4 The Dark Side of Family Business

Hiram G. Hotchkiss is remembered in Lyons as “a most interesting personality. He was a man of almost gigantic stature, and in his youth was regarded as a remarkably handsome man. He was most positive in his convictions and when he had decided on a course never was swerved in the slightest degree. He never forgave an injury nor forgot a favor.” The account of Hiram, printed across eight columns just a day after his death on October 27, 1897, from information undoubtedly supplied by his family, continued by describing Hiram as “hospitality personified” and as a diligent businessman who “rarely left his home except to go back and forth to his business, to which he attended with the greatest regularity up to almost the very day of his death, and for occasional visits to New York or abroad.”^[1] The obituary then repeated the inaccurate story mentioned earlier of how Hiram had singlehandedly invented the peppermint oil business, listed all the awards he had won for his peppermint oil, and claimed: “He was just as cordial to his most inveterate business and political enemy as to his friends.”^[2] Although the account went to great lengths to portray Hiram as a benevolent, self-made entrepreneur who had always put the needs of his family, friends, and community before his own, this was not the case. In spite of the social mores of his time, and against the repeated protests of business partners, friends, and family, he was a monomaniacal autocrat who blustered and bullied his way toward a success that, despite his claims, he never really achieved.

The story of his business conduct illustrates the extent to which Hiram believed that the rules of society did not apply to him. It also suggests what those rules were, providing a clearer outline of social mores in nineteenth-century western New York. Loyalty, honor, and strong family ties supported business in positive ways in the story of the Ranneys. Hiram Hotchkiss’s story is a counterpoint, illustrating the ways friendship and family loyalty could be betrayed and perverted to enable intolerable behavior. It is generally accepted by contemporary historians that kin networks and long-term friendships determined the flow of investment funds and products in nineteenth-century western New York and more broadly throughout American society. Historian Paul Johnson has observed that “individual fortunes were meshed with social networks . . . and entrepreneurial activity was typified by caution and cooperation, and not by ungoverned individual ambition,” resulting in “a remarkably orderly and closed community of entrepreneurs.”^[3] Hiram’s career offers a counterexample to Johnson’s largely accurate narrative; reviewing Hiram’s family interactions helps illustrate the boundaries of acceptable behavior by examining the actions of someone who habitually transgressed them.

As Hiram became increasingly successful as a miller and merchant, his behavior worsened over time as he gradually abandoned his inhibitions. When he began his career, he was a family man who seemed to appreciate the contributions others made to his success. As he began expanding his business to trade in New York City, he expressed his gratitude for the support of family and friends. In the spring of 1845, he wrote to his wife, Mary, from the city. Addressing her as “My dear dear dear wife,” he described his trip down the Hudson River from Albany and the welcome he received in the household of his business associate, David Dows. Hiram confessed, “I have not yet succeeded in making sales of my oil but am in hopes soon to effect the sale so that I can come home. . . . I have since my return here from Albany been the most of my time engaged in putting up a small lot of oil to ship to England and Germany.” Hiram closed by saying, “I fear you are out of money and I wrote Leman to go over to Lyons and see if you was right side up.”^[4] A few weeks later, he wrote to Mary again about their daughter: “Ellen seems perfectly delighted with her visit. She went with Sarah today to the museum. The fact is dear I am proud of our daughter Ellen.”^[5] In addition to demonstrating his warm feelings toward Mary and his children, the letters reveal that at the beginning of his career Hiram mixed friendship with business. He hosted his New York City partners in Lyons for summer holidays, and early letters about the joint ventures the brothers undertook with Dows and Cary in real estate and flour milling are often warm and personal.

The business relations Hiram had with his relatives also began well. Although they often disagreed, at the outset of their partnership Leman and Hiram were relatively tolerant of their differences. In August 1845, at the beginning of the peppermint harvest, Leman chided Hiram gently, “Now my dear Brother I am really surprised how you can work yourself up to such a pitch when you know I have no funds on hand. . . . However I have concluded to do the best I can.”^[6] A few weeks later, Leman wrote Hiram again, complaining: “It is very inconvenient for me to get along with our business without a horse & buggy. I was compelled to ride on horseback to subpoena witnesses 14 or 15 miles and it is not very pleasant in this hot weather.”^[7] Although the brothers were already involved in litigation against their neighbors (in this case, over the Auburn and Rochester Railroad), they were united by family loyalty against the outsiders. Hiram loaned Leman his buggy for the hottest weeks of the summer, and Leman was pleased. Later in 1845, Leman sent his brother a report on the progress of their railroad suit: “I have no doubt they will pay our $6000 judgment & buy our farm at a good round price & make Vienna [Phelps] the principal stopping place.”^[8]

But even when feelings of friendship existed with outside business partners, they were fragile and easily swept aside if Hiram felt he had been ill treated. At the end of 1845, the Hotchkiss brothers’ relationship with David Dows exploded, when Hiram claimed Dows had skimmed profits on his flour sales. Hiram wrote an angry letter to Dows “setting forth his base conduct,” which at the last minute he decided not to send. “You poor insignificant wretch, I wish to address you a few lines, to let you know that I know what a scoundrel you are.” Hiram charged Dows with making sales of 1,105 barrels of Hotchkiss flour on his own account but then juggling his books to make it seem as if the flour had been sold when prices were lower, pocketing the difference. Hiram went on at length, finally asking: “Have you not made false charges of storage and insurance, cooperage and cartage, and that too against the person with whom you knew meant to deal fairly by you, your poor insignificant wretch.”^[9] Luckily, Hiram showed the letter to his brother Leman before mailing it to Dows.

Leman calmed his brother and convinced him to let Leman draft the letter the Hotshkisses ultimately sent to Dows and Cary. Unlike Hiram in his draft letter, Leman focused his remarks on the salient points of their disagreement and seemed genuinely interested in resolving those differences. “We regret to inform you,” Leman began, “when your Mr. Cary was here last we informed him of our dissatisfaction in regards to your statements made to us as respects the sale and charges on the property which we have consigned to your house and which we believe was sold or great part of it at higher prices than those reported to us.” Leman then gave a complete accounting of the situation as he understood it, citing dates, prices, and quantities. He closed by saying a complete reckoning of their account “would confer a great favor upon us. And when you take into account that a refusal on your part will be viewed as a very suspicious circumstance, we think you will do so without delay. Please let us hear from you at your earliest convenience on the subject.”^[10]

A lawsuit ensued that dragged on for more than a decade. The complaint in the suit was not, however, about shipments of flour sold at prices higher than reported. It was about 197 cans of peppermint oil, originally shipped to Dows and Cary but later repossessed by Hiram and transferred to George Morewood for shipment to England. At issue was the ownership of the oil when it was transferred to Morewood.^[11] Hiram had tried to deflect attention from the fact he had broken his agency agreement with Dows and Cary by claiming that David Dows had betrayed him first.

Although the Hotchkiss brothers remained allies against the outside world, tensions rose and tempers occasionally flared. At the end of 1845, Leman warned Hiram: “I really hope you will not hereafter allow your ass to run away with your head. I suppose you are aware that we cannot loan money unless we pay interest on it.”^[12] Hiram had begun depending on his brother to finance both their flour-milling operation and Hiram’s growing peppermint oil business. Leman often found himself riding from town to town to get promissory notes discounted. He grew frustrated when Hiram expected him to avoid payment and refinance the debts when they came due. Leman conformed to standard business practices and believed that the brothers should pay their debts rather than compounding them. After a decade of frustration, Hiram and Leman executed a contract that purported to be a settlement of their business affairs. The document included inventories, consignments of peppermint oil, notes and judgments, and even lists of the household items each brother planned to keep. According to the contract, “This is the basis agreed upon for a settlement between HG Hotchkiss and Leman B Hotchkiss in Lyons Nov 6th 1855.” According to the settlement document, both parties “understood all old Claims, Debts, Judgments, Bonds, Mortgages & Notes not inventoried herein . . . belong to the firm of HG & LB Hotchkiss.”^[13] As mentioned earlier, Leman’s thirty-one-year-old wife, Lucretia, had died in the summer, leaving him with five children to care for and a substantial inheritance of local Oaks Corner real estate to manage in trust for them. Hiram agreed to assume most of the outstanding debt, but in the following months and years the continued existence of the “HG & LB Hotchkiss” company mentioned in the document indicates the brothers had not actually severed their business ties, even though that was the story they told outsiders. It might have seemed to the brothers that an apparent separation from Hiram would improve Leman’s ability to raise money. This was probably true, but agreeing to the ruse was a fateful mistake on Leman’s part.

And the meaning of the 1855 settlement was ambiguous, even between the brothers. As part of their agreement, Hiram and Leman had split several debts and judgments, each agreeing to pay half. In February 1856, Leman forwarded Hiram a judgment in favor of David Dows, for which he had paid his share.^[14] The next day, Leman sent another judgment on which he had paid his half, saying: “I want you to pay your part without making any words at all.”^[15] In March, only a few months after signing the contract, Leman wrote to Hiram: “I do not feel satisfied at all in your course about our money arrangements. I gave you my paper for $3300 endorsed by Uncle Calvin and not one dollar as yet has been apportioned to pay what was intended. Your financial skill is not at all satisfactory and will not pay our debts here.^[16] Their benefactor Calvin Hotchkiss, whom the brothers had assured they had settled all their affairs together, wrote to Hiram: “I cannot see why you and Leman should hold on so tenaciously on so much real estate when you could realize 50 pr cent more than it is actually worth. I would recommend to you to calculate the difference between 7 pr cent income, & 7 pr cent outlay in buildings & and other 7 pr cent in costs & taxes, and 25 pr cent loss in credit. Not having much experience in the world,” Calvin concluded ironically, “I should like the advice of a shrude practical financier on this subject.”^[17] Leman wrote a few weeks later, “I gave you my paper for $3300 to relieve me from all my liabilities at Lyons, and not for you to use in your business at all, and when the paper is paid I want my liability to be released, and I want no shuffling about it. . . . You do not seem to appreciate my situation at all, but keep constantly annoying me about business contrary to our agreement.”^[18] Days later, Leman wrote again to inform Hiram he was closing up his house in town, moving back to the family homestead, and sending his children to live temporarily with relatives. Leman complained, “Now Hiram I regret to be obliged to be continually informing you of our agreement made between us on the 6th Nov last and you seem to be continually endeavoring to bring about a state of things directly opposite to the agreement & understanding.” Leman said he was prepared to live up to the letter of the agreement and conduct business with Hiram as he would with anyone else. “You do not seem to realize my situation at all,” Leman continued, “and I sometimes think you dont care. I have five small children entirely dependent upon me and together with my other business and perplexities I think I am excusable in refusing entirely of being mixed up in your business.” Leman concluded,  “By Tuesday I shall be pretty well scattered and broken up & I assure you this is a very unpleasant move.”

Hiram responded the following day: “Your meanness toward me is perfectly shocking to my nerve. Your paper . . . has not thus far been worth a ‘tird’ to me.” Hiram insisted he had reduced Leman’s liability by increasing his own since the settlement. He complained, “[I] did not expect to be treated in this contemptuous manner by you. I expected you would be willing to ‘help’ meet or carry along these matters. I only agreed to assist in carrying along the ‘thing’ with a view only of being accommodating & brotherly to you. In return I only get kicks, and am accused by you of shuffling.” Hiram attacked Leman’s “intimation” that he was using his brother’s funds to operate his business by admitting, “How in Hell did you suppose the liabilities could be met unless your paper could be made available for you know I had no money.” Hiram closed by saying he expected Leman would also refuse to loan him four thousand dollars so he could pay another court judgment, which “would be all of a piece with your other contemptible treatment.”^[19]

The focus on his own interests by Hiram at the expense of his brother’s did not go unnoticed. Their cousin William T. Hotchkiss wrote to implore, “Oh Hiram Hiram, be a man, give Leman your portion . . . and for the sake of the business reputation of the whole Hotchkiss family dont play baby and fool any more.”^[20] Calvin added his criticism, noting: “A distinction ought to be made between business matters and that of joking. . . . You claim to be a business man and a great financier, and as such, you never ought to suffer your paper to be dishonored or your endorsers Credit suffer by reason of any neglect.”^[21]

When Leman’s health began to suffer, he attributed this to the breakup of his family and the stress of being forced to deal with Hiram’s bad finances. He wrote to Hiram, “I have been a bed all day. . . . I feel quite strange and my powers of comprehension seems to be diminished.” He continued: “You are too careless and negligent in your engagements to suit my constitution and I cannot stand it at all.”^[22] Leman wrote a few weeks later to see if Hiram had satisfied the judgment that he had relented and loaned his brother four thousand dollars to pay, mentioning: “My health is a little better but I feel satisfied that I cannot bear any perplexity at all. Since my apoplectic attack my nervous system seems to be in a very bad state.”^[23] The following week, Leman responded to the plaintiff’s demand for satisfaction, assuring the man whom Hiram had not paid that his brother was good for the money, and asking: “At all events don’t sue me. I would go to Lyons to attend to this business, but my health is so poor that I cannot under a few days.”^[24] The plaintiff responded that he planned to attach the assets of both the brothers, and Leman admonished Hiram to settle up so he would not be sued again.^[25]

The brothers continued to market their International Prize Medal Oil of Peppermint and other essential oils under the HG & LB Hotchkiss brand, but Leman suspected Hiram had stopped regarding him as an equal partner. In the fall of 1856, Leman wrote to challenge Hiram: “Have you taken the Paris Prize Medal in your individual name? If you have, you have done wrong!”^[26] Hiram assured his brother, “I have done nothing at Paris to undermine you & the sooner you get over such feelings the happier you will be.”^[27] Leman accepted his brother’s explanation and reluctantly continued helping Hiram finance his peppermint oil business. In 1857, Leman wrote to Hiram to say he had paid an overdue note, saving his brother from another lawsuit. But he had been forced to pay in cash. The creditor had declined to take Leman’s note in payment: “He felt very much dissatisfied after… giving us 2 years to pay he thought we ought to fulfill our promise.” Leman again observed, “The fact is I have more trouble & perplexity on your business than I do on my own.”^[28]

The brothers’ uncle William Hotchkiss, who had requested repayment of a loan he had made to Hiram, wrote: “Your conduct is inexcusable and is past endurance, your promises are mere trash and worthless.” William had been coexecutor of their father’s estate and did not care to be instructed in business by Hiram. “You talk that you ‘must have capital in your business,’ this is most insulting and you know it full well or ought to know it,” William wrote. “Others require capital in their business as well as yourself.”^[29] Hiram’s reputation continued to deteriorate. In early 1858, Leman informed Hiram that “it was currently reported between here & Lyons that you had failed.” Leman said he had “heard it from 4 or 5 different sources.” Leman was also losing patience: “What a splendid credit you maintain. I hope you will change your name to Goff at once expressly for my benefit. You pledged me your word that your note would be promptly met at maturity and if you fail to pay it, you can go to the devil hereafter for I will not allow you to prostrate my credit in this way.”^[30]

The growing tendency of Hiram to ignore the needs of even his family was again demonstrated in the spring of 1858. The brothers’ mother, Chloe Hotchkiss, wished to move back to the area from New Haven, where she had been staying with relatives. Leman wrote, “Something has got to be done and I can see no other way, only for you to take Ma in your charge.”^[31] Hiram felt he was too busy and suggested his brother should take care of the matter. Leman replied, “It is useless to multiply words abt my taking Ma in my house for I cannot do it and you ought to know that it would be impossible for me to do so. I have five small children and no one to oversee them but myself.” Leman noted too that he had been contributing his share to their mother’s upkeep, while Hiram had not. “You have paid Ma five dollars within the last five years and I have paid her over $800 in cash and you will please ponder over that.”^[32]

As protests for nonpayment and executions against Hiram increased, Leman again tried to separate himself from his brother’s business. He wrote, “Now Hiram the only way I can see in order to save our selves from ruin & disgrace is to discontinue all business with you.” Claiming to be really serious this time, Leman admonished his brother: “Now for god sake never ask me to negotiate any more of your paper.”^[33] A day later, he added: “I am not only compelled to pay your debts but I am compelled to run over to Lyons not only once but at least two or three times every time you have a debt falling due. I see plainly you are determined to ruin my credit if you can.”^[34] By late 1858, Calvin Hotchkiss too had lost patience with his nephew. Calvin wrote, “I once had confidence in your word as well as your Obligations, but as you pay no regard to either, of course my confidence is exhausted.”^[35]

When Hiram felt threatened, he often looked for distractions he could use to attack his antagonists. Leman tried to end his involvement in his brother’s finances, and Hiram found a way to retaliate. In the fall of 1858 the brothers went to war over the quality of their respective brands of peppermint oil. Although they were both using a shared HG & LB Hotchkiss label, they were each producing their own peppermint oils in Phelps and Lyons. Reviving a perennial complaint he made against rivals, Hiram accused Leman of shipping adulterated oil, writing that he had tested a sample of peppermint oil that Leman had accepted, and had found it to be “adulterated” with wild pennyroyal growing in the mint fields. “How to protect myself from your consummate ‘ignorance’ and headstrong belief that you are a judge of Oil of Peppermint I Know not,” Hiram raged. “I dare say you will still persist that the oil is pure, and that you will bottle it and stick to it that it is pure oil, and the brand will be completely annihilated and I reduced to poverty and distress by your cursed ignorance.” Hiram told his brother, “You are no judge of oil of Peppt & what oil you purchase should be packed here” at Hiram’s business in Lyons if Leman wanted to use the shared label. “I tell you once and for all that I will not be identified with your bottling this lot of oil,” Hiram announced. Leman should send it into the wholesale market packed in tin and take a loss if necessary. Hiram insisted Leman had no right to associate the Hotchkiss name with an inferior lot of oil and demanded, “Let me hear from you just what you intend to do with this lot of oil & if you intend to bottle it. I have no patience with your performances . . . you are such an ass in your judgment of Peppt Oil.”^[36]

Leman responded to Hiram’s disparagements of his peppermint oil: “I know it to be perfectly pure & as good as any oil ever made. You are at liberty to examine it and apply your test and if it does not come up to the quality of any Wayne County oil by your own test, I will give you a check on the Artisans Bank for $250, at sight.” Leman said a customer had examined the oil “and he says it is very beautiful indeed. I will not nuckle to you in judging oil at all.”^[37] A few weeks later, Leman wrote that he could no longer do business because he was ill and had lost his sight.^[38] Hiram responded, “Dear Brother, I am sorry you are troubled with your eyes and would like to see you if I could leave home,” but things were quite busy in Lyons. He closed the letter by reminding Leman not to pack the oil they had argued over and asking him to renew another note.^[39]

The illness was genuine, and Leman was forced to hire an assistant to handle his correspondence and business. A few days before Christmas, the assistant wrote to Hiram that “in consequence of the illness of LBH who has been confined to his room for five weeks nearly, it has been impossible for him to attend to business at all, being the greater part of the time in great pain and a portion of the time unable to stand.” The assistant informed Hiram, “The doctors say that LBH has lost the sight of the left eye.”^[40] Hiram responded on Christmas Day: “I am absolutely obliged (for I cannot do any other way) to renew my note.” Hiram appealed to Leman, “No bank can do anything for me & I have written to Uncle C that as soon as you are able to go that we must meet there and arrange our matters satisfactorily. I feel bad to hear that you are so afflicted with your eyes, & how to get along without your assistance I know not.”^[41] Leman’s illness was inconvenient for Hiram, who could not continually refinance his debts without Leman’s guarantee. The assistant informed Hiram in early 1859, “LBH has met with a great misfortune by the loss of the sight of one of his eyes.” The assistant also announced that Leman was “expecting to go to Lewiston soon, where he will communicate your damnable conduct toward us to Uncle Calvin.”^[42] Leman decided he was too ill to make the trip to Lewiston, and wrote to Hiram: “I have repeatedly informed you of my health but you either do not believe or are determined not to understand that I am in a very bad situation. I am almost blind and therefore must not tax myself with writing a long letter to you. I want you to come here alone and have a personal interview with me.”^[43] Hearing of the ongoing disputes, Calvin reiterated: “It is highly necessary that you & Leman should settle your old copartnership business according to your former agreement. It is perfectly unwarrantable for such old matters to be delayed any longer.”^[44]

In spite of Leman’s illness, Hiram continued to harass his brother about his peppermint oil. In February 1859, he wrote that he had discovered Leman had packed the disputed peppermint oil in glass and was preparing to sell it under their label. Hiram said, “I am perfectly astonished and I will never consent to your branding that trash. Your astonishing ignorance of the quality of oil Peppt perfectly astonishes me.” Hiram complained that he was working hard to get himself out of the financial embarrassment he found himself in, but that if he failed it would be Leman’s fault. He declared, “Altho my losses last year were considerable I live in hopes of doing something hereafter in Oil Peppt to extricate myself unless by your willfulness you destroy what little reputation I have acquired by packing adulterated oil Peppt.” He concluded by threatening Leman: “I shall hold you responsible for all the damage you do me. Take notice of what I say. I have nothing further to say on this disagreeable subject.”^[45]

Leman responded, “I have made up my mind never to broach the subject of Oil Peppt to you again,” but warned Hiram against bringing their uncle Calvin into the dispute. He reminded Hiram that he had offered him $250 to test the oil. “Your being a damned jackass I am not to blame for. I am not at all satisfied with your knowledge of the Michigan & Indiana Oil, to pack it and brand it in my name and I shall hold you accountable for all the damage you do to me by doing so.”^[46] Calvin had no wish to be dragged into the argument, and wrote to Hiram: “I do consider it is a most disgraceful feature in both of you, to be eternally quarrelling, and hope you can reconcile all your difficulties between yourselves.”^[47] But the quarrel continued. A few days later, Leman informed Hiram he had received a letter from London saying “that [their] brand of oil was not in as good repute as it had been formerly.” Leman also said it was becoming common knowledge in New York City that Hiram was buying peppermint oil from New York brokers, to “take it home and bottle it and then return it to New York and get a dollar a pound more for it.” Leman said he refused to allow his reputation to be damaged by Hiram’s cutting corners, advising him: “If you wish to purchase Michigan Oil buy it there, if you wish to purchase Indiana Oil buy it there . . . and for God sake keep out of the New York market in purchasing oil.”^[48]

Leman concluded, “I have always and do now uphold your brand and keep it up to the standard of mine, but if you continue this system you cannot expect me to uphold it any longer. In future please send me samples for inspection and I will aid you in selecting Pure Oil.” A few weeks later, Leman wrote to inform Hiram he was no longer using the “HG & LB Hotchkiss” label but had begun packing oil solely under his own name. “My oil is packed under my own hand writing and my own individual Label and if it should not turn out equal in quality to yours you can readily see with half an eye that it would result in ruination of my brand and be a great benefit to you and your opinion to the contrary is poppycock. You say my oil is bad bad bad. I know that is a lie lie lie.”^[49]

Leman understood that his agreement to share responsibility for the debts of the partnership had been a grave mistake. In the summer of 1859, he wrote to Hiram: “You will please refer to our settlement papers of Nov 6th 1855 and not appear so ignorant as you pretend. I have paid my part and am released on the notes.”^[50] Although they had agreed to pool their resources and purchase western oil together, Hiram and Leman began competing with each other for Michigan peppermint oil, each sending agents into the field to buy directly from farmers. Hiram had ceased trying to remain polite in his letters to his brother, even when seeking favors. He wrote asking Leman to help him get extensions on three notes coming due, and concluded his letter, “Do you still persist in packing that Ohio Oil in Glass . . . you chuckle head.”^[51] A week later, Hiram wrote demanding his half of a shipment of Michigan oil that Leman had purchased and for which Hiram had not paid his share. “You do not send that order for the Western Oil. You do not reply to my letter. Never could I have believed that you would have put yourself out & done what you have done for the last 2 months to destroy my business.”^[52] Hiram was beginning to believe that people who did not behave as he wished were either ignorant or willfully set on his destruction. The next day, he wrote again: “Indeed Leman since I have been on the stage of action I have never had anything effect me so than I have to see your determination to destroy my business. I have long felt that it was your intention to do so, but I could not have believed that you would resort to the means you have done to accomplish it. I feel bad.”^[53]

In spite of his claims of hurt feelings and the fact they were still nominally buying oil together, Hiram continued disparaging his brother’s product. Leman responded, “I observe your remarks abt oil Peppt which is perfectly disgusting as has been the case for a long time & unless you discontinue your misrepresentations abt my oil I will never have any thing further to say to you on that subject.” Leman again argued that if his own brand of peppermint oil turned out to be inferior, no one would benefit more than Hiram. He said he had checked with all his customers, and they were very pleased with his oil. “But on the contrary I hear some of your oil—I mean HG Hotchkiss New Brand—is not quite as good as formerly. This I have direct from the parties & I can prove it right to your face, and I challenge you to do the same by my brand which is easily distinguished by my individual label.” Leman also responded to the charge that he was “injuring the price of oil” by shipping an inferior product and warned Hiram that if he wanted his half of the Michigan peppermint oil they had contracted for together, he needed to pay for it. “I am to forfeit the oil if I fail to pay for it on the 1st day of February in Michigan. So be prepared on your part.”^[54]

Leman had denied Hiram’s charge that he had injured the price of Hotchkiss peppermint oil by shipping an inferior product. It was probably truer that Hiram’s profits had been eroded by the competition between the two for oil in Michigan, which had driven up the prices they paid to farmers. But responsibility for that price inflation was at least half Hiram’s. In the summer, anger boiled over, and Leman wrote his to brother: “Your god darn ill treatment has got to be stopped for I will not stand your god darn ill treatment any longer.”^[55] Hiram responded, “Your contemptible letter is in my shit house,” but in a typical display of audacity he included a new note in the letter that he asked Leman to take in place of one coming due.^[56] Phillip Wells, Hiram’s Michigan buyer, warned him: “If you and LBH are in competition the result will be that you will run the price up so that neither will make any money this fall in oil.”^[57] The difference between Leman and Hiram’s buying trips to Michigan, however, was that Leman sent agents with fat packets of cash. Hiram couldn’t always send cash, but he could send his Peppermint Bank’s paper. Wells wrote to Hiram again: “Send me more of your certificates of deposit. They go first rate and will get a long circulation and it is the best kind of business for a bank.”^[58] Whether this was entirely true or was what Wells knew Hotchkiss wanted to hear, the Hotchkiss Peppermint Bank’s engraved promissory notes were used in place of currency by many Michigan farmers, which helped Hiram compete with his much more solvent brother. Hiram sent packets of twenty-five-dollar certificates for distribution to the farmers and urged his agents to try to make small down payments with promises of full payment on delivery of the oil.^[59] His policy of paying “the rise” in price between contract and delivery was to a great extent forced on Hiram by his inability to pay farmers in full up front, allowing other buyers to offer more for the yet-to-be-distilled oil.

In late summer 1860, Leman told Hiram through his assistant that he could not loan him two thousand dollars. Hiram responded, “You promised to let us have your draft on NY at 1/2 per ct prem for $2000 til abt middle or last part of Sept when our currency from the Bank department will be here & we can pay you out of it. Dont be afraid of your friends & send it along. Yours truly, HG Hotchkiss, Banker.”^[60] Leman wrote, “This institution is not in the habit of lending money without having something to show for it. If you wish to borrow $2000 till the 15th of Sept next with int at 7% send your certificate of deposit and we now think we can lend it to you.”^[61] Hiram replied the next day, “[We are sending] our man Jno Kraufman over to Vienna to get your sight draft on NY for $2000 as promised us. We can give you our currency for it within 20 or 30 days. We hand you a certificate of deposit for $2000 for dft & exchg. We have to pay for the balc of our State Stocks tomorrow & I am all ready if you let us have the $2000 as agreed. Now dont fail to send it to me.”^[62] Although Hiram was depending on his brother to help him buy securities to send to the state’s Bank Department, he was also plotting against Leman in Michigan. Hiram received a letter the same day from his agent Phillip Wells, who informed him: “I shall pay out all the $500 tomorrow for oil and will ship it next day. It won’t buy 300 pounds and then I will be out of money again. If Delemus [Latin for destroyer, one of their code names for Leman] comes on with money which he will he will sweep all the oil in spite of me.” Wells reminded Hiram that he had been warning him since the previous season and that Hiram had assured him there would be plenty of money. If he had no competition, Wells wrote, “[I] could wiggle them along and accommodate you. But you do tie a man’s hands and feet and throw him in the water and of course he will sink and I don’t like to be made ass of.” If Hiram could send five or six thousand dollars, Wells said, he could get the job done.^[63]

Hiram responded, “How would HG Hotchkiss & Cos Bank certificates of deposit circulate in Michigan?” Hiram told Wells fifty thousand dollars of his newly engraved banknotes would be available from Albany within a few weeks. He added, “Lempus Oilutus [Leman] would be astonished if he knew how you was hustling in the oil. He dont know that King Philip is one of the wide-awake. We will learn him not to play grab as he did last fall.”^[64] A few weeks later, Hiram sent Wells “10 $50 Bank HG Hotchkiss & Co certificates at sight, or if they wish to hold them three months they get 5%, if six months 6%. The proprietors of this bank are worth $500,000 and Delemus dare not say otherwise.”^[65] Although he had boasted to Wells that fifty thousand dollars in currency would soon be available, Hiram sent only five hundred dollars in promissory notes. Hiram’s boast counted his uncle’s net worth in spite of Calvin insisting he did not want to be involved. He had urged his nephew to stick to the business he was good at: “My opinion is that, by mixing up all kinds of advertisements, on business Letters, such as Banking &c goes to show, You are straining to catch a Lyon & only get a mouse.”^[66] Hiram sent another packet of cash to Wells, writing: “I sent you in this mornings mail 20 HG Hotchkiss & Co Bank certificates amounting to $750 and now I hand you per express herewith the following: 20 $25 Cuyler Bank certificates of deposit, $500, 20 $25 HG Hotchkiss & Cos Bank certificates of deposit, $500.” Hiram again sent certificates of deposit rather than small-denomination notes, and he concluded his letter by telling Wells, “N.B. If anybody refuses to take HG Hotchkiss & Cos bank certificates, I hope you will piss on them.”

Hiram wrote to Wells again later in the day, sending another $750 of his paper and urging his agent to try to ensure that the certificates would not be returned quickly to the Peppermint Bank, explaining: “You see the certificates are payable at sight (for the law requires every bank certificate to be paid at sight) but if the holder sees fit to hold them three months they get 5% if six months 6%. Please circulate them to the very best advantage to this bank for they will find out by and by that this is an undoubted institution and no mistake.”^[67] Wells responded that the notes were “just as good here now as the Geneva banks,” but he warned: “On the whole I would make them payable as sight as it will look a little like kiting.” Wells also mentioned that he had seen Leman in Michigan: “Delemus said you gave him encouragement that you would go in and buy the oil together and when he found out you were fooling him . . . he feels like a dog with a sore head.”^[68] The following day, Wells reported: “Delemus acts perfectly rabid and crazy. He don’t know what he is about now or care what he does or says.”^[69] But Leman had plentiful cash to pay the peppermint farmers, and a few days later Wells complained: “Your sweet Delemus is making a perfect ass of himself. He is around after my men that I have contracts with offering them 17/- [$2.125] per pound for their oil to get it away from me. Now I am afraid he will get some away from me if I don’t get more money soon to take this oil. He tells them he has the money ready.” Wells may have begun taking the competition personally, or he may have been saying what he knew Hiram wanted to hear when he wrote, “If they let him have the oil now and not I, I ought to give him a god damn pounding and if you say give him a flogging I will. He is a poor miserable lying underhanded scoundrel.”^[70] Wells promised to meet the higher prices Leman offered, but farmers were unsure he would have the money to pay them on delivery.

The next week, Hiram wrote to Wells: “I wish you would pay out the certificates in small parcels to the growers if you can and not in such chunks. $875 of HGH & Cos Bank certificates were presented and paid the day before yesterday. They kept out about 10 days and came I think from Kalamazoo.”^[71] As Hiram had explained, certificates had to be redeemed in specie when presented, which was the last thing Hiram wanted to do. He complained to Wells, “Oh Phillip how shamefully Leman uses me, my feelings cannot be described.”^[72] But a day later Hiram and Leman signed a contract stating that for the balance of the buying season “it is agreed between Hiram G Hotchkiss & Leman B Hotchkiss that all the oil of Peppermint remaining unsold from this day at noon and not delivered shall be purchased by them on joint account and to be equally divided between them each party paying for their half of the oil.”^[73]

A few days later Hiram wrote to Leman to say he would not be able to pay his notes coming due and complaining that Leman would not take his Peppermint Bank certificates to cover the debt and, her wrote, “circulate it as you agreed.”^[74] Leman responded, “All I can say is if your customers deal with you as you do with me I feel confidant that HG Hotchkiss & Co Bank is a short lived concern, at all events I cannot live under such treatment from you.”^[75] Leman added the next day, “Your note due the 14th discounted by Rochester Cty Bank will be protested as I cannot pay it. Self preservation is the first law of nature.”^[76]

The brothers agreed again the following year to buy western oil together, ostensibly to avoid inflating the price with their competition but probably because Hiram did not have the money to compete with his brother. At year’s end, Leman told Hiram that he planned to go to Michigan to pay for peppermint oil and have it shipped to him in Phelps. “If you prefer,” he wrote, “I will have the oil marked in your name but it must be shipped to me & remain in my possession until you pay for it, or rather your share.”^[77] Hiram responded, “I have acted in good faith with you and you are now pissing on me. I tried to get Chad [a cousin, working for Hiram] to go to Vienna yesterday & try & reason you out of your shitten position but he said it was no use.”^[78] Leman replied, “According to your own statements I have advanced on oil a much larger sum than you have. If you think such treatment is pissing on your agents—I hope you will never make another contract with me.”^[79] But, as usual, Leman relented and continued doing business with his brother. A month later they signed a new contract in which Leman agreed to buy two hundred cases of peppermint oil from Hiram for $2.60 per pound. The 4,725 pounds of peppermint oil was to be delivered in ninety days. Demand for Leman’s peppermint oil was apparently quite strong.^[80]

A few months later, Calvin Hotchkiss wrote to inform Hiram that his cousin William T. Hotchkiss had died. He chided Hiram for spending so much of his time in New York City, where Hiram had begun living in the Astor House for long periods to avoid his creditors in Lyons. “I should think it would be highly necessary for you to be at home in order to attend to the daily Protests on your Certificates of Deposit. I should like to know what object you have in view, in issuing Certificates, unless you have the means to meet them when presented.”^[81] In late 1864, Hiram wrote to his young cousin Chad, who was working for him full-time along with Hiram’s sons while Hiram spent increasingly long periods at the Astor House. “I want you without fail to go to Rochester,” Hiram wrote, to see his lawyers and “shew them the complaint of Calvin Hotchkiss against me to dissolve the partnership between Calvin Hotchkiss & myself. Have them prevent any default being taken against me,” and “of course you must not let any one know any thing abt it at Lyons.”^[82]

Chad wrote to warn Hiram that his property was about to be seized and auctioned off by the sheriff, adding: “My opinion is not worth much but I think you had better get through with your business as soon as possible and come home.”^[83] Hiram answered, “I feel very bad to think I am again advertised by Sherriff Bennett & it astonishes me beyond measure that in my absence I must be kept in such a state of mind that I can hardly do my business here with any satisfaction.” Hiram complained, “Uncle Calvin threatens to sell me out of Lyons if I do not remit some money this week. He keeps me in perfect Hell.”^[84] Hiram’s wife, Mary, wrote to him in the city: “I think I never felt so angry and outraged in all my life as I have the last two days. Yesterday morning Bart Rogers, Bostwick Dickerson, and half a dozen others came here and took away my cows and sold the pigs.” She said the authorities also took two loads of hay and a carriage and sleigh, and were selling their oxen. She wrote, “Old Bart sent in for the key to the smokehouse but I would like to see him get it out of my pocket. Now you come home if you don’t stay but one day. It is dreadful to have to put up with such insults. Do pay up all such infernal scamps if you have to sell everything you have and live in Ashanti.”^[85] Although Mary had come from a respectable Lyons family, she had come to share her husband’s belief that people who expected to be paid for products and services the Hotchkiss family consumed should be treated with contempt.

A few days later Hiram responded to Chad, “If ever I was annoyed & perplexed I am now by my ‘Lyons friends.’ You say my property is to be sold on Saturday next & that no postponement can be effected unless I pay $1100 which I cannot do this week.” Hiram believed he was being persecuted by jealous neighbors and lamented, “By the Eternal, such treatment is enough to craze a saint. If you have not paid out the $1000 which I sent you day before yesterday hold onto it and bid my property in.” Rather than pay the debts for which the property had been seized, Hiram instructed his nephew to bid on it at auction, which might allow him to buy it back for less than the debt owed. And in spite of the fact that his property was on the auction block, Hiram was even more agitated about buying peppermint oil before his brother got to it. He concluded, “Secure all the Wayne County oil you can for I do not believe we can get any from the West. Leman B is so treacherous.”^[86] What Hiram meant was that he was not going to be able to pay Leman for his share of the peppermint oil they bought together and doubted Leman would hand any over without payment. To compound his trouble paying his debts at home, Hiram was told by his Michigan oil buyer: “Now I wish you to send me $1000 currency—greenbacks if you can, as other currency don’t go as well with us at present. Your currency is new and farmers don’t know much about it, and are afraid of most any kind of currency except greenbacks.”^[87] Philip Wells was also probably aware that the federal government was trying to tax state banknotes out of existence, and peppermint farmers would be unwilling to take Hotchkiss Peppermint Bank notes that were worth only 90 percent of their face values. Hiram disregarded Wells’s request and wrote, “I send you $1000 of my currency which I presume will answer as well as greenbacks as it is just as good.”^[88]

At the end of 1864, Calvin Hotchkiss’s farm and property were seized by the sheriff because Hiram had defaulted on a mortgage Calvin had allowed him to write on the property. Calvin threatened to withdraw the bonds he had loaned to Hiram for deposit with the state’s Banking Department. Hiram asked Leman to intervene with their uncle, but Leman informed him: “I wrote to Uncle Calvin urging him to extend time for you, and he replied he would extend time if I would step in and be security for the money you owe him. What an idea this.” Leman also mentioned, “[I] can’t take your currency for I have no money in New York, I was compelled to buy a draft myself for $10,000 on Saturday to meet my paper.”^[89]

In summer 1866 Leman wrote to Chad, asking why Hiram was still in New York City. “Is he afraid of his creditors? or what is the matter?”^[90] Hiram’s wife, Mary, wrote of her own annoyance: “There were a half-dozen men here when I got your letter yesterday, waiting for money. O’Keefe keeps their time, so I gave him $20 to divide amongst them. I told him he would have to wait till you got home.” Mary told Hiram her overseer had responded “[that] you were never coming, that everybody said that you owed so much money you dare not come home. Mrs. Hotchkiss, you need not look for him, he will never come to Lyons anymore, and I must have my money right away. “Mary concluded: “If you do not want to have me mobbed, I hope you will send some money to pay him.”^[91]

A few weeks later, Mary wrote again, complaining: “You seem to think that we do not use the money you send home in your business, but we certainly do except what we must have for the necessities of life. Our pork barrel is empty, ditto the beef, and our hams are all gone, and take it all in all we are about as poverty-stricken as anyone you’d wish to see.” Mary remarked that she had been surprised how much money it took to run the peppermint oil business. “I can’t see where the profit comes from. I was in hopes to take in some money for pasture to help out but that is out of the question. Every man that has applied has the same answer, I have an account against Mr. H and if he can’t take my cow he must pay the money and of course there is nothing more to be said.”^[92] Mary wrote again, wondering: “Oh what is the pleasure of calling these broad acres and stately buildings ours when we know they are not. It is very poor comfort for me, I believe I am getting blue so I will stop.”^[93] Mary and Hiram’s sons bore the brunt of the anger felt by local farmers and merchants Hiram neglected to pay. Despite her low opinion of the neighbors, the family was united in their agreement that this was no way to do business, Mary informed Hiram. “But what is the use of fretting? You never will see things or do things like other people. You seem to have a mania for doing things against your own interest. Is there nothing that will ever bring you to your senses?”^[94]

As Hiram spent more of his time living at the Astor House and doing deals in New York City, his behavior became even more erratic. In early 1874, he received an angry letter from the New York City peppermint oil brokers Horner and Quetting: “Your childish and not business-like letter of 23d to hand. We can but believe you are in your dotage and you have told us so many lies about our present transaction that we concluded to have no more business transactions with you until this is finished. We mean what we say as our name is not Hotchkiss,” the brokers continued, threatening to go to Lyons and seize Hiram’s property. “The meanest rascal and lowest thief would not be guilty of the miserable, dirty lying trickery which you have practiced on us since the commencing of this bottling,” they continued, “and be assured Mr. Hotchkiss, if we have to come to Lyons again, we will make it very unpleasant for you and perhaps for both of us. We are utterly disgusted with you and wish you to beware how you drive a desperate man to the wall.” Horner and Quetting reminded Hiram they had once been “your best friends and staunchest supporters. Your whole behavior is really disgusting,” they concluded, “and we would rather break stones on the highway than make our living dealing with such a man as you are.”^[95]

Hiram’s brother Leman made regular trips to the city throughout his career, but spent no more time there than business demanded. He wrote to Hiram, “It seems strange to me that you can spend so much time in New York and not have time to attend to your own business at home and leave your endorsers in the lurch. I don’t think you will make anything in the end by this course.”^[96] When his brother finally refused to bail him out, Hiram tried to get Leman’s son Thaddeus to endorse his notes, but his nephew was less willing than Leman had been to let the bonds of blood pull him into the financial drama. Leman wrote, “You god darn scoundrel. Thad says he will not endorse any mans note that pays so little regard to protect his endorsers & gives them so much trouble as you do. I suppose it would be your highest ambition to get all of my children involved with you, but I don’t think you will be able to accomplish it.”^[97] As for the note, Leman declared: “You will have to pay it or be shoved into bankruptcy.”^[98]

As months passed without Hiram’s return, his son Calvin wrote: “Everyone seems to think around here you are in Wall Street and anything I can say will not make them believe different.”^[99] Protesting the claim that Hiram needed to stay in New York until the price of peppermint oil rose, his son Leman wrote: “Now do take some advice and sell and come home for you are losing at least $4000 by neglecting your farm. Don’t be foolish and hang onto your oil any longer for it has reached the top notch, it will go no higher and unless you sell you will be very sorry.” Calvin urged his father, “Sell sell sell at all hazards for it is going a good deal lower and you are making a good thing at the present price and you will lose if you hold it.”^[100] Hiram’s son wrote again the next week, “There seems to be no doubt in the minds of Lyons people that you are losing all your profits in stocks and I assure you your family are very uncomfortable on that account for your creditors are all out of patience with you.”^[101] In order to avoid having property seized, Hiram’s other son, Leman, said his mother, Mary, had transferred the deeds to the all family’s land holdings to his sister Emma. A few days later, the younger Leman wrote again: “Mother wants you to send money enough to pay the Maki execution as the sheriff holds an order of arrest against her and he says they are pressing him very hard. The amount is $175.”^[102]

Hiram tried to make other arrangements to avoid Mary’s incarceration, but his creditors were out of patience. Mary sent a telegram, “Mr. Williams refuses. Send money tomorrow. Answer or I go.”^[103] A few weeks later, Hiram invited Mary and their daughter to visit him in New York. Leman wrote his father, “Mother feels quite hard about this and is quite mad over it. She says that instead of inviting her and Alice to watering places you might better take the money it cost and pay up some of these matters. These things are working on Mother very much. She feels them worse than I ever knew her to before and I do hope you will attend [to] this at once.”^[104] Leman wrote a couple of days later, “Mother is very anxious about the mortgage on this house. Wilson wrote that he would commence foreclosure unless interest was paid this week. Have you paid it? I do not see how you are going to get out of your difficulties.”^[105] Hiram wrote that his feelings were hurt by Mary’s selfish refusal to vacation with him, and his wife replied: “Will you please inform me for what you claim my sympathy? You seem to be having a good time spending the summer at the best hotels and watering places, leaving me here with all the care of everything, and your creditors to contend with.” Mary, who over the course of the marriage had borne twelve children and managed the household during Hiram’s long absences, challenged her husband: “And I would like to know in what my selfishness consists? Is it because I ask you to pay your honest debts? I’m sure I can’t think of any other favor I have asked of you, I think the selfishness is on the other side.^[106]

In the fall of 1874, when Hiram sent Chad to Michigan to compete against his brother Leman for peppermint oil, Chad informed his uncle: “I must have money. You must be crazy to think I can compete with men with plenty of money. If you were here trying to buy oil with drafts people that had oil would laugh at you.”^[107] Chad reported that Leman had partnered with Horner and Quetting to buy oil, and Hiram replied: “Head off the shit ass. Keep good natured with him & maybe he will leave soon. Now let LB and Horner paddle their own canoe & we will paddle ours. Keep your eye on both of these gay deceivers.”^[108] Chad responded, “Now if you dont send some funds I shall not try to do business any longer. You speak about everything in your letters but sending home funds to do your business with.”^[109]

After the failure of his bank, Hiram’s finances continued to deteriorate. To escape his creditors, in 1877 Hiram transferred his peppermint oil business to his sons. The R. G. Dun credit reporter wrote: “The firm is now HG Hotchkiss & Sons. HGH swears that he has nothing and stated that he was out of the firm on account of judgments.”^[110] Hiram continued spending most of his time in New York City, where he acted as the company’s salesman. As before, he wrote to his sons regularly with instructions and often made commitments on behalf of the company. Occasionally, the sons objected. In spring 1877 they wrote complaining of another deal Hiram had done with their rivals Horner and Quetting: “You did this business contrary to our wishes and against our judgment. We told you how to do it and avoid trouble. But no, you must have your own way as you always do in the end and now you can fix this matter as we shall have nothing more to do with it.”^[111] Later in the year, one of Hiram’s sons wrote: “We hope you will see the folly of buying tin oil hereafter.” They reminded Hiram, “[We] advised you very strongly and we had some very hot words about your buying this oil at any price. But you was determined to buy it and now we have it on hand and will probably be obliged to hold it over another year and then in all probability we will take not to exceed 12 shillings [$1.50] per pound for it. Again I must say that the blockheads are right and you are wrong.”^[112]

Hiram’s sons continued running the business from Lyons, while Hiram visited customers in the city. Without the support of the senior Calvin Hotchkiss, who had died in 1866, or their uncle Leman, who died in 1884, Hiram’s sons were unable to prosper. In spite of the fact that H. G. Hotchkiss and Sons essential oils were a premium brand with an international market, Hiram’s sons lost money. In 1887, the R. G. Dun credit reporter noted a change in the company’s situation: “Hiram Hotchkiss Jr., Leman Hotchkiss, Calvin Hotchkiss . . . the above comprises the firm of HG Hotchkiss & Sons, but the business is carried on entirely by the senior HGH.” The reporter explained that years before Hiram had “got buried in debt so deeply that he was obliged to do business in the sons names. After a time he got the boys in so deeply that he was obliged to do business in the name of his wife and daughters. And of late many of the old judgments against him have outlawed and he is now on deck again and the boys under.”^[113] Hiram had waited out the statute of limitations on judgments, but that did not clear the ledger as far as the neighbors he had swindled were concerned.

Hiram took control of the company back from his sons. He continued sending them daily letters of instruction, scrawled on the letterhead of his hotel in New York or of the offices of whichever broker he favored at the time. His sons gave up trying to wrest control from Hiram, who continued to believe in his own invincible authority as peppermint king. In 1888, he bragged: “I told one of Horner’s brokers, Mr. Downer today, that Horner did not amount to a fart in the peppermint business now, and presume he told Horner what I said.”^[114] In 1889, the Dun report was updated, and the sons were declared “Worthless. Can’t collect a dollar of them, and they will not pay debts for living expenses about town. Their father, HG Hotchkiss does all the business now and HGH & Sons do nothing in their own name. They work for the old man and they are a hard lot, and will beat anyone they can.”^[115] The bitterness of Hiram’s sons is understandable. They remained under his thumb for the rest of his life. Hiram finally moved back to Lyons, incorporated his company in 1894, and remained in complete control until his death. In 1895 he wrote to his son Calvin from his home a few blocks from the company’s offices: “You annoy me very much by not coming here and let me know what is going on.” Hiram demanded to know whether a shipment of peppermint oil had arrived from Michigan and gave his son instructions on how to make an offer for oil. He closed with: “Send me oil paint and drug reports.”^[116]

When Hiram Hotchkiss died on October 27, 1897, he was memorialized in the eight-column article mentioned earlier and remembered fondly in a three-column obituary in another local newspaper as “the Peppermint Oil King and the best known essential oil man in America or Europe.” The obituary went on to claim, “In the course of his dealings he has paid to Wayne County farmers millions of dollars; has enabled many a man to pay for his farm; has assisted thousands of men in raising mortgages and has done more for the poor man than any other person who has ever lived in this community.” The article spoke of “men unnumbered” who would regret his sad end and enjoy memories of pleasant friendship. Like the longer article, the obituary stressed his hospitality and claimed Hiram was a man of “sympathy, kindness of heart, and genuine love for his household and their friends.” The article, almost certainly written by a family member to repair the damage Hiram had done over the years to his own reputation, concluded: “No man was ever kinder, few more charming, none more indulgent.”^[117]

These memorials, published under the supervision of his family, described the man they wished Hiram had been. The memorials became local history, and he is now remembered as a groundbreaking entrepreneur and a great benefactor of Wayne County. The heroic image of him portrayed in local histories conforms with the social norms of the era, stressing traits like fairness, charm, and geniality, in spite of the fact that Hiram called attention to many of the norms of nineteenth-century business culture and society by continually breaking them. He took unfair advantage of business partners, friends, and relatives, whom he often treated quite brutally. He was unable to understand any point of view but his own and attributed malicious intent to anyone who failed to do what he wanted. He used the bonds of friendship and especially of family to cajole people to help and support him, even when it was clearly not in their best interests. He was a bully who browbeat his opponents into submission and avoided his obligations until many creditors simply gave up and wrote off his debts. But in spite of his faults, Hiram Hotchkiss is remembered as a successful businessman of great charisma and jovial good nature. Lyons still celebrates an annual Peppermint Days summer festival, which for years was funded by the company that his heirs ran until 1982, when the firm was sold to the William Leman Company of Indiana. In 2003, the Leman Company was purchased by Essex Labs of Salem, Oregon. Essex still sells Hotchkiss peppermint oil, which it calls “the oldest trademarked and continually produced essential mint oil recipe in the USA.”^[118]