Medicine Chest: House of Fahrney, Part 2

from Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

by Ferdinand Meyer V

A Few More Thoughts on Provenance

By John Panella and Joe Widman

HOUSE of FAHRNEY, PART 2

Things are starting to pick up, some very interesting developments, and the road to success

Geographic Identity and Historical Significance Emerge

The heavily traveled Antietam region of Maryland and Pennsylvania is just north of the Shenandoah valley of Virginia and was situated perfectly for the type of medicinal practices developed by the Fahrneys. There were lots of towns and hamlets in close proximity that sprang up along the north/south and east/west travel corridors of the tristate region.

Some credit Old Peter with having the first stationary doctors office in history, since most of his patients came directly to him. Both practices in Boonsboro and Waynesboro had younger family members conducting the riding and visiting aspect of the practice as they called it, which provided care to homebound patients. The first father and son combo was Jacob Sr., riding for his father, Peter, and the second was Daniel Sr., also riding for him in Boonsboro and Waynesboro.

By 1860, they were the most popular practice along the Antietam Creek region in Maryland and Pennsylvania, as they had the public trust because of Old Peter’s positive reputation.

Peter, with ties to Waynesboro, moved to Blair County Pennsylvania, and his older brother Jacob came back to Waynesboro from Philadelphia and worked with Burkholder. David Burkholder, a son of John Burkholder, another Fahrney emissary, also goes out west to Ogle County, Illinois. It would make sense that they both took a lot of Waynesboro-produced Blood Cleanser with them to establish new business and extend to other regions. The Waynesboro practice possessed the formulas for the Blood Medicine, since Old Peter gave them to his oldest son, Jacob, who developed it into a bottled product. It started out as a herbal infusion, and Jacob added alcohol as a “ preservative.” This addition only boosted its immediate curative effect as well. The younger medicine men were beginning to doctor with bottled patent medicine, which was the norm at this time and well into the future. The Fahrney reputation emerged in Boonsboro and never really left, at least for many decades into the 20th century.

Daniel was working at the original homestead, the first Fahrney office, and the public perception was positive since Dr. Fahrney began there. Perhaps Daniel Sr. did not place a lot of credence in the rising popularity of patent medicines. He also had a laboratory and was able to compound the special medicines his patients required. His son, Daniel, and Peter Dennis Fahrney were much younger and just starting to learn about the family practice.

It would be safe to say there was an understanding between the two groups that each possessed the right to doctor with the medicine developed by their father. They shared the medicine recipes created by their progenitors. This was the status of the Fahrney practices around the time of the Civil War.

This photo is referred to as a CDV and was very popular during the Civil War era. It pictures Daniel Fahrney Sr., his wife, Amy Welty-Fahrney, and their son, Daniel, who would succeed his father after his death (in 1867); it is not clear if the first Boonesboro bottles came out before he passed. Saying the Civil War interrupted commerce would be an understatement. They lived near and in the middle of many troop movements and major engagements. This turned the Antietam region into a huge hospital area after they concluded. Daniel and John Burkholder were taught and learned from Peter Sr., who conducted surgery as evidenced by the operation table in the Boonsboro museum. It would be hard to imagine that the two medical men sat on the sidelines after the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg.

Peter of Chicago wrote in the 1890s that he moved west because of lost faith after Confederate troops burnt Chambersburg in 1865. Since Mennonites are pacifists and came to the U.S. to avoid the wars in Europe, it made sense: they sent the boys of military age away so they weren’t bothered or tempted by the tides of war. The lack of documented information during this time frame explains this well.

The next practitioners were Old Peter’s grandchildren, third generation cousins from different households who never developed the closeness the brothers and sisters from the previous generation or same household did.

By John Panella and Joe Widman

PHOTOS (clockwise from top left):

Daniel Fahrney 'Penny bag' advertisements. Scarce Fahrney's Celebrated Blood Cleanser or Panacea bottle. Fahrney's Blood Cleanser or Panacea trade card, Joe Gourd collection. Ad for Fahrney's Blood Cleanser or Panacea Dr. Fahrney's Teething Syrup bottle, Hagerstown, Md.

By John Panella and Joe Widman

Jacob Sr.’s youngest son, Peter, was eight when he died and lived with his mother’s family. If he ever developed any familial bonds with his father’s family it was when he came back to Waynesboro and lived with Burkholder. He went away at the outbreak of the war at age 15. He did not come of age until after the conflict.

A memoir states that Burkholder selfdiagnosed with a terminal illness. He then offered Peter from Blair County his father’s and grandfather’s notebooks that contained the recipe for the famous Blood Medicine as a enticement to lure him back to Waynesboro. The condition of his offer was that he come back to the Waynesboro practice and he did. His older brother, Jacob, also worked there. It seems Burkholder most likely sold his interest to the boys and retired. David Burkholder was still involved in the interest but in Illinois.

Expansion and Change Before Success — A Turning Point

Peter Fahrney went west to promote the Family Medicine. He settled down near David Burkholder in Illinois and finally in Chicago in 1870. The Chicago move greatly facilitated the advertising and promotion of the name and the nostrum. No longer small-town America, Chicago had all the advantages of a big metropolis, with its population density and its explosive potential for business success at a grand scale.

A laboratory was established in Chicago to churn out the product in volume. The new laboratory was unfortunately burnt to the ground by the infamous Chicago fire, which set the operation back years. With determination and persistence, Peter turned to his relatives for the financial help needed to rebuild. It is said the family agreed to accept liquid medicine as a exchange for the money lent. Payment would be in product rather than money.

The growing sales of Panacea may have created a rift between the Pennsylvania and Maryland families. There were no legal ties forming a family medical corporation. I picture it as a loosely bound organization connected only from association to the established good reputation.

Daniel Sr. died in 1867, leaving P.D. and Daniel Jr. in Boonsboro to practice together under Daniel’s mother’s direction for a short time. The son, Daniel Jr., with his cousin P.D. established the Dr. D. Fahrney & Sons Co. in Boonsboro, where the first known embossed Maryland bottle originated. It is a large amber, square-based bottle, embossed on three sides: Dr. Daniel Fahrney’s Preparation for Cleansing the Blood, Dr. D. Fahrney & Sons, and Boonsboro Md.

In the 1870s P.D. branched out to Keedysville, Md. Daniel moved the base of the Dr. P.D. Fahrney operation from Boonsboro to Hagerstown in 1876. Their partnership was dissolved in the early 1880s. Daniel was running the Dr. D. Fahrney & Sons Co. by himself. Peter D. created the Victor Remedies Co. in Frederick, Md., in 1882 and was peddling his own line of patent medicines. Peter of Chicago was running his own business without any Burkholders or Boonesboro Fahrneys there. This is about the time when Peter started really branching out. His Blood Vitalizer, Victor Liver Syrup and Fahrney’s Health Restorative started to explode with sales. These medicines took on the ever popular “curative preservative” alcohol in increasingly higher percentages.

Peter, by this time, with his perfect wave of successes, was assumed to have used the funds to pay off his family debt. There are also advertisements for J. Fahrney’s Reliable Family Medicine and Panacea which were marketed during this era in Philadelphia. The Fahrney family was huge and all over the country by this time, so counterfeits and knock-off Fahrney labeled products were also prevalent.

Wooden box with colorful graphics for Dr. Fahrney's Health Restorer.

The Saga Continues

In next month’s Medicine Chest we will discuss the rest of the story. Fahrney labeled and embossed product bottles are coming from everywhere. Diversification of the product line, new nostrums and advertising became popular all over the country. Victor Remedies Co. produced patent medicines from Fahrney formulas and more. They continued, as well as Fahrney relatives who were everywhere from the east to the midwest. Many were no longer consolidated solely under the Fahrney name. The patent medicine business was taking advantage of the home medication craze. Doctors were expensive and not usually convenient to the common individual.

The story moves on, and some very interesting developments lie ahead in Part 3, and some interesting surprises await.

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Editor’s note: We would like to extend a special recognition to Phil Edmonds and his 40-plus years of research in assisting with the writing of this article.