Broad Ford's Overholt Distillery
Written & Compiled by K. R. Overholt Critchfield © 8-4-2012
The Karen's Branches Version © 11-13-2012
.

Abraham Overholt - Henry Stauffer Overholt - Jacob Stauffer Overholt, composite by K. R. Overholt Critchfield © 2005
.

The full story came to the editor's desk in bits and pieces all week, but facts and figures, first-person accounts, and tales of bravery were woven together to thoroughly inform the citizens of Connellsville.  Many citizens, and folks from neighboring towns, had witnessed the event themselves, from shortly after the blaze began on Sunday afternoon, November 19, and had remained as events unfolded late into the night.  In fact, many citizens and local officials of every stripe gave their assistance to fight the fire, and heroic deeds were done by all.

In 1905, the A. Overholt and Company distillery at Broad Ford was an impressive operation.  The "distillery proper" included the grain elevator and granary, warehouses A, B, C, D, and a large bottling house.  Everything had been built or rebuilt to modern specifications and was thoroughly insured.  The capacity of the warehouses allowed for 88,000 barrels of whiskey to be stored at the plant, and then as now, active railroad tracks were in close proximity -- perhaps too close.  The best guess as to the cause of the fire was speculation that a passing train had launched a spark that got into Warehouse D.

__________________________________________

A. Overholt and Co., Sanborn-Perris Map Co., Ltd, New York, 1894
__________________________________________

The Library of Congress has a web site that allows searching historic American newspapers (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/), where at least 20 individual articles about the 1905 fire can be found, along with several Pennsylvania state records.  Also found were three items about the 1884 fire at Broad Ford that destroyed the main building, three bonded warehouses and 7,000 barrels of whiskey in three hours.  Back then, the buildings were wood frame, not brick or stone, so once ignited at 11 p.m., July 23, 1884, nothing could stop a conflagration.  Afterwards, the cause of the fire could not be determined, but the guesses ranged from "spontaneous combustion of mill dust," to "a cigar left by a workman."

The gross value of the 1884 fire was reported to be $550,000, and the loss in buildings and machinery, $115,000.  One warehouse with 600 barrels of whiskey was saved.  The Somerset Herald wrote in their story of July 30, "The heat of the fire was intense, and the flames lit up the country for miles.  Burning whisky flowed down the river.  Twenty-five barrels were rolled away and the whisky dipped up by a mob.  There were hundreds of drunken men."  The detail about hundreds of drunken men may have been the reason why, in 1905, Fire Marshall W. H. Marietta "issued orders that no liquor be given the firemen, saying that it was impossible to drink whiskey and fight fire at the same time."  It was an order that prompted some of the firemen to strike, "but they were not from Connellsville."

The 1905 articles showed Broad Ford often misspelled as Bradford, perhaps due to phonetics, or because there is an actual town of Bradford in McKean County.  In other reports, Broad Ford was spelled as one word, Broadford -- a mistake that continues to this day in a failure to differentiate the accepted name of the road, Broadford Road, from the name of the geographical location.  By rights, Broadford Road should be Broad Ford Road, since the road goes to Broad Ford.  The earliest maps of the region use two words, Broad Ford.

Most of the 1905 newspapers published straight news stories of one inch to a few short paragraphs, but a few devoted several inches of newsprint.  Treatments included headlines like Kentucky's The Paducah Sun story, FOUR MILLION IN BOOZE. Big Fire at Pennsylvania Distillery and Bonded Warehouse, or Washington state's The Wenatchee Daily World story, 810,000 Gallons of Firewater Burn.  An article in Minnesota's The Bemidji Daily Pioneer put out a single paragraph, but stressed the federal government's loss with the headline, GOVERNMENT LOSES TAX. Distillery Fire Costs Uncle Sam $891,000 in Revenue.  Missouri's Scott County Kicker made up for their minimal coverage with a whimsical approach:  WILL MAKE OLD TOPERS SIGH. Four Million Dollars' Worth of Overholt Whisky Fed a Fire at Broadford, Pa.

Some newspapers printed larger stories, like Ohio's The News-Herald.  At the top of page two, a banner headline announced, A DISTILLERY FIRE, with a large subhead, Over 800,000 Gallons of Whisky, Together With the Overholt Warehouse, Destroyed, and included two more subheads of The Blaze Was Spectacular, the Blue Flames Shooting Over 100 Feet Into the Air, and Two Men Were Overcome By Smoke and Dropped Unconscious on the Fire Escape, But Were Rescued By Workmen.  The story clarified an event detail that was glossed over in the mammoth article published in Connellsville.

"Joseph McDonald and George Patskin, employees of the company, climbed up the fire escape and opened one of the small iron doors.  They were caught in a cloud of smoke which suffocated them and they dropped unconscious on the fire escape.  They were rescued by other workmen and a general alarm was sounded."

In contrast, the Connellsville version read, "In investigating the fire, both Patskin and Joseph McDonald were overcome with smoke, but were not seriously hurt, recovering in a few minutes."  The more dramatic version was picked up by news editors across the nation, although the surname Patskin often showed up spelled Patekin or Patckin.  A Google search for each form, showed only Patskin registering any hits, and may be the proper spelling.

Almost every article kept the line, "The plant is practically owned by H. C. Frick and the Mellons of Pittsburgh."  It was an interesting choice of words, considering court records of Frick v. United Firemen's Insurance Company (actually 23 different companies, foreign and domestic) identify Henry C. Frick, Andrew W. Mellon and Richard B. Mellon as "copartners trading as A. Overholt & Company."  No other owner is mentioned, not even in the records of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which affirmed a lower court ruling in favor of the owners' estimation of the "cash value at the time of the loss."  Twice over, the court system agreed with Frick's esoteric argument about how the losses of buildings, equipment, and superior Overholt aged rye whiskey should be added up.  Clearly, the judges of both courts appreciated the product.

The Overholt Distillery at Broad Ford suffered another big blow two months after the big fire.  On January 29, 1906, an article from Washington, D.C.'s The Washington Times reported, TRAIN RUINS FORTUNE IN REVENUE STAMPS, with the subhead, Mail Pouch Containing Ten Thousand Dollars' Worth Drawn Under Wheels and Ground to Pieces.  "The stamps were strewn all along the tracks between Connellsville and Broad Ford.  Some were found this morning 100 yards distant from the Baltimore and Ohio depot.  The face value of the stamps was about $10,000."  No wonder the owners were liberal in their estimation of the loss.

Every news story about the 1905 fire that included the line, "The plant was established by A. Overholt in 1810," got it wrong.  Sharing a bit of Overholt history will put everything into proper perspective.

Let us note that the exceptional pure rye whiskey of Abraham Overholt (1784-1870) was established as a commercial product at West Overton in 1810, when he was 26 years old and awaiting the birth of his first child with new wife Maria Stauffer (1791-1874).  As a weaver since his teens, he helped to establish and maintain the family's most successful business enterprise to date, the manufacture of woven coverlets, using weaving methods and designs handed down from the roots of the family tree, in Oberholz, Switzerland.  As a commercial product, the "coverlids," as they were called, were valued by settlers heading west.  Wagon trains stopped at West Overton, where they could buy cured meats, dry goods and equipment at the Overholt general store, along with handy coverlets, and some farm-made whiskey, when available.

At 26, Abraham was determined to create a new future for himself and his growing family.  With brother Christian Overholt (1786-1868), he purchased a "special interest" in their father's farm, and he had finally gotten permission from the elders to stake out a plot of land big enough to house a new log cabin distillery.  From then on, distilling would be a commercial enterprise at West Overton.  By the time Henry Stauffer Overholt (1810-1870), came into the world on August 10, Abraham would have constructed his new distillery, and with the autumn harvest, he would produce his first barrels of rye whiskey for sale.

[Karen's Note:  The span of time Abraham was involved with commercial distilling matches the lifespan of his son, Henry -- both beginning in 1810 and ending when they passed away in 1870, five months apart.]

Abraham and Maria brought eight children into the world -- six sons and two daughters -- and between raising a family, running a farm, planting and harvesting crops, and distilling for a growing market, this was a very busy family.  Along with farming chores, "the Overholt boys," especially Henry and Jacob, were brought into the distilling business while still young.  Stories would be told about many years of bad roads and broken wagon wheels, when the Overholt boys literally took the reins in the task of hauling grain to and from flouring mills in nearby towns.  In 1834, Abraham built his own flouring mill at West Overton, which ended hauling grain elsewhere to be milled.  By the autumn of 1834, when the new mill was working in earnest, son Henry, 24 years old, purchased a half-interest in the business, thereafter known as A. & H.S. Overholt Company.  Jacob was 20 years old, Abraham 17, Martin 12, Christian 10, and John, eight.

Regarding Abraham's daughters, in the autumn of 1834, Anna had already celebrated her fourth wedding anniversary with husband John Tinstman (1807-1877), and was about to bring her third child into the world.  That child was Abraham Overholt Tinstman (1834-1915), born on September 13, and he would become one of the most famous grandsons of Abraham Overholt.  Younger daughter Elizabeth Stauffer Overholt (1819-1905) was only 15 years old, but given another 13 years, she would marry John William Frick (1822-1889), and two years after that, she would give birth to Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), who would become Abraham's other famous grandson.  In years to come, everybody at West Overton would know how young Clay was given "a foot up" in the business world by Grandpap Abraham and Cousin A. O. Tinstman, two men who more than any others enabled Frick to become a powerful force in the region and a formidable industrial giant, long before Andrew Carnegie entered the picture.

It must be said that the farmers, bankers, businessmen and entrepreneurs in the Overholt family were not known for the kind of ruthlessness exhibited by H. C. Frick.  Ultimately, his was a personality honed in the atmosphere of major industrial monopolies, where serious individuals happily manipulated international economic stratagems.  For Frick, the Overholt Distillery at Broad Ford was the centerpiece, focal point, and fulcrum of everything he would ever consider to be successful.

On April 19, 1850, Henry Clay Frick was four months old, being cradled in his mother's arms or being passed around to the aunts, uncles and cousins assembled to celebrate Abraham Overholt's 66th birthday.   During the course of that year, Abraham would bring son Jacob into his business as a full partner with himself and Henry, although the brothers had been in charge for ten years.  The whole Overholt enterprise was 40 years old, a lot more complicated, and owing its continued success as much to the business skills of Henry and Jacob as to the endurance of old Abraham.  In truth, the whole family had been involved with everything from the start, and while West Overton thrived, the Overholts made sure the surrounding community thrived, as well.  The pioneering sons, daughters and grandchildren of patriarch and founder Henrich Oberholtzer (1739-1813) had invested in the welfare of the region, making sure free public schooling was established for the children, laying down roads, building schools and houses of worship, and raising money for numerous civic projects in and around West Overton.

Distilling had birthed several other local industries that supported and were in turn supported by distilling, generating wages that brought stability to many families.  Warehouses had been built to age the whiskey, and whole systems of supply and distribution had been developed, helping Overholt whiskey to become a valued product clear across the nation.  There had never been a lack of good customers.  The demand for Overholt whiskey had always outstripped the supply, and the same could be said for the next five years.

We do not know how long the Overholt men mulled over the question of building a larger distillery complex, but the family appeared to measure their business expansions with "gradual speed and safe progress."  By 1855, Overholt whiskey had become so popular and widespread that further expansion was no longer questioned -- it was necessary.  Broad Ford was situated on the Youghiogheny River, so a distillery there would benefit from a good water supply, plus river traffic.  Flatboats could bring in shipments of grain, then load up with shipments of barrel whiskey, and then meet up with steamboats on the Monongahela River heading south or north to the docks in "Pittsburg."

Jacob Overholt put so much effort into the new project that splitting his time between West Overton and Broad Ford became a burden, so in 1855, he "amicably dissolved business with his brother and removed to Broad Ford" to give it his full attention.  The first thing he did there was establish "a saw-mill, mainly for supplying the firm with materials with which to build up a then prospective village and a distillery, which in time became the most famous of the Overholt distilleries . . . Under the immediate oversight of Jacob Overholt, the locality of Broad Ford, containing three dwellings when he first went there, shortly grew into a busy village."

In 1856, Jacob took a partner into the enterprise -- cousin Henry O. Overholt (1813-1880), who was a year and three months younger than Jacob.  Beyond farming, Henry O. was a famous weaver of Overholt coverlets.  This Henry was the second son of Abraham's older brother Martin Overholt (1772-1835) and Catherine Overholt (1781-1866), hence the distinctive middle initial.

[Karen's Note:  Catherine Overholt was a distant cousin from Bucks County, daughter of Mennonite Preacher Abraham Oberholtzer (c 1747-1824).  Some people confuse the master distiller Abraham with the Rev. Abraham.]

The Broad Ford distillery project, which is in Fayette County, does not appear to have been part of Abraham's business concerns in Westmoreland County.  One source states the Broad Ford distillery "was erected and put into operation by Abraham Overholt in the year 1853," however, the clarifying point may be the fact that following Jacob's death, Abraham purchased Jacob's two-thirds share of the Broad Ford distilling company, and then continued to operate it with Henry O. Overholt as the one-third share partner.  Henry Stauffer Overholt was still a full partner in his father's West Overton distillery business.

It was reported that Jacob "paid strict personal attention to his large business until his last illness.  He was a man of great energy and business activity and integrity, and in the expressive language of one who knew him well, 'he was everybody's friend.'  He was noted for his charity, never allowing the needy to go unserved by his door."  Jacob's "last illness" took his life on April 20, 1859, one day after father Abraham's 75th birthday.  He left behind a stellar career as a master distiller, businessman and entrepreneur.  In terms of loss to the family, he was the husband of Mary Fox (1816-1895), and the father of nine children.

__________________________________________

Abraham Overholt Tinstman,
engraved by Samuel Sartain
__________________________________________

The partnership between Abraham and nephew Henry O. Overholt brought the Broad Ford distillery complex into A. Overholt and Company, creating an enterprise "with a daily capacity of 200 bushels of grain and 860 gallons of whiskey."  Stepping into Jacob's shadow at Broad Ford was Abraham's 25-year-old grandson, Abraham Overholt Tinstman (1834-1915), hired away from working his father's farm.  A. O. Tinstman may have begun in the shadow of his Uncle Jacob, but his abilities as a manager soon became apparent in his daily supervision of the manufacture of "the celebrated Overholt whisky," the steam-driven sawmill cutting timber into lumber, and the farming being done on the Broad Ford property.

The Civil War years (1861-1865) seriously impacted the families of West Overton and Broad Ford -- many of their young men became soldiers.  Abraham Overholt supported Abraham Lincoln, and despite his advanced years, "visited the seat of war twice in his anxiety over the state of the country and to encourage soldiers in the field with whom he was personally acquainted."  Specifically, he visited members of the Overholt family in uniform, some of whom died during the conflict.

In 1864, Henry O. Overholt reached his 51st birthday and sold out his one-third partnership in the Broad Ford distillery.  The retirement allowed 30-year-old A. O. Tinstman to move up from being the manager, to being a partner with Abraham Overholt in A. Overholt and Company.

__________________________________________

See more about A. O. Tinstman in
Sons & Grandsons of Westmoreland County.