Recently
a beautiful green torpedo soda water was found and
attributed to a Milwaukee druggist who was bottling soda
water in the late 1840s. The bottle is embossed "WM M.
CUNNINGHAM" on one side and "SODA WATER" on the reverse
side.
William M. Cunningham was reportedly born in Lockport, New
York about 1821
according to his daughter's death certificate and his
obituary notice1.
This is supported by an advertisement in the The Niagara
Democrat and Lockport Balance on September 1, 1841, where he
is listed as the secretary of the "Young Men's Association."
According to James S. Buck, in his book Milwaukee Under The
Charter From 1847 To 1853 Inclusive. Volume III,
Cunningham
came
here from Waukesha, I think in 1846 (sic 1843), and who became
quite famous as a druggist. He was a man of great energy
of character. In person, he was above the medium height,
slightly built, had a thin face, (beardless), dark brown
hair, and dark blue eyes. He was of a nervous
temperament, walked quick and erect, and had a soft
pleasant voice. Had a great love for books, was fond of
music, cultivated a taste for the fine arts, and was of
morals unimpeachable. Careful of what he said or did, he
built up a large business
In the September 20, 1848 Wisconsin Weekly Free
Democrat Cunningham claimed to have 15 years' experience
"in the legitimate wholesale and retail drug trade,"
indicating he started in the business at 12 or 13 years of
age. Maybe he was a druggist
in Lockport or maybe he apprenticed and worked for George W. Merchant, a
leading druggist in that city and then worked a short time
in Waukesha before relocating to Milwaukee.
In the German Newspaper Der Volksfreund during the spring of
1848, Cunningham claimed to have operated since February
1843 in Milwaukee. The same was stated in the edition
of the Free Democrat mentioned above. He would have been 22 at that time
he established the Milwaukee business.
Cunningham announced the opening2 of "Cunningham's New Drug
Store" on "East Water Street, Milwaukie [sic], W. T. (Wisconsin
Territory) directly opposite Dewey's Commercial Block"
and "one door south of the Milwaukee Iron Store," in
the Milwaukee Commercial Herald on June 24, 1844. This
advertisement also states that he had purchased goods in New
York and Boston during the spring of that year.
He was a prolific advertiser and it was common for him to
have ten or more ads in a newspaper. Later he
had his own newspaper column titled "Cunningham's
Column." In 1844, he was selling a laundry list of
products including all sorts of drugs, paints, varnishes,
and oils, Shaker herbs and extracts, druggist and
physician glassware, port and choice wines, for medical
purposes, and was listed as the Wisconsin agent for many
popular Eastern medicines, including "Moffat's Pills and
Phoenix Bitters" and "Merchant's Gargling Oil," but there is no mention of soda
water for sale.
In July
19, 1845 edition of the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, Cunningham advertised he was manufacturing
and bottling of soda water for the first time.
A NEW THING!--SODA WATER PUT
UP IN BOTTLES!!! -- This article
possesses all the properties of that drawn from the
Font. Those who prefer different syrups, can be
accommodated. The convenient form that this is put
in, will admit of being transported to almost any
distance, and its flavor unimpaired. By this
arrangement, Hotels can serve up Soda Water to their
guests, not inferior in quality to that drank at the
Fountain. Families who are fond of this pleasant,
as well as healthy beverage, can have BOTTLED SODA WATER
at their residences.
It is offered at the low price of 75 cents per
dozen bottles..
In the same newspaper, he advertised that he was selling
"Lemon Syrup in bottles or by the gallon; Sarsaparilla do.
do.; Sarsaparilla Mead in bottles."
His
continued connection to his home town of Lockport is reinforced in
1846 when he was buying notes for the Canal Bank of Lockport, at a discount, and selling Lockport
Glass Works' pint and half pint flasks on consignment3. Cunningham did
not advertise his soda bottling business during 1846, but
there was another manufacturer, Isaac G. Goodrich, selling
bottled soda water in Milwaukee as advertised in the
Milwaukee Daily Sentinel on June 16, 1846:
SOMETHING NEW _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Carbonic Mineral, or Soda Water, put up in bottles. A
superior article to the fountain Soda.
The subscriber is now prepared to furnish the citizens
with this delicious beverage at a very moderate rate.
Price per single bottle, 6c; 50c Per doz. for families;
37 1/2 per doz. to dealers.
ISAAC G. GOODRICH,
Fruit dealer At he old stand of Mr. J. B. Allen, nearly opposite Uncle Ben's Hat and Cap Store.
It is interesting that a cut or molded decanter was used to
represent Goodrich's soda bottles. This was a "stock"
image for the paper and was also used in advertisements for
wine and liquor dealers.
The following year,
in the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel & Gazette, on June 9, 1847,
Cunningham was again advertising bottled soda water:
BOTTLED SODA WATER.--
By this arrangement persons can have the delightful
beverage served up to them anywhere they choose. SODA
WATER prepared in this manner is equal if not superior
to that drawn from the fountain.
Put up in half pint egg shaped bottles.
Price 50c per doz. bottles, or 6d each (and the bottles
subject to be returned when empty.) Prepared and
sold by
Wm. M. CUNNINGHAM,
Apothecary and Druggist,
Martins' Buildings.
What is notable is the use of the description of "egg
shaped bottles" and the statement that "the bottles subject to
be returned when empty." This indicates that he had a
standardized container for his product and had a sizable
investment in these bottles that required reuse to cover their
cost. Competition appears to driven the price of a dozen
bottles form 75 cents in 1845 to 50 cents in 1847.
Further requiring the return of bottles to make the business
profitable.
The following year, 1848, Cunningham is advertising the sale
"Sarsaparilla and Lemon Syrup purchased expressly for Soda
Fountain use and for sale by the gallon or less quantity" in
the June 9, 1848 Milwaukee Sentinel & Gazette.
This would seen to indicate that he was no longer selling
soda water on a retail basis.
In August of 1848, Cunningham traveled to Baltimore,
Maryland and was married in Christ Church on August 16 to Anna R. Martin, daughter
of John Martin, Esq., of Baltimore, Maryland and sister of James B.
Martin of Milwaukee. Her brother was a wealthy
Milwaukee landowner with $225,000 of
real estate holdings as listed in the 1850 Census and who
listed was as a banker in the 1860 Census with real estate
holdings of $350,000. Cunningham made good use of his time on
the East Coast buying 74 tons (1808 packages) of goods "at Auction sales, or directly
from manufactures and importers, and principally for CASH"
according to the September 20, 1848 Wisconsin Weekly Free
Democrat.
Cunningham took ill in 1848, and that illness
took a turn for the worse about October of the same year.
Cunningham, at an age of 28, was compelled to sell his
business, at 151 East Water Street, to to Seth Johnson Jr. on March 29, 1849.
Johnson never advertised soda water for sale so that branch
of the business appears to have been defunct by that time.
He
returned to Lockport, New York with his wife, where he died
a short time later on May 18, 1849, reportedly of overwork
by Buck in his above book in 1884. His wife Anna
returned to Milwaukee, where a daughter, Kate Le Roy
Cunningham, was born just a month later on June 15, 1849.
Anna in turn died on Oct. 22, 1850, leaving Kate an orphan.
Both William and Anna are buried at Cold Springs Cemetery in
Lockport. Their daughter Kate was adopted by her
wealthy uncle James B. Martin and enjoyed a
privileged upbringing. Kate ended up marring Henry Niedecken, Jr.,
a successful
stationer and lived a long life.
This bottle is no doubt a product of the Lockport Glass
Works of Lockport New York. Being on the Erie Canal,
shipping by boat to Milwaukee would have been more
convenient
than from Pittsburgh or Cincinnati glass factories.
Cunningham, being a native son of Lockport and a young
leader there, would have had the necessary business
connections in that city. As seen, he was selling
bottles from this works in 1846 and as this glass factory
burned to the ground in September of 18464, perhaps
Cunningham's order for soda water bottles was an effort to
help old friends in that city get back on their feet.
Lockport Glass Works
also manufactured bottles for George W.
Merchant. These included bottles for his "Gargling
Oil" and later on for his Oak Orchard Acid Springs mineral
waters. In 1845, they also manufactured an egg bottle
for Merchant's Carbonic Mineral Water. This product
seems to have only been marketed during 1845, which nicely
dates this bottle. This bottle is of a stubbier form
and has a different lip than the Cunningham bottle.
The
Cunningham bottle itself is a distinctive green associated with
Merchant's and other bottles known to have been manufactured
by this works. There are two nearly identical bottles
that are attributed to the Lockport factory. One is
marked "Soda Water" on one side and appears to be of
identical embossing to the Cunningham bottle. The
second has no embossing, but is of an identical shape.
One of these later bottles has a label for "Instant Cure Of
Pain" which is also marked as being manufactured by "THE FAR
EAST MEDICAL LABORATORY - Establishment Maumee City, Ohio."
This was an early imitation by J. S. Gregory of that place to
copy Perry Davis' Vegetable Pain Killer. Gregory was
an agent for Davis, but went rogue. In 1850, Perry was
warning the public of Gregory's inferior product as
advertised in the Freemont Weekly Freeman on November 9,
1850
Beware of Counterfeits!--Caution
ALL persons are hereby cautioned against
making applications for or purchasing DAVIS' PAIN KILLER
of J. SANFORD GREGORY, of Maumee City.
He was formerly an agent for the sale of the
genuine medicines but recently it has come to the
knowledge of the proprietors that he is manufacturing
and vending a SPURIOUS ARTICLE, putting it up in nearly
the same style as the genuine, publishing a pamphlet
copying our directions nearly verbatim, and using one of
the heads of our advertisements, ("INSTANT CURE OF
PAIN") as a name for his spurious compound.
Gregory went on to have a successful business with
embossed bottles of his own.
Since:
-
Cunningham advertised his egg bottles in 1847,
-
Apparently abandoned the retail sale of soda water
in 1848,
-
Due to poor health sold the business in early 1849,
-
His bottles do not resemble egg bottles made at
Lockport in 1845,
-
Similar bottles, with the embossing removed and
with labels date 1849-1850, it seems probable that
these bottles date to 1847 only.
As Wisconsin was admitted to the Union as a state on
May 29, 1848, this should be considered a Territorial
bottle.
Cunningham Bottle
Reverse of the Cunningham Bottle
Lockport Bottle Marked "Soda Water" only
Unmarked Lockport Bottle
Unmarked Lockport Bottle with Gregory Label
Photos Courtesy of American Glass Gallery, Glass Works
Auctions and Peter Maas.
McCormack bottles are confusing. It is well known that
McCormack was in Richmond, Virginia and Nashville,
Tennessee, but his early bottles are not marked with a city.
Some of his later bottles are marked Nashville, but some
of these bottles have A. M. L and E. O. on the shoulder.
What does that mean. It is a held belief that he moved
from Nashville to Louisville at some point and when you
start to research him, it gets even more confusing.
The fact that there are two brothers named "M. McCormack" and "four" firms
named McCormack & Company over the years and partnerships
with no known bottles only adds to this mangled mess.
Lets try and figure this out.
Michael McCormack was born to Malachi and Catherine (nee
Brady) McCormack in County Roscommon, Ireland about 1825.
He married Mary Tiernan some time before 1850. She was
born about 1830 also in Roscommon County, Ireland. He
clamed that he started in the mineral water business in
18471. He did, but he was working for the firm of
Tucker & Canfield in Richmond, Virginia, who took over the
firm of A. L. Rapp & Company in 1848. In the 1850
Census2, Michael McCormack was living with Isaac M. Tucker,
one of the partners of Tucker & Canfield, with his wife,
Mary, and brothers Lawrence (aged 21) and Malachi (aged 12).
The partnership of Tucker & Canfield went into receivership
and their business and personal property was sold at auction
on June 23, 1851 on the property of the firm near the corner
of Broad & Second streets3.
McCormack purchased the bottles, but not at the initial
auction4,
of his former employers and possibly some of the equipment
and appears to have launched his business
In the Spring of 1852 when McCormack advertised his business and
that bottles marked "T & C" and "McCormack" were his
property5.
To publicize his products with the launch of his business,
McCormack supplied the local paper's staff with free
products6.
During the next couple of years, McCormack's business
appeared to be healthy. He continued normal and healthy
business activities including advertising his bottled goods7, the by products of their manufacture8, traveling to
purchase equipment and supplies9, and
faced normal issues including the return of his bottles10, and
external competition from firms in Baltimore11.
The return of bottles must have been such an issue to his
business, that in January 1854, McCormack started charging fifty cents per
dozen for his bottles. The half-pint bottles were more
expensive than the
product they contained12.
The charge was refunded to his clients with the return of
the bottles.
McCormack wanted to expand his business, but he needed an
influx of capital to do so. So on February 15, 1855,
he partnered with William P. Ladd, a Richmond
druggist, to form the firm of M. McCormack &
Company13.
Ladd continued to run his drug business up the street at 319
Broad Street. M. McCormack & Company continued to
employ
Warren Canfield, McCormack's former boss, as the superintendent of their
Richmond Soda Water & Bottling Establishment14.
With Michael McCormack's health declining15, he was compelled
to leave Richmond and as part of this move, the firm of M. McCormick
& Company was dissolved on July 12th, 1855, with partner
William P. Ladd the successor16. Ladd continued to
operate the Richmond Soda Water & Bottling Establishment at
the old stand at 308 Broad Street. At this same time,
Ladd bought out the soda water business of A. O. Brummel17, a
Richmond competitor and the surviving partner of Brummel &
Byrne. William Canfield left Ladd and went into business on his own in December 185518.
During
1856, McCormack spent the greater part of the year traveling
thru the Northern States,
England and Ireland visiting local breweries and bottling
establishments with "a view to still greater improvements in
the manufacture of the said articles19."
After returning from his travels thru the United States and
Europe and by July of 1856, McCormack went to work for Ladd at the is old
establishment at 308 Broad Street20. Later, he purchased his old business back from
William P. Ladd in March of 185721.
McCormack products included soda water, lemon and
sarsaparilla pop, Philadelphia porter and ale, champagne
cider, brown stout, and starting in late 1857, lager beer22.
In 1857,
McCormack was shipping his product to Tennessee and North
Carolina in addition to Virginia23.
He must have been doing a good business in Tennessee, and
decided to move his operations to Nashville. In
November of 1858, McCormack was selling his home and
property in Richmond, as listed in The Richmond Dispatch
starting on November 5, 1858. The property did not
sell, so it was auctioned as announced in the same paper on
February 10th, 1859. In early March of 1859, McCormack
sold the Richmond Soda Water & Bottling Establishment to Francis Dusch
and recommended him
as his successor in Richmond24. He
also appointed Michael
Keane, his bookkeeper as the person to settle his finances
in Richmond25.
Keane was continuing to work for Francis Dusch in Richmond,
but is part of the Tennessee story after the Civil War.
McCormack must have been planning and moving from Richmond
to Nashville during the first quarter of 1859. Early records announcing McCormack's
business in Nashville include an entry in the 1859 Tennessee
Directory and a small notice regarding his
manufactory that appeared in the July 1st, 1859 edition of the
Nashville Union & American:
MINERAL WATER.--We received yesterday a quantity
of Mineral Water manufactured by M. M'CORMACK, Broad
street. Persons fond of this delightful beverage
will find the water sold by Mr. M'CORMACK equal to any
in the city.
An advertisement in The Tennessean for the same date listed
Smith's Kennet ale, from Wheeling, Virginia, and
Philadelphia XXX porter as products in addition to mineral
water as products. The business was located at 70 South Cherry Street26.
With the outbreak of the Civil War and the "Lincoln"
blockade, supplies needed by McCormick to run his business
were scarce as was coinage needed for making change for his customers27. McCormack asked his clients to save their
corks and accept tickets for additional product instead of
change, During the summer of 1863, McCormack was producing about 500
dozen bottles of mineral water daily28 and the demand was
increasing.
Likely in need of capital to restart his business at the end
of the Civil War, McCormack appears to have partnered with
an unknown party or parties to form the second iteration of
McCormack & Company. The partners advertised that they
were increasing the price of a dozen bottles of their
mineral water, porter and ale to 75 cents, double the
pre-war price29, in October of 1865.
They hoped to be able to half that price at the start of the
Spring Season.
However, by the Spring Season, McCormack took Michael Keane
and Malachi McCormack in as partners under the firm name of
McCormack, Keane & Company30.
Malachi was Michael's younger brother and Michael Keane, was
the elder McCormack's former bookkeeper in Richmond. This
partnership likely provided the capital needed after the Civil War. With
the new partners, two branch locations were opened, one
operated by Michael Keane in Louisville, Kentucky and a
second in Chattanooga, Tennessee located at the corner of
Market & Fourth Streets31. Which partner operated the
Chattanooga branch is not known. In November of 1867, the firm was offering for
sale one or two of its operations32.
It appears that the Chattanooga operation was sold some time
during the Spring of 1868 to R. Reed, who was listed at the
Market & Fourth address operating a mineral water
manufactory in directory listing for 1868 and 1869. The Firm of McCormack, Keane & Company was
dissolved on June 1, 1868. Michael Keane took control
of the Louisville operations and the third iteration of M. McCormack & Company was
formed to take control of the Nashville operations33.
In 1869, the firm had a capacity of 400 dozen bottles of
mineral water and 100 dozen bottles of ale and porter a day
and used Putnam's Cork Fasteners34. In 1870, they were
reported to be the only bottlers of beer and soda water in
Nashville and employing between fifteen to twenty workmen35.
However, by the end of the year, Diehl & Lord were to become
competitors with their purchase of the beer bottling
business of Alex Hemphill and quickly added the bottling of
soda and mineral waters to their product line in 187136.
The firm of M. McCormack & Company was apparently
dissolved on February 15, 1871, but was not publicly
announced until June 20, 1872. Michael McCormack sold
his interest in the firm to Eugene Ottenville. Malachi
McCormack retained his share in the partnership and with
Ottenville formed the successor firm of McCormack &
Company37, the fourth iteration.
Note that there is no "M" initial in the new firm. This is an unusually long time to not publicly announce a
change, but it is supported by articles on the Industrial
Exhibition during May of 1871, where the firm of M.
McCormack & Company38 was officially registered,
but colloquially
it was reported as the partnership between Malachi McCormack and
Eugene Ottenville39.
McCormack & Company was dissolved on October 26, 187440.
Eugene Ottenville was the surviving partner and remained at
the old address of 105 South Cherry Street. However,
in January of 1875, he moved the business to 67 South
College Street41.
Michael McCormack Richmond, VA (1852-1859)
Michael McCormack Nashville,
TN(1859-1864)
Michael McCormack & Company Nashville,
TN(1868-1871)
McCormack & McKee Nashville,
TN(1875-1876)
Malachi McCormack Nashville,
TN(1876-1879)
With Ottenville leaving the old established location, Malachi McCormack got the itch to get back into the
bottling business. He formed a partnership with Michael J.
McKee, his former bookkeeper, early in 1875. This firm
was short lived and McCormack & McKee was dissolved on January 31, 187642
with
Malachi McCormack the surviving partner who continued
the business at 105 South Cherry Street. McKee picked
up his interest in the grocery business with his brother P.
J. McKee as P. J. McKee & Brother. It is interesting
that the number of bottles this firm produced exceeds
all know bottles from the predecessor and successor firms in
Nashville.
Malachi McCormack remained in the soda water business
until early in 1879, when he retired. Eugene Ottenville took
over the 105 South Cherry Street business at this about at the start of
February that same year43.
While looking at beer bottle listings on an online auction
site, I saw a beer bottle marked "Lang's Extra Pale St.
Louis Beer" with a monogram in the center that was hard to
distinguish other than a letter "M." I stated to add
it to this web site as a Lang bottle, when it occurred to me that it did not
say "Mo." or "Missouri" and therefore I thought it
must belonged to a
bottler, but who and where were they from?
It had to be a Western bottle as Lang's
beer was not sold on the East Coast. I recalled that there where
some Lang bottles from Colorado. A quick search of the
Impressed In Time book on Colorado beverage bottles found
some similar looking bottles, but no match. I was
convinced it was a Colorado bottle, but whose?
Those initials were going to be key. They were
cryptic. The "M" was easy, but the other letters were
hard to make out. I eventually suspected the they were
a "J" and "L." See image to the
right.
I searched this web site's directory listings to no avail.
I also checked online sources for directory listings and no
luck. I then searched the 1900 and 1910 Census
Records for all of Colorado to see who was a bottler that matched
any of the letters I identified. Again no luck. I then
searched for "Extra Pale" and "Lemp" in several newspaper
sites to see if I could find out who was selling this
product. I got one hit in a 1900 Newspaper from
Victor, Colorado. Great, but not. The ad was
just a simple "Drink Lemp's Extra Pale Beer" with no
proprietor and could have been from the home office in Saint
Louis.
My next search was for all men who were living in Victor,
Colorado in the 1900 Census and after reviewing hundreds of
entries I saw a listing for a John L. Muelhausen
which matched my suspected initials of "J" and "L" and "M."
Opening the record, I saw he was listed as a "Beer Agent."
I think I found my guy.
Interestingly there is a Colorado beer bottle marked S.
L. Muehlhausen and Lemp's beer from the Cripple Creek
District.
Searching the newspapers I was able to piece together the
following story.
C. A. Vernon,
was an agent for the Union Brewing Company of Denver.
In January of 1897, he acquired the agency for the Lemp
Brewing Company of Saint Louis for the Cripple Creek
District1.
Sometime after, Charles E. Thomsen, had the agency for both
these breweries in Victor and on his death, John L.
Muehlhausen, of Denver, took over the Victor agency in
February of 18982.
In 1899, Muehlhausen put out a contract to build a two-story
brick building fronting 25 feet with a depth of 75 feet in
Victor3.
During the summer of 1900, the following advertisement
ran, like this one in the Victor Daily Record on August
19th, 1900:
Drink Lemp's Extra Pale. It is refreshing and
invigorating. J. L. Muehlhausen, agent Union Brewing
company.
In March of 1901, Muehlhausen survived a law suit over
cigars4, so he was still in Victor, but the following May, he
was in Cripple Creek setting up a liquor business there5.
So this business was controlled by Muehlhausen from 1898
into 1901.
We can gather from the 1900 Victor Census record that John L.
Muehlhausen was born in October, 1869 in Illinois of German
parents. He was living at 411 Fourth Street with his
Swedish born wife, of five years, Emma G., and children Marie
aged four and Gladys at just under a year. By 1910, he
was back in Victor and was a salesman for a brewery.
Another daughter, Octavia, aged six had joined the flock.
With Prohibition becoming the law of the land, in 1920, he
had relocated to Los Angeles and was a a salesman for a bond
company. In the 1930 Census, he is listed a Captain of
Police for a motion picture studio, and from an industry
magazine in 1935, we learn that it was the Fox Studio and
that he was a colorful character who at one time was the
Sheriff of the Cripple Creek District6.
So there you go, another Maverick identified and a new
Colorado bottle to boot.
I was adding an entry for a
H. C. Breimeyer bottle I saw a picture of from
Saint Louis, but was not sure of the exact embossing.
So I broke out my copy of Johnnie Fletcher's Missouri
Bottles, Crock Jugs & Dose Glasses to identify the exact
embossing. I noticed an early looking Saint Louis
style Weiss Beer bottle on the opposite page marked H.
Brenkmeyer.
I think these early Saint Louis Weiss Beer Bottles are
really neat. They are tall and thin and mark the
introduction of Weiss Beer to the American market.
Some of these bottles date to 1860 and it is possible that
some date to the late 1850s and bottles of this shape were
used up until just before Prohibition in 1919.
The Brenkmeyer bottle was listed as unique and as these
bottles peak my interest, I thought that I would try and do
some research to see find the age of this bottle.
Apparently there were several Henry Brenkmeyer in and around
Saint Louis during this period and the various misspelling
of Brenkmeyer makes it difficult to do research. I can
find no Census records for Henry. A key
record is the 1863 draft registration record for Henry Brinkmeier (sic). It lists some key pieces of
information including his residence at 1092 Broadway; his
age of 25 years; his marital status being single; his birth
country being the United States; and his occupation as a
brewer. Interestingly, John Bernniter is in the entry
right above and is listed as 26 years old German born "baker"
residing at 1088 Broadway.
Since brewers were taxed during the Civil War, a search of
those records provides additional information. Henry
was listed in the first tax assessment in September of 1862
as brewing at the intersection of Broadway and Destrehan and
being taxed on four (4) barrels of beer. This location
was in North Saint Louis and today the address would be at
3500 North Broadway. North Saint Louis was a separate
village founded about 1816. It was annexed by the City
of Saint Louis in 1841.
Brinkmeyer was listed in most of these tax record at this
location thru February of 1863, producing between one (1)
and three (3) barrels of beer each month. The next
record was in May of 1863 and the location was listed as
1084 Broadway and upping his production to five (5) barrels.
Entries between May and August 1863, list Broadway &
Destrehan, 1084 and 1096 Broadway and between (5) and
eight (8) barrels of beer. August of 1863 was the last IRS
tax record that could be found. This indicates that he
was in business at least in September of that year. A single
directory listing for 1863 stated "Brinkmyer (sic), Henry,
brewery, 1084 Broadway."
In 1864, Brinkmeyer was listed as a baker residing at
Destrehan & Broadway. He was listed as a bricklayer or
laborer from 1868 to 1876 at 813 or 815 Destrehan and 3503
Broadway. He appears to have saved enough money to
reopen a grocery business from 1877 thru 1887 where he is listed as a grocer
at 3501 or 3503 or 3505 Broadway. During the years
1891 thru 1899, he is listed as the vice-president of the
St. Louis Washing Tea Company and residing at 3501 North
Broadway and starting in 1899, at 8107 Florissant avenue.
An interesting notice appeared an April, 18631, where "H
Brinkmeyer" was shipped "5" boxes of glassware aboard the
James R. Gilmore from Pittsburgh. This is no doubt a
shipment of the very bottle listed. This same notice lists many firms
receiving glassware, some of which were Saint Louis
bottlers.
These records seem to indicate that Henry Brinkmeyer was a
very small brewer in operation during 1862 and 1863.
As seen below later Weiss Beer bottles from Saint Louis can
in a wide variety of colors.
The Bordwell & Company bottle has been a bit of a mystery
for sixty years. It showed up in early soda bottle
listings that were written in the west, but had not been
identified as an Eastern or Western bottle. What is
known is that it is of a classic Dyottville Glass Works form
matching up against bottles produced for other bottlers
during the period 1851 to 1856 and mainly in Pennsylvania.
See the list below of similar styled bottles.
One of these bottles was sold at auction by
Holabird
Americana in August of 2024 and thru some excellent research
was determined by Fred Holabird to be from Oroville,
California and dated 1856-1858.
Reading thru the research, which was compelling, it seemed
to have nailed this bottle down as to the original location
of the firm and how the bottles traveled with the successors
to the location where some were found in Grass Valley,
California, but one thing bothered me and that was the dates
of the firm in Oroville. My experience told me that
the bottle was from the earlier years of the 1850s and not
the second half of the decade. So I embarked on some
additional research to see if I could find to support my
hunch or prove that the bottle was of a later vintage.
The earliest mention of the business in Oroville was in the
Northern California form the same city, dated April 25,
1856. This was the traditional start of the soda water
business, which generally when idle during the winter
months.
PROTECT HOME INDUSTRY.--Messrs. DEAMER &
BORDWELL, Soda Manufacturers, are always on hand, always
on the square, have their families among us, make the
best article of Soda, Ale, and Porter, (this we know for
we have had a taste) drive a good team, and are good
fellows generally, and should be patronized in
preference to strangers. Let our saloon keepers
bear this in mind.
Another ad in the same paper was published about a week
later on May 2, 1856:
New
Advertisements.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DEAMER & BORDWELL, MANUFACTURERS OF MINERAL WATER, ALE, AND
PORTER.
The patronage of the citizens of Butte County is
respectfully solicited. Manufactory on the corner of Pine and Robinson streets,
Oroville.
This clearly identifies that this firm was know as "Deamer"
& Bordwell and that this firm was a new business to Oroville
at the corner of Pine and Robinson Streets. The firm
was not Bordwell & Company and it does not appear that
Bordwell was the senior partner.
In searching the newspapers form April 1856 to 1858.
found this firm going by the following names
Name
Count of Unique Reverences
Deamer & Bordwell
19
Bordwell & Deamer
2
A search on W. E. Deamer reveals that he bought into the
soda bottling establishment of Burdick & Monty by purchasing
D. C. Monty's share of the business in January of 1856.
The new firm was to be known as Deamer & Burdick.
William H. Bordwell ended up San Francisco and filed for
insolvency as recorded in the Sacramento Daily Union on June
26, 1858:
SAN FRANCISCO INSOLVENCY.--At San Francisco,
June 23, William W. Bordwell petitioned for the benefit
of the Insolvent Act. He states that from August,
1852, to May, 1855, he was in business in the town of
St. Louis, Sierra county, as one of the firm of Bordwell
& Moore, which was dissolved at that time.
Petitioner has suffered from protracted sickness.
Liabilities, $3,000.
Bordwell seems to have skipped over the fact that he was
in a successful business in Oroville in the years in between
and the outcome of the case is not known.
The dates that Bordwell was reported in Saint Louis,
California seem more in line with that dates that other
bottles of this mold are dated to. So my focus moved
to Saint Louis. The records are sparse, but there was
a major fire at Saint Louis that destroyed much of the town
and total losses were over $115,000 according to the
Sacramento Daily Union in the August 22, 1854. In the
same paper, Bordwell & Moore were listed as having a $12,000
loss of their store and Bordwell & Co's. Saloon had a loss
of $5,000. Saloons were major consumers of soda water
during this period and Bordwell had his hand in a few
businesses. So the pieces appeared to be falling into
place
According to the San Francisco Call "William W.
Bordwell, a native of New York/aged 64 years" died on April
25, 1895.
Based on this information, we are able to connect some
dots. William Wallace Bordwell was born about 1832 on
the family farm in Champlain, New York in Clinton County.
He was the son of Luke Wolcott Bordwell and Lydia (nee
Thomas) Bordwell, both from Scotland. In 1850, he was
listed as a twenty year old clerk in Champlain, New York.
According to Family history, he removed to California in
1852. Arriving he settled in Saint Louis, California,
he appears to have operated a store and Saloon and likely a
soda bottling establishment. Being burned out in 1854, he
moved to Oroville, California in 1856 and partnered with W.
E. Deamer. The business fell apart in 1858 and W. W.
moved to San Francisco and filed for bankruptcy. In
1861 he was with F. D. Conro & Co.'s Golden Age flour mills.
In 1864, he is listed in Gold Hill, Nevada. In July
1866, William and his brothers George and Henry Wolcott
registered to vote in San Francisco, they were all living at
various locations on Bryant Street, and were listed as a
miner, architect, and machinist respectfully. In the
1870 Census, W. W. is listed as a 36 year old miner in Elko,
Nevada. In 1872 he appears to have moved to Carson
City. In 1876 he appears to have formed a partnership
as a firm of Currie, Bordwell & Edmunds, accountants and
collectors. He also serve as the Engrossing Clerk.
In the 1880 Census, he is listed as a 38 year old accountant
at the same location. In 1881, he apparently became
demented and was committed several times. In 1888, he
ended up back in San Francisco, where he died on April 25,
1895.
Cunningham announced the opening
SOMETHING NEW _ _ _ _ _ _ _
At he old stand of Mr. J. B. Allen, nearly opposite Uncle Ben's Hat and Cap Store.
no match. I was
convinced it was a Colorado bottle, but whose?
Manufactory on the corner of Pine and Robinson streets,
Oroville.