The Fitzhenry Distillery of Boston Massachusetts

The legend on this little shot glass reads:

C. L. Fitzhenry & Co.
Baltimore Rye
17 Beach Street
Boston Mass.

Charles L Fitzhenry (born Oregon, 1865) was the son of Edward and Sylvia Fitzhenry, originally of Maine and ending up in Massachusetts. This family has already been featured in the blog when I wrote about another son, Lewis Frank Fitzhenry .

Edward had created a machine for the improved preparation of leather and, like his father, Charles started out as a "leather splitter".
Sylvia and three of her sons (Edward, Lewis and Charles) can be found in the directory for Malden Medford Mass in 1886. The other two sons were "machinists".
In the 1897 directory, Charles was a city councilor.

At the 1900 US census, Charles had been married to Julia for 11 years. Julia was born in England - I wonder whether she was she any relation to Lewis' English wife, Mary Jane Hodgson? They had 3 children - Ethel, Edward and Dorothy. Charles was still a leather splitter, and he was described as a leather splitter in the 1910 census too.

However in the 1904 Boston directory there is the entry:

Fitzhenry Charles, liquors 17 Beach, home at Medford

So what happened to the liquor company between 1904 and 1910? Was it a short-lived operation which folded before 1910, or was this a sideline to the leather business? There's no further information that I can find on the web, but if anyone has any further information I'd be very pleased to receive it.


Why not subscribe to this blog and get the updates sent to your inbox? Or send us an email about your Fitz(-)henry family links.