The Pattison family's large distillery business archive is being offered on eBay.
"The family was quite prominent in the [Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky] business community from the 1860's until the middle of the 20th century, primarily, but not exclusively in the business of distilling whiskey," says the seller. "The majority of the archive is from the estate of Harry S. Pattison, oldest son of the founder of the family business, Edward M. Pattison.
The description includes many images that showcase the three generations of business leaders in this family were Edward M., then Harry S. (had brother Edward M. Jr.) and finally J. Murdock. The vast majority of the items in this archive are from Harry S. Pattison who ran the family business from the last decade of the 19th century into the 1940's.
The seller continues, "Edward with his wife Mary purchased a large stone home at the SW corner of Grand & Warsaw in Price Hill, considered one of the finest homes in the area. Unfortunately it was torn down in the middle of the 20th century.
The first record of Edward entering the business world is in 1868 in the form of a contract with Flinn and others to open a 'Hat, Cap & Fur Wholesale Business' in Cincinnati.
The family began working in the distilling business in Cincinnati in the year 1862, when Edward went into partnership with J.W. Gaff. The next change occurred when Edward became manager of a distillery in Blissville, N.Y. in partnership with Gaff and the Fleischmann Co. in 1873. This partnership appears to have not been smooth sailing, mainly it would appear from some of the five extant letters due to problems with the Fleischmann's. These five letters also are of interest because they were written at the beginning of the 1873 Panic in the U.S., which lead to six years of depression in the county.
Edward was then the Secretary of the Miami Distillery Co. in Hamilton, Ohio in partnership with Caldwell & Kennedy. Edward then started a partnership of Pattison & Caldwell Distillery in Hamilton. This lead to Edward being the President and Treasurer of the Miami Distillery in Hamilton.
Edward purchased and made Harry the President of the Turner-Looker Co. in Cincinnati in 1885.
The Turner-Looker Co. made both whiskey and cigars, including the Golden Goose Cigar. They were located at the corner of Second St. & Race in the 1890's. While they made whiskey, they also were wholesalers of other spirits. At this point Edward appears to have retired and turned his business over to his sons with Harry S. Pattison at its head. There is little in this archive of the other brother Edward M., Jr., other than business letters and documents and a few photographs. Edward was listed as vice-president of the Turner-Looker Co. with older brother Harry being president. After the company became Pattison Brothers, Edward was listed as vice-president and secretary and again Harry was president.
Harry's wife Daisy or Dayse whose maiden name was Murdock and father was another Cincinnati businessman, named John J. Murdock, Jr., owner of The Murdock Manufacturing & Supply Co., manufacturers of water hydrants and fountains.
Some of the more interesting business letters and documents in the archive are those leading up to the passage of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Prohibition, in 1919, which needless to say effected the Pattison family for the worse. Also the letters and documents of the company leading up to and just after the passage of the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the repeal of prohibition in 1933 are also quite interesting and informative. This archive spans that period of American History and sheds some light on how it effected the people in this part of the county. The business archive has approximately 2000-2500 documents of many different type, from items as insignificant as repair to a trucks tire to the transfer of tens of thousands of dollars in various business dealings.
The archive contains approximately 890 photographs spanning the period from the 1850's to the 1940's. Included is a wonderful Grand Tour of Europe album with over 300 images, both armature and professional. This photo collection also includes a large number of industrial images of the various distillery buildings and workers of the family, with both exterior and interior shots of the buildings, company officers portraits and more. Other images include WWI military officers, including an autographed Distinguished Service Cross winner, early Niagara Falls photos, early Florida images, with many of poor African American families from that State, early 20th century vacation images from Atlantic City and much more to numerous to mention.
The archive has a treasure trove of advertising from the late 19th and early 20th century for the various family businesses and others in the distillery business, such as People's Distiller, most are very well illustrated with bottles and barrels of various types of spiritus liquors."
There is a fairly scarce book edited by H.W. Brown et al, entitled Southern Ohio and its Builders, 1927, published by The James Jones Co. This 4to volume has embossed gilt decorated boards with silk cord binding, 445pp with short biographical sketches of important leaders from southern Ohio, including Harry S. Pattison, fully illustrated with portraits.
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