Auntie Jen's Family Trees: Christmas Special: A Surprise Gift For My Husband

   You'd be surprised what you can find on Ebay. It's not just for random items that people are trying to get rid of. Doing just the right search can lead you to some heirlooms, antiques, vintage items, etc. I've had quite a bit of luck with finding some items related to my family. On my one blog post about White Line Laundry, I talk about a special piece I found related to the Laundry business that was based here in St. Louis. Since then, I've found a few more pieces to add to my collection. I search often on Ebay for anything related to both mine and my husband's family. Since Christmas coming, I looked up something specifically that my husband was looking for, and was surprised to find it was available.
   Let me start with a bit of background information. My husband's 2nd great grandfather was Joseph Henry Rickards. He lived in Liberty, Missouri in the mid-late 1800s. He married his first wife, Eliza Barkley before he went off to war. Amelia Barkley was the sister of Eliza and married a James M Jones. Joseph & Eliza were very close to James & Amelia. They named their first daughter Maggie, after Amelia. Sadly, Eliza passed when Maggie was just a baby, so Amelia took on the motherly role of raising the baby until she also passed when she was just a few years old, from blood poisoning. Joseph married Sarah soon after and their children were also named after James & Amelia. Joseph, Eliza, & Maggie are buried right next to James & Amelia.
   So in the 1800s, James M. Jones owned and operated a distillery in Liberty called A.M. Jones Distillery. Mark was so excited to learn this. Thanks to my friend Chris Harris, an archivist and genealogist that works for the Clay County Archives, he has provided me with some information about the Distillery. I hope to go back to Liberty to do more research about it. I took a picture of Mark in front of the old Distillery before they finished taking it down. I also have a few photos from a book from the Clay County Archives. Chris gave this information on the Liberty Missouri Facebook page:

The property you are referring to is the Jones Distillery. A. M. Jones distilled Whisky there. Murray Road is named after Judge Murray who was a total Temperance guy who hated that his road had a distillery on it. The old cabin on the property is a log cabin. In danger of falling down. Most of the old distillery buildings are gone if not all of them. At one time the property was attached to the Moss property (on Moss Road) which at one time grew grapes and made wine. Murray Road was also at one time before they paved it, a rail spur that led to the old Hanger Plant which in WW I or WW II was used as a coffin factory. Hence the narrowness of the road. They basically covered up the tressell with dirt and paved it. - Chris Harris, I remember when... Liberty Missouri

A few years ago, I tracked down a whiskey shot glass from the distillery and gave it to my husband. After receiving that, he has been interested in finding actual bottles from the distillery. I've searched for years, but finally came across two of them. So I gave them to him for Christmas. I posted videos on YouTube of my Christmas Special of him opening up his gift. Check them out below:

Part 1