Jack Daniel
Founder of Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey.
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No one knows Daniel's exact birth date; it has been reported as 1846, 1849, or 1850 by different sources.[1][2] Daniel remained unmarried and had no offspring.[3]
Key facts and history
His mother died shortly after his birth, likely from childbirth complications.[1][2] On the company's 150th anniversary in 2016, the company stated Daniel learned distilling from a slave named Nearest Green.[4][2] Green taught Daniel the sour mash method and charcoal filtration process.[2] After emancipation, Green became the first African American master distiller in the U.S..[2]
Daniel and Green established a legally registered distilling business in 1875.[2] Daniel purchased the property known as "Stillhouse Hollow" in Lynchburg, Tennessee in 1884.[2] Calaway and Lucinda Matilda Daniel had ten children, and Jack was their youngest.[5] Company accounts state that during his boyhood, Daniel began working for Dan Call, who was both a preacher and a distiller.[4]
Because his health was declining, Daniel transferred ownership of the distillery to his nephews in 1907.[6][2]
What the cited sources add
An account from "Jack Daniel's Distillery: The Legacy of an American Icon" states Daniel was born around 1846 and his mother died in January 1847.[2] That same source notes Daniel despised his stepmother and ran away from home.[2] The account adds that Daniel's whiskey won the gold medal at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.[2] Tennessee state prohibition in 1910 forced the distillery to relocate to St. Louis and Birmingham.[2]
The distillery returned to Lynchburg in 1938 after a campaign by Daniel's nephew Lem Motlow.[2] A C-SPAN program from 2004 was titled "Blood and Whiskey: Jack Daniel".[7] The Jack Daniel's brand's official site states that the company has been operating "Since 1866".[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Jack Daniel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Krass, Peter, Blood and Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel, Wiley, April 29, 2004 (page 7: "after he was born in 1849" (the 1900 census for Lynchburg, M; "Jack Daniel's Distillery: The Legacy of an American Icon"; Krass, Peter, Blood and Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel, Wiley, April 29, 2004 (page 7: "after he was born in 1849" (the 1900 census for Lynchburg, M; "Jack Daniel's Distillery: The Legacy of an American Icon"; Krass, Peter, Blood and Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel, Wiley, April 29, 2004 (page 7: "af en.wikipedia.org
- "Jack Daniel's Distillery: The Legacy of an American Icon". facts only, no text reused. timsford411.com
- Wikipedia, "Jack Daniel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Krass, Peter, Blood and Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel, Wiley, April 29, 2004 (page 7: "after he was born in 1849" (the 1900 census for Lynchburg, M; "Blood and Whiskey: Jack Daniel", C-SPAN, May 20, 2004; Ridgway Bigger, "Jack Daniel's Distillery and Lynchburg: A Visit to Moore County, Tennessee", Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Spring 1972, p. 3–21 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jack Daniel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Risen, "Jack Daniel's Embraces a Hidden Ingredient: Help From a Slave", The New York Times, June 25, 2016; Alfs, "Ex-slave who trained Jack Daniel gets new recognition", USA Today, July 21, 2017; Risen, "Jack Daniel's Embraces a Hidden Ingredient: Help From a Slave", The New York Times, June 25, 2016 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jack Daniel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Krass, Peter, Blood and Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel, Wiley, April 29, 2004 (page 7: "after he was born in 1849" (the 1900 census for Lynchburg, M; Krass, Peter, Blood and Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel, Wiley, April 29, 2004 (page 7: "after he was born in 1849" (the 1900 census for Lynchburg, M (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jack Daniel" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Krass, Peter, Blood and Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel, Wiley, April 29, 2004 (page 7: "after he was born in 1849" (the 1900 census for Lynchburg, M; "Blood and Whiskey: Jack Daniel", C-SPAN, May 20, 2004; "Jack Daniel Distillery", The Whisky Guide; "Lem Motlow", Jack Daniel's official website (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Blood and Whiskey: Jack Daniel", C-SPAN, May 20, 2004. facts only, no text reused. c-span.org
- Jack Daniel's official website, Brown–Forman Corporation.. facts only, no text reused. jackdaniels.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Jack Daniel (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Jack Daniel (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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