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Kilmeany,
Ireland
Back in
1828, John McKendric, father of the whiskey’s namesake,
Ethan, dreamed of the wide-open spaces of the new world. John
was of proud stock from a long family lineage in Kerry
County, Kilmeany, Ireland.
The son of
a hard-working Irish cooper, he knew his opportunities were
limited in a land where the potato famine had once nearly
wiped out his ancestors. As Irish luck would have it, the
booming steamship trade was in need of men, and John was no
stranger to hard work. He traded work for passage to America
aboard an ocean steamship.
Life on a
Sternwheeler
Soon after his arrival to the new land, he was
hired on as second mate on the newly christened "Pride of
New Orleans," a 150 passenger sternwheeler running
between New Orleans and Memphis.
For the
next two years his life belonged to the Mississippi as he
worked on several steamships headquartered in New Orleans,
running up the Mississippi as far as St. Louis.
The
excitement of the new world left him with a yearnin’ for a
family of his own and in the spring of 1830, John married Mary
McGeehee the daughter of an Irish immigrant.
Mary was an
expert seamstress working at a couture shop in New Orleans
selling the latest in French fashions to the well-to-do ladies
of the South.
Passage to the New Frontier
About that time
Mexico began allowing Americans to settle in Texas. Land
grants were available for farming or raising stock.
John had
dreamed of owning his own land since he left Ireland. He
couldn’t refuse the Mexican government’s offer to give him
4,615 acres just for farming and raising cattle, so in the
summer of 1831, he and Mary headed to Palo Pinto County in
Texas to claim their land. After building a small house, John was
able to round up 100 head of wild Spanish cattle and the MK
brand was born. More than that, it was the birth of the
Republic of Texas, and the great frontier that would become a
part of American history.
The farm
prospered but the relationship between the mostly American
settlers and the Mexican government continued to deteriorate.
Finally, the Texicans as they were now called, decided they
wanted their independence from Mexico to join the United
States.
In 1836 war
broke out and John enlisted. He fought at Goliad where the
Texicans were soundly beaten and retreated. After the massacre
at the Alamo, General Houston was able to raise a larger army
and they won Texas independence by defeating Santa Ana at the
battle of San Jacinto.
Ethan
McKendric is born.
After the
war, a new generation was born to the McKendric family in 1837
with the arrival of Ethan, followed by Patricia in 1838. The
next several years saw quiet prosperity for the young family,
and in 1845 Texas was admitted to the union.
In the
winter of 1855, hardship fell on the family when John
McKendric died suddenly leaving Mary and two children to run
the ranch. Although Ethan was 18 and a contributing member of
the family at the time, he was unable to compensate for all of
the work his father did.
The
additional acreage which had once grown dense with vegetables
under John’s thumb would go barren with only tumbleweeds to
remind the family of what once was. The following year a
drought destroyed most of their remaining crop and they were
forced to sell many of the cattle for $1 a head or see them
die of thirst.
The
following spring Patricia married her beau, a doctor,
Richard Holt and moved to San Antonio where he would set up
his practice.
MK brand
is born.
Ethan was
offered a job by one of his neighbors, to join a trail drive
to St. Louis. He was able to include his remaining 250 cattle
in with the herd and keep whatever price they brought.
As St.
Louis cattle
prices were $25-30 a head, he saw this as the only way to help
his family survive. Four months later, returning with $6,750
in gold from the sale of the cattle, Ethan knew the focus of
the ranch must now turn to raising cattle. He reassured his
mother, it was a better way of making a living.
The
Early Cattle Drives
Each spring Ethan rounded up wild cattle on the open range,
branded them with the MK brand and picked out those that he
would drive to market. Working with his neighbors to organize
a drive to Kansas or St. Louis, depending upon the weather and
prices, Ethan took his cattle to market.
Each year
he was able to increase the size of the herd and his profit.
Civil
War
Although
the McKendric family did not own slaves or believe in slavery,
they were drawn into the Civil War on the side of their
friends and neighbors. Ethan enlisted in the 10th Calvary, 1st
Brigade, Texas Calvary, Confederate Army in the summer of
1861, commanded by Brig. General Ector.
The next
four years were marked by service in Texas, New Mexico and
Tennessee. In the fall of 1863 Ethan received word from
Patricia that his mother has passed away.
In April of
1865, upon Lee’s surrender and the end of the war, Ethan
returned to Texas to find the State almost bankrupt.
Confederate money was worthless, farmers and ranchers were in
debt and the only thing plentiful was cattle. They were
everywhere, having bred for four years without a roundup.
It seemed
that the only way to make a living was to sell the cattle up
north, but without any money for supplies, Ethan was forced
sell the ranch. With $2000 in cash in his pocket from the sale
and a note for the balance of $3000, Ethan began to
purchase equipment, supplies and cattle.
The summer
drive to St. Louis took three months, but was uneventful other
than the 96 cattle lost due to the heat and lack of water
along the trail.
When Ethan
arrived back in Palo Pinto in September, he brought with him a
profit of $4000. In 1866 he undertook two more drives,
starting out earlier in the spring and with larger herds.
The extra
effort paid off with a net gain for the year of $12,000.
Abilene,
Texas Becomes McKendric Home
In October,
having no ranch to tie him down, Ethan moved west about 100
miles near Abilene, Texas and bought 5,000 acres. The ranch
was not that large by Texas standards. Still belonging to the
government, this part of Texas was sparsely populated,
and had a vast open range for the cattle to graze on.
By
December, with the help of a few cattle hands, Ethan had built
a four bedroom house. In December on New Years Day 1867 Ethan
married Sarah Dalton, a school teacher he met during the war.
The next few years were relatively peaceful and prosperous
times.
Ethan made
two drives to the northern markets each year using his own
stock as well as cattle he bought from other ranchers. In 1869
he and Sarah welcomed their first child and heir to the
McKendric name, Josh. Two years later, the family expanded
with the arrival of Sue Ellen.
The
Birth of a Whiskey
Sometime during this period Ethan decided to utilize some of his new found prosperity to have his own whiskey commissioned and distilled.
Back n Texas after the war, the only whiskey to be had was course, light of color and usually watered down. There were plenty of Southern boys around who knew where to get a bottle from the still of Kentucky or Tennessee, but Ethan had a penchant for the finest.
Being of Irish decent and remembering the fine whiskeys his father had enjoyed, and having acquired a taste for the libation while serving in the War, Ethan knew it couldn't be just any whiskey. It must be his great grandfathers home brew recipe.
A friend from the war, Captain Thomas Ross put him in touch with a small distiller who was open to the particular desires of Ethan McKendric. The first batch was five barrels.
After aging, four were stored in Ethan's cellar and the fifth was bottled. Each bottle was wrapped in cowhide to help prevent it from breaking. The cowhide was marked with the distinctive MK brand to identify it as Ethan's private stock whiskey.
One of the barrels tasted was distinctively more mellow and flavorful than the others. As they bottled the whiskey they found that mesquite chippings were accidently added to the barrel when stored. It was then that Ethan decided to add mesquite chips to all his aging whiskey.
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