Jacob & David Hostetter
DR. J. HOSTETTER’S CELEBRA By Ferdinand Meyer V David Hostetter was a millionaire manufacturer of one of the most, if not the most, famous and successful bitters ever produced: Dr. J. Hostetter’s Celebrated Stomach Bitters. Much has been written about the brand. I thought I would try to tie it all together. Of Dutch extraction, David Hostetter was the eldest child of Jacob Hostetter by his wife, Mary Landis, and was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on January 23, 1819. Dr. Jacob Hostetter was born on October 13, 1785, in York County, Pennsylvania, and actually developed the original formula for the bitters. Dr. J. Hostetter prescribed the medicinal tonic to his clientele, and it did not occur to him to place the product at the disposal of others outside of his practice. David Hostetter
In the following September, Hostetter’s entire stock was destroyed by fire. The San Francisco Fire of May 3rd and 4th, 1851, was a catastrophic conflagration that destroyed as much as three quarters of San Francisco, California. During the height of the California Gold Rush, San Francisco endured a sequence of seven destructive fires, of which this was the sixth and by far the most damaging. In terms of property value, it did three times as much damage as the next most destructive of the seven fires. With this disaster, Hostetter returned home to Pennsylvania, where he worked as a paymaster for McEvoy & Clark and a contractor for the railroad at Horseshoe Bend.
Hostetter & Smith In 1853, Hostetter associated himself with George W. Smith, a boyhood friend, and organized the firm of Hostetter & Smith selling Hostetter’s Celebrated Stomach Bitters. George. W. Smith, Esq., was a junior partner and a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He was born in the city of that name on February 22, 1823. David Hostetter married Rosetta Cobb Rickey in Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 13, 1854. She was born on October 06, 1829, and died on July 03, 1904. She was a daughter of Randall Hutchinson Rickey by his wife, Susanna McAuley.
Dr. Jacob Hostetter
David Hostetter was educated in Lancaster County and, at the young age of 15, was employed as a clerk and salesman in a dry goods establishment in his native town. He worked in this capacity until 1842, when he began a business of his own that met with moderate success. In 1850, David Hostetter moved to California to capitalize on the Gold Rush and settled in San Francisco with a grocery business. The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when James W. Marshall found gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. 44
At that early period in its history, the firm of Hostetter & Smith occupied part of a building on Penn Street in Pittsburgh at a rental of $175 per annum. The entire staff of employees engaged in the manufacture of the bitters would scarcely number half a dozen. The medicinal compound was manufactured in Pittsburgh following the formula discovered by his father. By 1853, Dr. Jacob Hostetter retired from medical practice and gave his consent to his son, David, to continue. David had realized the value of the medicine and began to manufacture and sell the formula to the American people. The first few years of business were somewhat discouraging. Still, the partners were young men with Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
