Whiskey as money

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Everybody has heard that in the early days of Kentucky Statehood that whiskey was used as money but very few of us have probably seen an actual example of this practice so I thought you might be interested in such an example.

In Deed Book 5 of Jefferson County, page 378 10 Jan 1801 between John Baker and Wm. Chambers of Middletown the following is recorded in the deed: "It is understood that good strong merchantable whisky will be recieved in payment of above sum of $300 provided it is delivered on the day it becomes due at the then cash market price."

There you go, an example of whisky used to pay a debt.

Mike Veach

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Hi Mike, welcome back. I haven't read much from you lately - I suspect you've been busy sorting through your Tennessee findings. I think some of what you've posted about those include whiskey used as payment for goods and services. Is this your current area of concentration?

As for examples of whiskey being used for money, the one you mention seems to be pretty much straight barter. I think a more vivid example of whiskey being used as legal tender would be the way warehouse receipts have been used. Essentially they were the same as greenbacks (i.e., you couldn't use one to claim "your" barrel, but you also couldn't take your greenbacks to Fort Knox and exchange them for gold, either), and were traded back and forth just as any commercial paper money. You could do a better job than I at explaining how it worked.

=John=
http://w3.one.net/~jeffelle/whiskey

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Actually John, tghis tidbit is in the collection I am working on at work and I just thought I would share it with the forum. There are other examples as well but I thought this was interesting because it was part of a land deal for a distillery in Middletown.
Mike Veach

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It certainly is, and thank you for sharing it. I hope I didn't sound negative; I sure didn't mean to. By the way, did you ever get in touch with David Ponder or get a chance to check out the old J.T.S.Brown site in Bergin for possible artifacts?

=John=
http://w3.one.net/~jeffelle/whiskey

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Mike I would hope that eveybody knows that bourbon is better than money! After all we gladly give our money away to get more bourbon do we not? The only thing better is to have plenty of bourbon for ouselves and loved ones and be able to sell the rest. Ask any Beam; Russell, Van Winkel,or Henderson.

Linn Spencer

Have Shotglass. [IMG]/wwwthreads/images/smile.gif[/IMG] Will Travel.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I don't know, Linn...
After all, those fine folks are all people who have spent decades gladly giving their bourbon away to get more money!



=John=
http://w3.one.net/~jeffelle/whiskey