organization was formed
to develop wine-making on a commercial scale, but the differences in climate
made the grapes fall off before ripening, in some cases, and the movement
failed. Later the Swiss went to Vevay, Indiana, to repeat their experiment.
In Kentucky wine-making remained a family industry, usually supervised
by the women of the pioneer home. It would be interesting to discover who
in Bourbon County has the oldest recipes for making dandelion, alderberry
(or is it alderblossom?) wine or any other of the delicacies served to
visitors. In many a household blackberry cordial was a soverign remedy
for "virus x," carefully set aside for that purpose.
Other Distillers
Did the tax have something to do with Laban Shipp's offering his place
for sale, July 4, 1799? In describing it he wrote that his orchard contained
400 to 500 apple trees and 400 bearing peach trees. His stillhouse was
equipped with stills of 96 and 118 gallons capacity and 30 mash tubs. Actually
he did not sell and go to Hopkinsville until much later, but that is another
story.
William Griffith, one of six Bourbon county representatives to the
Second Constitutional Convention in 1799, died the next year. His crop
of corn and all of the stills and vessels necessary for carrying on that
part of the farming operation were bought by his son, Samuel.
Robert Clarke, the builder of a blockhouse where neighbors could take
refuge in time of Indian attack, owned a small still and vessels which
sold for five pounds sterling and eight shillings in 1801. A part of his
fort on the Hume and Bedford Road is incorporated in the farmhouse still
owned by his descendants, the Misses Clarke of Duncan Ave.
Tight Money
How long credit had to be extended is shown in the final paymerit in
1801, after four years of waiting, for 278 gallons of whiskey sold by the
estate of John Ruddle for 55 pounds 12 shillings.
At the time of nis death in 1803, Christian Spears had on hand more
than a thousand gallons of cider, five hundred of whiskey, and forty-nine
of brandy. His son-in-law, Peter Smith, bought his equipment. Spears and
his wife were in the group of prisoners taken at Ruddle's Fort and marched
to Detroit. Enroute the Indians killed Mrs. Spears. After her death he
became the protector of young Anna Mary Burger who had been separated from
her family. Thus he was able to save her from mistreatment by the Indians.
Later, while still in captivity, they were married.
Early Missionary From Bourbon
At James Alexander's sale in 1805 the still and kegs, appraised at
$25, were knocked off to John Alexander for $43.50. Living at "Cherryvale"
near Gass's spring on the Hancock or Clay farm, this family furnished a
son, Wm. Patterson Alexander, to the Presbyterian ministry. After teaching
for a period at Cooper's Run school house he became a missionary, the first
ever to go to Hawaii.
When Daniel Call died in 1807, his widow, Hannah, bid in the Still,
mash kettles, and tubs for $121, it may have been her main chance to support
her family.
The Kentuckian-Citizen, March 1, 1957
"Distillers, Dissenters, & Writers of Odes" by Edna Talbott
Whitley
Some of our discriminating readers have probably noticed the two spellings
of Isaac Ruddell's name in one sentence in our last story. For this we
have a precedent in Collins'
History which, indexed Ruddell's Mills in contrast to Isaac and rnost
of his kinsmen as
Ruddle. By the time I could consult that gentleman's will to see how
he signed his own name the paper had gone to press. So, Ruddle's Fort Homemakers
please take note. A third colloquial version of the name used to be Riddle's
Mill perhaps used derisively to indicate a small place where nothing happened,
like Timbuktu, about which Dr. Pittenger is an authority.
Steam Distilling and Inventors
When referring to distilling with steam as the invention of Dr. Samuel
Brown I should have said it was based in part on Edward West's invention
of a steamboat model which ran on Town Fork, Lexington, in 1794. Rather
belatedly a patent for it was issued in 1802. Distillers using steam were
warned in October, 1811, not to infringe on the patent right of Edward
West, Samuel Brown and Thomas West. Edward West was a talented silver and
gunsmith who patented three other very useful inventions that same year,
a gunlock, a nail cutting machine, and one which would cut and head nails
at the same time. Earlier than this most building had to be ne with wooden
pegs. Another invention of West's was advertised the Kentucky Gazette of
December 11, 1799, metallic rings to cure rheumatism. Nine long testionials
as to their efficacy were included, among them one from Jesse Williams
of Bourbon county. The credulity of the public is ever present but it was
a time when medical knowledge was in a primiwe state of development and
when herb doctors and Indian remedies flourished.
Thomas West who had a part, perhaps a financial interest, in the distilling
patent had moved to Paris before 1788 where he conducted a tavern opposite
the courthouse. Serving Bourbon to his customers and chatting with the
makers had convinced him, no doubt, of the usefulness of the invention.
To a mere housewife the distilling process sounds very complicated. Usually
stillhouses were built below a hill so that a gravity feed could bring
the water down from the spring. The coldness of the water was important
in helping to condense the vapor from the still. The grains used were corn
(51 to 75 per cent), rye, and barley malt. Probably the proportions were
then a carefully guarded secret as they are now. Do you not suppose that
farmers who got together at sales, elections, and other public occasions
debated the merits of relative proportions of grain and compared recipes
much as their wives traded cooking secrets?
Eighteen to twenty gallons of hot water was poured over each bushel
of ground cornmeal. It was boiled and cooled. Rye meal was added, brought
to a high temperature, and cooled again. Then malt made from barley (by
spouting it in cold water) was added at a specified temperature for twenty
minutes to change the starch to sugar. No other sweetening was used. This
mixture went through a fermenting process for three or four days and was
called "beer".
After being heated to near the boiling point it was put into the still.
Finally it was stored in charred white oak barrels to age. The kegs or
barrels were elevated on racks to provide an even flow of air at all times.
Our changing climate is supposed to add something to the flavor.
Published List of Distillers
Under the history of different precincts Perrin mentions the following
distillers: John Miller, Robt. McClelland, and Wm. Turner in the Millersburg
precinct; one on the Ellison land at Flat Rock; Robert Owen and John Lander
near North Middletown. Near Clintonville were Wm. Tillet, Henry Sagester,
one of the Dennisons, someone on the Jake Epperson land; and Daniel Thatchel
(before 1817). Around Jacktonville were (Christian?) Bowman,Ben and John
Shropshire and S. B. Clarkson on Silas Creek, all from 1815-1818. He quotes
someone who said every house on Townsend Creek had its distillery and mill.
At Ruddell's Mill, Ruddell and Mulharen, (son-in-law of Isaac Ruddell)
made pumpkin brandy.
The Liquor Tax and The Whiskey Rebellion
At the time Kentucky became a state Congress had just passed the excise
tax in an effort to meet Alexander Hamilton's budget for getting a system
of government under way. When the Pennsylvanians rioted as a demonstration
of their unwillingness to conform several thousand federal troops led by
Hamilton invaded that state to quiet the turmoil. Kentuckians were terribly
excited and rather expected the same thing to happen here. Owners had to
pay a tax of 54 cents per gallon on the capacity of the still and a 7 cent
per gallon production tax. The flow of oratory and the fountain of print
was terrific. Some hid their stills out, that is, did not report them,
others met the payments. Some had to be sued.
Except for the 1937 flood which destroyed the whiskey tax records in
the basement of the Revenue building at Louisville we would have a complete
list of early distillers. But a few are recovered from a list of one hundred
and seventy seven Kentuckians who were sued in Federal Court. Judge Harry
Innes was an intelligent person far better informed of the actual conditions
under which Kentuckians suffered than the law makers in the east. Almost
invariably he let the distillers of half of their tax and gave them thirty
to ninety days in which to raise the money. Twenty-three were from Bourbon,
County:
John Shawhan 1794, Thomas Jones Sr. 1797, James Rule 1794, James Henry
1799, James Ingalls 1799, Thomas Hinkston 1798, Alexander Robinson, 1799,
John Shaw 1798, Hugh Duffin 1799, John McCrackin 1798, David Hanaway 1798,
Israel Gilpin 1798, Alexander Caldwell 1798, Samuel Lyon 1798, Daniel Ronderbush
1798, Thomas Rule 1796, Joshua Harlan 1799, Elijah Fishback 1795, James
Hutcheson 1795, John Gregory 1798, Robert and James Caldwell, dates missing.
Another name which might be added to the list is that of Edward Ragland,
1790, who lived in the part of Bourbon which became Clark County. Some
had to be hauled to court more than once, for they considered the whiskey
tax a sectional discrimination and an invasion of their freedom. These
names are taken from W. R. Jillson's "Early Kentucky Distillers, 1783-1800."
In East Paris on the road going towards Millersburg and Maysville was
an old frame building called the "Blue House" used by Mr. Ellerbeck
as a brewery in 1805, says McCann in his recollections of Paris of that
date. (Keller & McCann's "Sketches of Paris," 1876.)
More Distillers in County Court Records
Richard B. Smith had three stills of 60, 106 and 130 gallons capacity
and 33 tubs in addition of 12 barrels of whiskey in "Cags" when
he died in 1816.
Two years later when Thomas Chaney's two stills were sold, John Esham
bought both the little and big flake stands for $56 land $122 respectively.
Jesse Hildreth, Josiah Swearingen, Elisha McCelland and Jonas Weatherford
each bought four tubs. They appear to be from the vicinity of Cane Ridge
or Jackstown.
Rudolph Mock, a pioneer of German descent, had turned his still and
vessels over to his son, Rudolph, Jr., before his death in 1817 but they
were not entirely paid for. His still had a capacity of 64 gallons.
A 75 gallon still with cap and worm, appraised at $50, brought $75
at the sale of Samuel Call near North Middletown in 1818. The successful
bidder was John Stewart. His 125 gallon still brought $71.25. Tom Parrish
and Thomas Carter bought his mash tubs and Samuel Rash bought the "boyler."
Melikiah Crouchman, another early German settler, had stilling equipment.
Lloyd Ralls bought tubs and Andrew House his apple mill in January 1810.
Apparently he lived in the south end of the county, toward Fayette.
Moses Thomas, a Revolutionary soldier and early settler, owned three
mash tubs and nine barrels indicating some activity along this line before
his death in 1818, but his main crop was tobacco.
A Few Dissenters
After reading all these names of persons engaged to some extent in
distilling one might suppose it had the unanimous endorsement of all farmers,
but such was not the case. There were some who weighed its disadvantages
against its so-called benefits. One whose name is not recorded for posterity,
expressed himself in an ODE to WHISKEY. After starting off with "Great
Spirit hail!" and a little pro and conning he gives us these lines:
"We owe, great Dram; the
trembling hand to thee,
The headstrong purpose, and the
feeble knee
The loss of honor, and the cause
of wrong;
The brain enchanted, and the
faltering tongue;
Whilst fancy flies before there,
Unconfined
Thou leavest disabled prudence
far behind.
In thy pursuit our fields are
left forlorn;
Whilst giant weeds oppress the
pigmy corn.
Thou throwest a mist beforetbe
planters eyes;
The plow grows idle, and
the harvest dies . . . "
References used: Bourbon County Court Records; files of the Kentucky
Gazette and the Kentucky Reporter; Perrin; Kellar and McCann; and W. R.
Jilson as mentioned in narrative.
A report of manufacturing in 1810 is our only reliable source of information
about the quantity of early whiskey made in Bourbon county. Since there
were fifty-four counties in the commonwealth at that date, we appear to
have made more than our share, one sixteenth of the total output of the
state. The War of 1812 brought a number of new excise taxes and increased
the rate of the whisky tax from 7 to 20 cents a gallon. How long it remained
at this level I do not know. Once raised, it seems difficult to get any
tax down again, for we constantly demand new services which absorb the
revenue from it.
As time went on and markets for other agricultural products fewer farms
engaged in distilling. It may be that the smaller plants were gradually
absorbed by the sale of equipment to larger ones. Though there was an embargo
on importing a number of foreign manufactures one Lexington firm, Trotter
and Tilford, offered suitable for making stills in 1808 and recommended
its wearing qualities.
When Mrs. Margaret Rannells, widow of Rev. Samuel Rannells, died soon
after her husband, her two still tubs were bought in 1821 by Hezekiah Martin
and her son, William Rannells, bought six barrels of cider. Anthony Thornton's
estate sold, in 1822, two stills of 120 and 65 gallons capacity each, a
boiler holding 150 gallons, and 20 mash tubs. In addition there were 5
barrels of whiskey on hand.
Amounts for the sale of Jacob Custer (Custard) were not settled until
1822 some seven years after it was held. George Custer, who may have grown
up in this interval to manage this branch of the family business, bought
the still and worm for $126. At Larkin Field's auction in September 1823,
tkirty-six gallons of whiskey was sold. Mrs. Winny Webb had four barrels
of cider, a keg of wine, a two and a half gallon bottle of current shrub,
a keg of cherry bounce, and "two bottles containing something"
when her personalty was sold that year. (Can't you see they sniffin hopefully?)
Mrs. Webb's array of homemade company refreshments reminds us of the
little four year old boy who was included in a spend-the-day party which
his family attended in honor of visitors long ago. When homemade wine was
passed at the conclusion of the meal a minute portion was served to him.
Attention was drawn to him when he closed his eyes tight while sipping
with evident relish. "Why Edward", they said "why are you
drinking with your eyes shut"? "Soloman says look not upon the
wine when it is red" was his lisped explanation.
In November 1823 Joseph Cummins' sale found a new owner in George Standiford
for his small still, worm, and flakestand. Gus Pugh bought a "cag"
and barrel and Joseph Shawhan two copper funnels. George Baylor bid in
the large still, worm, flake stand and 21 tubs sold that year at William
Hutchison's sale. Abraham Spears gave $9 for the lot of wood stacked at
the still house and Robert Trabuc bought six barrels.
Chas. Menary's still sold to John Caul (Call?) and four of his tubs
went to James Bryan, two to Joel Bates, six to John Maginnis, one to Charles
Menary (Jr.?) and two to Leonard Dunivin. Ralph Jacoby's personalty included
fourteen barrels when his estate was appraised in 1823.
About half way to North Middletown lived William Thomas whose estate
was appraised in December 1823. At his sale in the following February Kizziah
and Henry Thomas got twenty of the cider barrels, Wm. Duncan eight of them,
and neighbor, Hicklin bought the double barrels (Hogsheads?). In September
1823, Wm. Tillet bought John Reed's still and cap.
In the Jackstown vicinity Thomas Neal's estate listed both large and
small stills with worms and caps (one worm). Near Jacksonville A. C. Respass
bought Thomas Respass's three mash tubs, two barrels of whiskev and an
empty barrel in March 1824. Toward Flat Rock Charles Soper's estate had
6 still tubs, of which two went to Themas Soper, three to Levin F. Hall,
and one to John Letton. His twelve barrels of whiskey went to Thomas and
Lawrence Soper, who also got some of the kegs and empty barrels.
George Standiford had sixty barrels of whiskey holding 34 gallons each
when he died in 1824. He had a shop in Paris and may have taken some of
this in trade expecting to ship it scuth. John and N. Standiford paid $469
for it at the sale in October.
Originally it was our plan not to resort to printed history until the
lesser known scurces of information (court records and early newspapers)
were exhausted. But I trust your patience be exhausted, too, in the process
of recording our rather statistical treatment of the topic, here is one
explanation of who made the first Bourbon whiskey.
The Claim of John Hamilton From Pages 657 and 658 Perrin's History
of Bourbon, Scott, Harrison and Nicholas Counties: