Not all Kentucky whiskey was good whiskey
Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 10:38 am
Darren Reid (whiskygalore) sent me the following email and I thought it might be of interest to the readers here:
Hey Mike
How are things going in my favourite common wealth? Not sure if you've come across this but I just found it in a source I was reading and thought you should have it. It is a quote from a former settler (she was a school girl, circa 1781) in Kentucky who was interviewed by man named John Shane (like Lyman Draper, Shane collected interviews and first hand accounts from elderly Kentucky settlers. Interestingly, not only does she claim that her father made the first still in Kentucky, but she even attributes the suicides of fourteen people to it - though I'm not sure how far that was true - she says to Shane that the idea only occurred to her as he interviewed her. The interview took place in 1844. Anyhow, I this is of some use to you,
All best,
Darren
"I went to school to Thos: Threkeld right be where they were at work. Began it in March—and many a drink of beer I got there, 1781, this. They sold their whiskey for $8 a gallon; and the people got it & got drunk on it; neither being in Ky., nor a high price, co[ul]’d prevents its use. 14 persons, that I knew their faces, committed suicide, and I never tho’t before, it might have been this still.
1.Anthony Garrett
2.Old Seaman. Had a bottle of whiskey tied up (with him) in a h[an]dk[erchie]f
3.His w[ ife ]
4.Old Billy Buford’s Son
5.Nelly Rends
6.Edwin Ballinger: her son
7.Jas Nourse
8.Mrs Foley
9.Mrs Cox
10.Wm Paulin
11.Harry Jeffrys
12.–
13.–
14.–
[Thomas] Threkeld’s was the 1st school ever about in that section. Elias Barber, a northern man, taught a year in a school-house my f[ather] built, almost himself. He then took sick, & an Irishman taught there. This at the Forks of Dick’s River." John D. Shane "Interview with Sarah Graham, 1844" Draper Manuscripts 12CC45-53, p.
Hey Mike
How are things going in my favourite common wealth? Not sure if you've come across this but I just found it in a source I was reading and thought you should have it. It is a quote from a former settler (she was a school girl, circa 1781) in Kentucky who was interviewed by man named John Shane (like Lyman Draper, Shane collected interviews and first hand accounts from elderly Kentucky settlers. Interestingly, not only does she claim that her father made the first still in Kentucky, but she even attributes the suicides of fourteen people to it - though I'm not sure how far that was true - she says to Shane that the idea only occurred to her as he interviewed her. The interview took place in 1844. Anyhow, I this is of some use to you,
All best,
Darren
"I went to school to Thos: Threkeld right be where they were at work. Began it in March—and many a drink of beer I got there, 1781, this. They sold their whiskey for $8 a gallon; and the people got it & got drunk on it; neither being in Ky., nor a high price, co[ul]’d prevents its use. 14 persons, that I knew their faces, committed suicide, and I never tho’t before, it might have been this still.
1.Anthony Garrett
2.Old Seaman. Had a bottle of whiskey tied up (with him) in a h[an]dk[erchie]f
3.His w[ ife ]
4.Old Billy Buford’s Son
5.Nelly Rends
6.Edwin Ballinger: her son
7.Jas Nourse
8.Mrs Foley
9.Mrs Cox
10.Wm Paulin
11.Harry Jeffrys
12.–
13.–
14.–
[Thomas] Threkeld’s was the 1st school ever about in that section. Elias Barber, a northern man, taught a year in a school-house my f[ather] built, almost himself. He then took sick, & an Irishman taught there. This at the Forks of Dick’s River." John D. Shane "Interview with Sarah Graham, 1844" Draper Manuscripts 12CC45-53, p.