Still life: Historical society acquires rare whiskey ledger

At the turn of the century in 1800, whiskey was a valuable commodity for farmers and homeowners in the U.S., so valuable that the 1791 excise whiskey tax was approved by the federal government to pay off debts from the Revolutionary War.

The hated tax led to the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania in 1794, put down by President George Washington and 13,000 soldiers fighting former Continental Army troops who had formed a militia to fight the levy.

In Gloucester County – then also including all of Camden County – John Clement of Haddonfield was the tax agent charged with collecting whiskey information and tax payments throughout the county, according to Hoag Levins, publications committee chairperson for the county historical society.

The society recently acquired Clement’s rare book/ledger, “Still Entries 1800,” a list of people who produced whiskey; what township or village they lived in; how many copper stills they had; and how much whiskey they could produce, all used to figure out how much they would be taxed.

Clement, a prominent citizen, judge and historian appointed to the Office of Inspection, was no longer a tax agent in 1802 as the new president, Thomas Jefferson, repealed the whiskey levy.

“Stills were very common then,” explained Levins, whose full-time job is managing editor of digital publications at the University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. “Americans drank a lot more alcoholic beverages than we do today. Mount Vernon – Washington’s home – had several large stills that could produce 11,000 gallons of whiskey in a year.

“Advertisements for copper stills and parts were very common in newspapers of that time,” Levins noted. “Household whiskey was a major part of the economy.”

The biggest distillers were farmers who used their surplus crops to ferment whiskey that was used as currency, and they would trade it for things they needed, Levins said.

The Still ledger was purchased by Gloucester County after historical society librarian Barbara Price noticed it was available at the Between the Covers antiquarian book store in Gloucester City.

“We are the repository for rare books and records not directly related to county government,” emphasized Levins, who added that those items are owned by the county and remain with the society, one of the largest genealogical research centers in South Jersey. It is located across the parking lot from the Historical Society Museum at 58 North Broad St. in Woodbury.

“The hand-written ledger found by Price documents locations, gallons of whiskey produced and taxes paid by whiskey still operators in the townships that made up old Gloucester County: Newton, Woolwich, Greenwich and Deptford,” Levins noted.

During a ceremony in late September in the county records room, commissioners transferred possession of the rare ledger to the historical society as part of their long-standing agreement recognizing the society as the official repository of important historical records.

Present for the handover were Frank DiMarco, director of the Gloucester County Commissioners; Michelle Everly, county records manager; county Clerk James Hogan; Commissioner Christopher Konawel Jr.; county Surrogate Giuseppe Chila; and Donald Kwasnicki, president of the Gloucester County Historical Society.

“This still ledger is not technically a county record,” Everly pointed out. “It’s a federal record that comes from the era of the 1791 excise whiskey tax. But it’s a natural part of the county record in the way it documents the activities of specific county residents.”

Kwasnicki, thanked the commissioners, clerk and records room staff.

“We greatly appreciate being entrusted with this very rare work that provides information from an important historical era that many people don’t know much about,” he said. “The fact that it names the individuals who were operating stills throughout the county brings the historical story of the Whiskey Rebellion home in a very vivid way.”

Even as they began arriving on the east coast in the 1600s, European colonists were using stills and local grains, vegetables and fruits to manufacture alcoholic beverages that were a daily staple for families. They consumed alcohol at nearly every meal and, on average, drank three times more alcoholic beverages than modern-day Americans, according to Levins.

Clement was one of many federal agents tasked with identifying, visiting and documenting the details of local still production. In his 1800 ledger, Clement documented the many prominent businessmen and politicians with their own stills, including Joseph Cooper, Charles French, James Graisberry and the Philadelphia company Wood & Gill. Cooper was a member of the influential Quaker family best known for its role in founding Cooper’s Ferry, which later became Camden.

“French was a Quaker landowner and justice of the peace who was heavily involved in civic, religious and economic affairs around Gloucester County. Graisberry was a printer and local politician who held various official positions in the county. Wood & Gill, a major woodworking firm producing high-end furniture and clocks, appears to have operated a county still house as an adjunct to its major business,” Levins pointed out.

The Gloucester County Historical Society Library is dedicated to preserving history, and has now added a ledger from a whiskey tax agent to its collection.

“Barbara Price from the Historical Society alerted us to the sale of the ledger when she found it online,” Everly said. “Gloucester County is an extremely old county within the country formed in 1686, and anytime there is a record which documents its founding or its government history, we try to assess its origin and value.

“This specific document is historically significant not only because it can be allied with the Whiskey Rebellion, George Washington, and the first Continental Congress, but also because it provides historical information on early countians and post-Colonial families found within Old Gloucester County.”

Speaking as the County Records Manager positioned within the County Clerk’s Office, the county has had a long standing relationship with the Gloucester County Historical Society beginning in the early 1970s.

“We have relied on their expertise for many years regarding maintaining and housing the county’s most valuable documents,” Hogan said. “We believe our unique relationship is the best arrangement for protecting and sustaining all of our historical records.”

Hogan, a former law enforcement agent, has experience with bootleggers in the 20th century.

“My experience in the 1960s with bootleggers [has] led me to believe that this historical ledger had to be ‘tax based,’ he said. “That is the only reason in the 1960s we pursed bootleggers, because taxes were not being paid on alcohol.

“The irony of finding the Still Ledger is that my career as a law enforcement agent and as the Gloucester County Clerk has come full circle beginning and ending with the government’s taxation of alcohol.”