Peppermint Kings: a Rural American History
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses November 2017 Peppermint Kings: A Rural American History Dan Allosso University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the Cultural History Commons, Social History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Allosso, Dan, "Peppermint Kings: A Rural American History" (2017). Doctoral Dissertations. 1044. https://doi.org/10.7275/10290234.0 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1044 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PEPPERMINT KINGS: A RURAL AMERICAN HISTORY A Dissertation Presented by DAN ALLOSSO Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY SEPTEMBER 2017 HISTORY © Copyright by Dan Allosso 2017 All Rights Reserved PEPPERMINT KINGS: A RURAL AMERICAN HISTORY A Dissertation Presented by DAN ALLOSSO Approved as to style and content by: ____________________________________ David Glassberg, Chair ____________________________________ Emily Redman, Member ____________________________________ Christopher Clark, Member ____________________________________ Edward Melillo, Member ____________________________________ Brian W. Ogilvie, Chair History Department DEDICATION To my parents, Salvatore F. and Patricia A. Allosso, my wife Steph, and my children Lucy, Sofie, Gio, and Vivi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Special thanks are due to my committee members, for sticking with me through the entire process of writing this dissertation. David Glassberg encouraged me to return to the project after other writing interests distracted me. Chris Clark expressed a very early interest in my findings in Ashfield and was always unusually kind and supportive. Ted Melillo challenged me to keep my eye focused on the historiography and Emily Redman helped me articulate why the science was important and not just an advertising gimmick. Nancy Gray Garvin and Grace Lesure at the Ashfield Historical Society encouraged my interest in their town and its residents and were always interested in my findings. Ian Blair and Winship Todd welcomed me to the A.M. Todd Company and told interesting tales of their experiences in the peppermint business. “Peppermint Patty” Alena opened the H.G. Hotchkiss building in Lyons and gave me a personal tour. And since this history would have been impossible without a LOT of primary documents I’m very grateful to the historians and archival staff members at Cornell, The Phelps Historical Society, The Kalamazoo Valley Museum, Western Michigan University, Harvard’s Baker Library, and the Records and Archives Department of Ontario County NY, who were all very welcoming and helpful. Chris Fobare was a generous “dissertation buddy” providing valuable insights as we read each other’s chapters and offering needed support and encouragement. Last but not least, I’m very grateful for my family’s support and encouragement to complete the project and write this dissertation. When obstacles or other interests threw me off course, they gave me the nudge I needed. v ABSTRACT PEPERMINT KINGS: A RURAL AMERICAN HISTORY SEPTEMBER 2017 DAN ALLOSSO, B.S., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST M.A., MINNESOTA STATE UNIVERSITY Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor David Glassberg Explores rural history through the experiences of three families that dominated the American peppermint oil business from its beginning in the early nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. The rural entrepreneurs who became Peppermint Kings acted in ways that challenge traditional historical depictions of rural people. The freethinking Ranney clan built a family business that extended from Massachusetts to western New York and Michigan during the first half of the nineteenth century. The Hotchkiss brothers entered the international market and ventured into finance and banking at a time when the United States government was reducing opportunities for regional bankers. Albert May Todd brought science to peppermint farming and distilling, and advocated progressive and socialist causes as a politician and organizer of the Municipal Ownership League of America. The Peppermint Kings’ stories not only demonstrate the remarkable agency of rural people, but offer insights into how rural Americans responded to broader social changes that have typically been viewed from a predominantly urban perspective. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................v ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1: PEPPERMINT IN AMERICA ......................................................................................19 2: ASHFIELD, ESSENCE, AND PEDDLERS .................................................................48 3: FAMILY BUSINESS AND MIGRATION ..................................................................89 4: HOTCHKISS PRIZE MEDAL OILS ..........................................................................124 5: HOTCHKISS PEPPERMINT BANK .........................................................................156 6: THE DARK SIDE OF FAMILY BUSINESS .............................................................201 7: CRYSTAL WHITE .....................................................................................................239 8: SOCIALIST CAPITALIST .........................................................................................274 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................311 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................324 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page Figure 1: A page describing Mints in Gerarde's 1597 Herball. .......................14 Figure 2: Map of the peppermint-growing regions of North America, by author. ..................................................................................................18 Figure 3: 1768 Advertisement from the Boston Chronicle. .............................23 Figure 4: 1849 Illustration from a newspaper column titled "Independence Day: Order of the Grand Procession." .................................................56 Figure 5: Jasper Bement essence vials, ca. 1840. Ashfield Historical Society, photo by author. ...................................................................................61 Figure 6: 1823 Advertisement in the Pittsfield Sun. ........................................66 Figure 7: 1869 Henry S. Ranney photo for directory of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. ..................................................................119 Figure 8: Residence of Alfred Hale with peppermint still in inset, from McIntosh & Everts's 1877 History of Wayne County. .......................137 Figure 9: Signed label used to seal the cork of H.G. Hotchkiss peppermint bottle. From H.G. Hotchkiss collection, Cornell University, photo by author. ................................................................................................152 Figure 10: Label for H.G. Hotchkiss peppermint oil bottle, H.G. Hotchkiss collection, Cornell University, photo by author. ................................153 Figure 11: H.G. Hotchkiss Peppermint Bank $1 banknote, H.G. Hotchkiss collection, Cornell University, photo by author. ................................166 Figure 12: H.G. Hotchkiss engraved note, with Calvin Hotchkiss image. ....169 Figure 13: An envelope printed with the names of Calvin and Leman B. Hotchkiss, Bankers. ...........................................................................180 Figure 14: H.G. Hotchkiss and his Essential Oil Works, from McIntosh & Everts's 1877 History of Wayne County. ...........................................209 Figure 15: Leman Beecher Hotchkiss, from Phelps County Historical Society, photo by author. .................................................................................211 viii Figure 16: One of Leman Hotchkiss's labels, from the Phelps Historical Society, photo by author. ...................................................................220 Figure 17: H.G. Hotchkiss ca. 1895, Cornell University, photo by author. ..236 Figure 18: Albert M. Todd's business card, ca. 1877. Although he was still quite young, Todd's card with its gilt facsimiles of prize medals announced his intention to challenge the Hotchkisses at their own marketing game. A.M. Todd Company archives, photo by author. ...243 Figure 19: Todd's headquaters in downtown Kalamazoo. The sign above the door read, "A.M. Todd, Manufacturing Chemist." A.M. Todd Company archives, photo by author. .................................................246 Figure 20: John Shirley's peppermint root