Mary A. Mehl: Bandon City Brewery, 1893-1896
Note: my research on women in brewing is ongoing, I’m writing a book, and these posts may be out of date. Please contact me at [email protected] if you have questions about women brewing in Oregon. ~Aug 3, 2021
Mary Mehl is another woman linked to Oregon's brewing history I don't know much about.
Starting with the Meier/Meier text we know this:
Dana Garves’ blog also gives us these clues: Mary Ann Mehl was born in Greeneville Tennessee in 1840. She married German “John” Gottlieb Mehl and they moved to Coquille.
I really struggled to find information in newspapers about the Mehls in Bandon, so I had to expand my search by doing searches for John and Gottlieb Mehl, but finally I had luck with just G Mehl.
I found several 1890 ads for G Mehl's Coquille City Brewery -- remember that you can search in Historic Oregon Newspapers on your own!
Coquille City herald., August 26, 1890
But what did I actually learn from my searches? There was this weird thing about someone scamming G Mehl.
The Douglas independent., November 15, 1879
The Douglas independent., November 22, 1879
Otherwise not a lot beyond reports of openings/sales/closings of breweries linked with Mehl. Nothing about Gottlieb in Bandon. Nothing about Mary aside from some society page-esque “visiting” reports, like this one about her brother visiting from Roseburg.
Semi-weekly herald., August 16, 1904
And what might be a fair submission from 1885?
The Coast mail., September 10, 1885
What can we conclude about her life? There are Mehls in the area who are noted in later articles, so I'm guessing she has kids (I actually know for sure that she had 4 because I read it in a book I'll talk about in a later post when I talk about book sources), we know that she had family in Roseburg since her brother was visiting, we know that her maiden name is probably Hervey since that's her brother's last name, we know that she quilted and that her work was good enough to be included in a fair show, and we know that the man she married opened breweries and seemed to be good at selling beer.
Speaking of, what about the brewing in Bandon? In November 5, 1895, the Daily Morning Astorian notes that a brewery is coming to Bandon. Maybe this isn’t the Mehl brewery? Since that one opened in 1892?
The daily morning Astorian., November 05, 1895
May 19, 1896, the Coquille City Herald notes that Bandon has a brewery, though we don’t get the name of the brewery.
Coquille City herald., May 19, 1896
As far as I can tell based on the information in the Bull, Friedrich, Gottschalk American Breweries index, Bandon did not have more than one brewery.
Later in 1896 the brewery is sold to Joseph Walser of Randolph, Oregon. No mention of Mary, although she had to be the one linked to the sale since Gottleib was dead.
A November 21, 1902 Morning Oregonian article says that “Bandon did have a brewery but now it’s closed,” no mention of an owner. That article does give us information about the facilities, saying that if the building had an ice machine and cold storage added it might be useful for alternative industries like dairy or fish processing. In 1904, the property is sold to George C. Gehrig. In 1907, an article reports a sale of the business, and says Gehrig is considering “returning to the fatherland for a visit." A September 9, 1907 article reports that JJ O’Neill and JR Bowman purchased the brewery and planned to put in bottling works and enlarge plant.
The Coos Bay times., September 10, 1907, TUESDAY EDITION, Page 3
And then a 1909 article says L. Anselmo bought it want to expand, a name that is listed as the last owner (with Mr. Bruno) of the Bandon Brewery in 1910.
The Coos Bay times., March 01, 1909, EVENING EDITION, Page 4
What happened to Mary and her kids? At this point I don’t really know much. I think she stayed on the coast. She had 4 children and it seems that most of them probably stayed in Oregon. There might be more clues in records in Roseburg; unfortunately, their libraries and museums have been defunded by taxpayers right now, so history there is essentially inaccessible.
There are a couple of additional searches that might give us more information once we have her married name. It’s listed in this news article as Hervey, but I’ve seen it in another publication as Henry, so we could do a search for Mary Hervey and Mary Henry. It’s probably pretty predictable for me to report that I did this. Nothing.
But, I did do a search for the brother listed in the “visiting notice,” and I found that his comings and goings were relatively frequently reported on. He was a man of some standing.
Coquille City herald., October 08, 1895 p 3
Who came to town from the “Lee” neighborhood?
Coquille City herald., May 09, 1899
He came to town more than once.
Coquille City herald., February 06, 1900
And had business with another Mehl? Maybe his nephew?
Coquille City herald., November 26, 1901
Mrs. Mehl also visited her brother -- with her other brother.
Semi-weekly herald., August 16, 1904
And he delivers produce to Coos County.
Semi-weekly herald., October 18, 1904 p 3
And his wife’s illness is notable.
Coquille herald., August 14, 1907
But he still visits with his sister.
Coquille herald., November 20, 1907
Again, what can we tell about all this? James Hervey was a man of means. He was likely involved in wheat farming and timber, and he needed to travel to nearby coastal towns, likely to sell his goods. He was well-known enough throughout the region that visits to his sister were reported, and her husband was well-known enough that a visit to her was noteworthy. In looking at a map, many of the places mentioned in these articles do not come up, but we do know that this is an area that, while remote, would be easily travelled by car today. Likely this wasn’t the case in the late 1800s and early 1900s, so the fact that James Hervey travelled tells me that he had means and need to travel, even when his wife was ill. He has a brother who lives in Roseburg (where maybe they grew up?), a sister who lives relatively close, a wife, and likely some children. So while these articles seem tedious and sort of mundane, they really can tell us about these people, the extended families, and their businesses.
A natural turning point here is to think about how we'd continue this search now that we have lots of names and a general skeletal outline of where this family was and when. Next steps I'd take would be to look at property maps, local or regional history books, and county records. I have access to Sanborn Fire Insurance property maps at the library, though some researchers will also have access to digital versions online. I also have a wonderful selection of historical books up in our stacks, but one of my go to places is Hathi Trust, which is a database of digitized and full-text searchable books online. County histories? I'll have to go to those places... But our state has an amazing county records inventory, so I can get a jump on my research.
But I don’t want to leave you hanging, because I do actually know more that I’ll share. Last year my brewery history research intern found that the 1898 Sanborn Map shows the Bandon Brewery on Coquille Ave and Iris St, and it is labelled as being owned by Joseph Walser. These maps also provide information about equipment and layout, so we know that it had a capacity of 10 barrels per brew, wood building with a cooler and a brick kettle. The building was still on the 1907 Sanborn Map, but was gone by 1915.
I also found more information on G Mehl in Pioneer history of Coos and Curry Counties, Or. Heroic deeds and thrilling adventures of the early settlers. Microform Pub. under the auspices of the Pioneer and Historical Association of Coos Co., which is a book from 1898. You can find and learn more about Mehl at https://bit.ly/2G3oIcO and http://bit.ly/2HV2pGA. You'll be hearing more about this family later, because these books are a goldmine!
