Cannon’s Indian Vegetable and Blood Purifying Bitters
Avery & Tyler, Wholesale Agents
22 January 2015 (R•012315) (R•052917) (R•051619)
I found this advertisement below for Cannon’s Indian Vegetable and Blood Purifying Bitters from an 1878 Fort Wayne, Indiana newspaper. Avery & Tyler in Lafayette, Indiana were the wholesale agents. The map above is from Lafayette in 1868. Lafayette is a city in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, and is located 63 miles northwest of Indianapolis and 105 miles southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University.
The product was being sold at Dreier & Brother, druggists in Fort Wayne in 1879, along with other outlets. As it turns out, this bitters is related to the rather well-known and spectacular, Cannon’s Dyspeptic Bitters from Washington, D.C.
Charles Eldridge Avery
Charles Eldridge Avery was born in Columbus, New York on January 20, 1823. His father was a minister in the Presbyterian church and led the choir in the old church. In 1846 he moved to Lafayette, Indiana, and for many years was one of the leading druggists and a successful business man and member of the school board. Eldridge also attended Purdue University, College of General Science. In 1855, Avery bought the northeast corner at College and Seventh Streets, and made the property his drug store and home for forty years. I believe his druggist partner was C.V. Tyler in Avery & Tyler. He next brought his bride, Miss Levantia Cook, from Marshall, Michigan, who he married in January 1856. In this home he raised his five children. His wife died July 26, 1871, and his only son Charles E., died on May 14, 1884. Dreier and Brother were druggists in Fort Wayne, Indiana who sold the product.
Select Listings
1860: Charles Avery, druggist, age 30, born in New York in 1830, home in 1860, Lafayette, Tippecanoe, Indiana, wife Levantia – United States Federal Census
1860: Avery & Tyler, burning fluid reference – On the relative cost of illumination in Lafayette, Indiana, 1860
1880: Charles Avery, druggist, age 57, born in New York in 1830, home in 1860, Lafayette, Tippecanoe, Indiana, son Charles, student – United States Federal Census
1888: Try a Bottle of Dreier & Brothers Pure Cider Preservative advertisement (see below) – Fort Wayne Daily News, Monday, November 12, 1888
1896: Death of Charles Eldridge Avery
Some Indiana Bitters
Not Brown – Old Amber “Harvey’s Prairie Bitters”
Knoefel’s Orolo Bitters – New Albany, Indiana
Brazilian Soda Bitters – Indianapolis
Kaufman’s Celebrated Blue Jacket Bitters – Indianapolis
Paul G. Klinkenberg Drug Store – Kendallville, Indiana
The XR Hartley’s Peruvian Bark Bitters from Muncie, Indiana