Kuhn Brewery

Last night I started watching a very well produced series on History Channel, America, The Story of Us!

I was disappointed that there was no mention of beer in the the first 150 years. Tobacco, yes. Beer, NO!

So, I did a quick search on the history of Beer in the U.S. Here are a few notes on the early years:

1587
Virginia colonists brew ale using corn.

1607

First shipment of beer arrives in the Virginia colony from England.

1609

American "Help Wanted" advertisements appear in London seeking brewers for the Virginia Colony.

1612

Adrian Block & Hans Christiansen establish the first known brewery in the New World on the southern tip of New Amsterdam (Manhattan).

1614

The first non-native American is born in New Amsterdam, (perhaps the first non-native American male born in the New World) in Block & Christiansen's brewhouse. Jean Vigne grows up to become the first brewer born in the New World.

1620

Pilgrims arrive in Plymouth in the Colony of Massachusetts aboard the Mayflower. Beer is extremely short on board ship and the seamen force the passengers ashore to ensure that they will have sufficient beer for their return trip to England.

A more complete list can be found at

http://www.beerhistory.com/library/holdings/chronology.shtml

I know that some of my long lost Kuhn relatives were vintners; It's more than possible that a few were brewers.

Here is a news article I once ran across from St. Louis, 1883:

FAILURES IN BUSINESS; A ST. LOUIS BREWERY FIRM'S DIFFICULTIES.CALL FOR A MEETING OF THE CREDITORS OF THE ANTHONY & KUHN COMPANY--FAILURES ELSEWHERE.

September 20, 1883, Wednesday

ST. LOUIS, Sept. 19.--A rumor, which was soon substantiated, gained ground on 'Change this morning that the Anthony Kuhn Brewery Company, a concern recently incorporated by Henry Anthony and Francis Kuhn, of the firm of Anthony Kuhn, and Austin Voght, had succumbed to financial embarrassment.

I guess it survived that battle, but I've read that in 1922 Anthony & Kuhn Brewery of St. Louis was sold to a laundry (clothes washed in beer?).

Just some odd ramblings for today.

Sir Bowie "Kuhn" of Greenbriar

The Good, Bad and the Cowboy Knights

Once again Sir Dayvid of Oxfordshire reminds us of how small our world really is and that England and America share much in common, especially when it comes to beer drinking scoundrels and those fortunate enought to live life to the fullest.

"Sir Hook. It seems the scion of my relatives from the Carr family... that got washed up on your shores...were not just content to get shot for throwing snowballs at the Redcoats in Boston, but instead got on their horses and rode West and made a bit of that thar gold in them there hills. Records show that one of the Carpetbaggers made it as far as Cripple Creek, Wyoming where he appears in records to be partners with a guy called Kuykendall and became a Stockmen, owning vast tracts of land, ranches and cattle in 1884, even having their own cattle brand that I have found in an old book of Western Cattle Brands in a second hand bookshop. Remarkably it seems that old habits die hard and Carr decided to use the shape of a shield as his brand to mark all his cattle.

Kuykendall and Carr became so rich that they started a transportation firm of stagecoaches, and when the railroad came overland to California they not only purchased track but sold huge amounts of their land for use by the railroads.

My search peters out a little after that, but I do find archival records that the predecessors of Carr and Kuykendall, possibly their fathers or uncles, John Carr and Matthew Kuykendall, joined the US Army in Wyoming and fought at the Battle of San Jacinto just after Alamo in 1836. At this point I find out that John rather let the side down and became a deserter. Hey, he wanted a beer and a bit of peace to drink it in...fair play to you John...

Americas short history is a mighty landscape to search through. Ride em Cowboy!"

Sir "Buck" of Oxfordshire