BRISTOL,TENN-VA COLLECTIBLE BOTTLES & HISTORY

J.L.WOOD DRUG CO. of BRISTOL

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    **The Wood Drug Company , located in Bristol,VA. , is also connected to  Ernest Linwood Andrews...re...Andrews Manufacturing Co.

jlwood.gif

    The WOOD DRUG COMPANY began in 1888 as Hagan & Wood Manufacturing Druggists, ( Charles F. Hagan and Jonathan Logan Wood), located at 515 Cumberland St. in Bristol,VA.  At some point in time, Wood's brother-in-law, G.E.Nickels became Secretary/Treasurer of the Company and C.F. Hagan left and began his own "patent medicine" business, possibly about 1892 or 1893. Although the bottles and labels do note Tenn., it was mainly because the Post Office was located in Bristol,Tenn. and it would appear most everyone addressed their business there.
    Late in 1895 or in early 1896, J.L.Wood & G.E.Nickels ( already the owners of the Globe Nurseries in Bristol and Roanoke, Va.), formed the Farmer's Protective Union Co-Op with Nickels as President and Wood as Vice President.. A few years later the two men  sold their  interests in the Wood Drug Co. to Ernest Linwood Andrews, (re: Andrews Manufacturing Co.), including the rights to some product names,ingredients, labels, and a small printing press for labels and almanacs.

g.e.nickels1904a.gif

    Although Wood was no doctor, it was typical for the patent medicine makers of those times to concoct a fictitious doctor title , add it to their products, and market them as a seemingly more legitimate product. Thus,  the Dr. J.L Sparks line of medicinal preparations. Previously,  Wood had used a Dr. J. L.Wood pseudonymn , but dropped it, possibly because those that did know him, knew well he was not a doctor and he was "stretching things a bit" by claiming to be such on his products.
  
     The Wood Drug Company put out a variety of Patent Medicines in their short tenure:

Wood's Female Medicine variants
woodfemalemeds.jpg
Wood Drug Co. Bristol,Tenn.

 
 
Dr.J.L. Spark's Quick Relief                       
Dr.J.L. Spark's Eye Water
Dr.J.L. Spark's Cough Syrup
Dr.J.L. Spark's Corn Cure       
Dr.J.L. Spark's Soothing Syrup
Dr.J.L. Spark's White Cream Vermifuge    
Dr.J.L. Wood's Tasteless Chill Cure
Dr.J.L. Spar's Nerve & Bone Liniment (no space on the bottle for the "K")
Wood's Female Medicine, (two variants)
Farrar's Sarsaparilla,
(two known variants).

Farrar's Sarsaparilla variants
woodfarrarssarsa.jpg
Wood Drug Co Bristol,Tenn.

    There is possibly a third Wood sarsaparilla bottle- aqua, with a long neck & reportedly embossed: Wood Drug Co. Sarsaparilla/Bristol,Tenn.
(per Dallas Bridgeman)

WHO WAS FARRAR?
    All I could discover about a Farrar in Bristol was:
In 1890, a local druggist, Cam Anderson, sold his druggist business to Messrs. Stark & Cochran.  Following the notice of this sale was another notice:.."Mr.George M.Farrar will continue to stay with Stark & Cochran, successors to Cam Anderson."
    I have surmised the following:
    Farrar was evidently a pharmacist employed by Anderson. And, as pharmacists were known to create their own medicinal formulas in those days, perhaps Farrar had concocted his own sarsaparilla. Perhaps, in anticipation of being out of a job when Anderson sold out, he sold the formula to J.L.Wood or C.F.Hagan, stipulating that it bear his name. Stark and Cochran, upon hearing about this, realized what a valuable asset Farrar would be for their newly formed company - The City Drug Store - , and decided to retain him as their own pharmacist.

Woods Nerve & Bone Liniment
woodfood.jpg
Wood Food Co

 
 
As For J.L.Wood...
   
     Evidently the manufacturing of & associations with Patent Medicine remained in his blood long after selling his company, for throughout the years he continued to dabble in various preparations and enterprises. In 1904 he formed the Wood Food Company with his brother, Patrick H.Wood as the Proprietor.  
     Only one product is known from this company...
Nerve & Bone Liniment- For Man or Beast...a blown in mold pint aqua flask, with a wrap-around paper label.
  
     It's much later when J.L.Wood surfaces again, this time as Manager of The New Era Company in 1923. New Era was to have represented a whole new line of medicinal products. No known products have survived. Both New Era and the Wood Food Co. were short lived...
    Wood, on the other hand, lived a long life. He died Feb. 9, 1942 in Alexandria, N.C. at the age of 75. He was laid to rest in East Hill Cemetery, Bristol,Tenn-Va.

St Andrews Nerve Builder
woodchillcurestandrewsnervebldr.jpg
Dr J L Woods Tasteless Chill Cure

woodsquick.jpg
Dr J L Sparks Quick Relief

Dr J L Sparks Quick Relief label
woodcoughrelieflab.jpg
Dr J L Sparks Cough Syrup

Dr J L Sparks Quick Relief variant
quikreliefvar.jpg

Wood's Female Medicine label
woods.jpg

Dr J L Sparks White Cream Vermifuge
woods3.jpg
Eye Water and Nerve & Bone Liniment

Dr J L Sparks Corn Cure
wooddrugcorncure.jpg
BIM label Only

1895 Wood Drug env
wooddrugenv.jpg

Wood Drug Co ltrhd
wooddrugltrh2.jpg
Hagan & Wood Druggists

woodreadera.jpg
1896 Wood Drug Co. Reader

woodreader1.jpg
Page from Wood Drug Co. Reader

woodreader2.jpg
Page from Wood Drug Co. Reader

haganwood.jpg

Dr J L Sparks clock
drjlsparksclock.jpg
uncertain if "local"

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Sources - Bibliography
 
i)      Library of King College, Bristol,Tenn. - Newspaper Microfilms
ii)     Bristol,TN-VA Public Library - Newspaper Microfilms &  City Directories
iii)     1904 Bristol Herald  Industrial Supplement 
iv)     Bristol-Goodson Industry & Resources in 1885  -W.F.Henry/Reporter
v)      Witness To An Epoch   - Chas.J. Harkrader
vi)     Double Destiny   - Robert Loving
vii)    Historic Sites of Sullivan County  - Muriel Spoden
viii)   Bristol Tennessee-Virginia : A History   - V.N. "Bud" Phillips
ix)     Spirits & Medicinal Bottles of Bristol, Tenn.-Va.   - Charlie Barnette 
x)       The Passing Years   - Bristol Historical Association
xi)      City of Bristol @ 1915
xii)     A Pictorial History -  Bristol Historical Association
xiii)    Whiskey, An American Pictorial History  - Oscar Getz
xiv)    Prohibition, 13 Years That Changed America - Edward Behr
xv)     The Shadow Of The Bottle -  Review & Herald Publishing Co.
xvi)    Historic Sullivan - Oliver Taylor
xvii)   One Year At A Time - Bristol - 1907 - Lonnie & Kim Blevins
xviii)   Honoring Our Heritage: Faces & Places From The Past -
                       Lonnie & Kim Blevins and Roy & Carolyn Williams
xvix)   Between the States: Bristol Tennessee - Virginia During the Civil War  - V.N. "Bud" Phillips
xx)      Pioneers in Paradise - Bristol, Tenn-Va.  - V.N. "Bud" Phillips
xxi)     A Good Place to Live - Bristol, Tenn-Va. - V.N. "Bud" Phillips
 
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