by cowdery » Mon May 14, 2007 2:32 pm
First, I assume the typo occurred when the text was transcribed for internet posting. You'll notice several other screwed up dates in the text. The actual book, no doubt available in the Cincinnati Public Library, probably has the correct date.
Second, 1802 is more likely because of the reference to "Wayne's victory." "Mad" Anthony Wayne won several battles over Blue Jacket's Confederacy in the 1790s. The Treaty of Greenville, signed in 1795, marked the end of that uprising, bringing peace to the Ohio Territory and leading to Ohio statehood in 1803. Therefore, I believe the reference is to 1802.
Third, while I considered that the author was writing in an 1890s context and recognizing that many of the American regional histories written during that period were loose about their facts, there is so much specificity in that paragraph that I think we can, at the very least, regard "Monongahela whiskey" as referring to grain spirit sent down river from the Pittsburgh area.
At that time, Pittsburgh's development was just a little ahead of Marietta's, which was just a little ahead of Limestone's, which was just a little ahead of Cincinnati's, which was just a litte ahead of Louisville's, etc.
My ancestors arrived in the Marietta area in 1808. There was a Cowdery Mill in what is now Keno, Ohio, but no evidence exists of a Cowdery distillery, though I remain hopeful.