Moderator: Squire
bourbonv wrote:I have presorted about 50% of the collection so far. I thought I would point out some of the more interesting items I have found so far. I have been reading letter press books while monitoring the reading room. I have gone through about 41/2 of about 20 such books. I have found letters dealing with Taylor building a warehouse at the OFC distillery in 1874. I have read the letter press book of the assignee to his bankruptcy case of 1877 dealing with the auction of the OFC and the OOP (Old Oscar Pepper) distilleries - auctioned on the same date in early 1878 and giving the terms in which they are to auctioned. In a book that has letters from 1918 - 1922 Taylor focuses on his Hereford Cattle breeding Farm, but mentions the enfluenza epidemic of 1918 killing many of his workers at the Farm and the distillery, including his book keeper. He sends some cases of bourbon to some friends in late 1919 to "serve them in the dry times ahead". In 1921 he writes a letter to his brother in Missouri discussing his belief that the anti-saloon league is controlling Washington and the failure of his efforts in court to continue distilling.
Items that I have sorted but not read in detail include a large amount of letters from Gregory and Stagg dealing Taylor that might explain how Stagg ended up with the OFC distillery. (Anybody in St. Louis want to look in the 1870's city directory to see if they can find out more information about Gregory and Stagg? James Gregory and George T Stagg.) There are many post cards of the pre-prohibition distillery and a there are also some photographs.
The Hay family was involved with the horse racing industry for the most part, but E H Taylor Hay also was involved with the K Taylor distillery that operated for a short time after prohibition. They were also friends with Creel Brown and there are some letters discussing him and his family.
I will continue to report from time to time let you know about this great collection.
Mike Veach
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