Palmer’s Tonic Bitters

palmer’S TONIC bitters

Andrus & Palmer

Sole Proprietors & Manufacturers

A & P (Motif Eagle)

P 12

Dexter A. K. Andrus and William T. Palmer
Rockford, Illinois

Emerald Green Semi-Cabin

Provenance: Sandor P. Fuss Collection

Palmer’s Tonic Bitters is an incredible bottle and we are fortunate to have it represented in our museum collection. Only three or so examples of this semi-cabin form bottle exist in various conditions. Auction records note one perfect emerald green example (our museum example), a second green example with a sizeable crack, and a golden amber example. Apparently, a blue-green example also exists.

Our 10-¼” tall rectangular bottle is in a spectacular emerald green glass with angled shoulders leading into and engaging the neck and mouth of the bottle. Some refer to this form as a semi-cabin as it is reminiscent of the full figural cabin bottles like Drake’s Plantation Bitters, Kelly’s Old Cabin Bitters, and Old Homestead Wild Cherry Bitters, to name a few.

The Carlyn Ring and W.C. Ham listing in Bitters Bottles is as follows:

P 12 ANDRUS & PALMER / SOLE PROPRIETORS & MANUFACTURERS // PALMER’S TONIC // motif eagle // BITTERS // // s // f // A&P // f // A&P
10 ¼ x 3 ½  x 2 (6 ¼) ¼
Rectangular, Green and Amber, LTC, Applied mouth, 4 sp, Extremely rare
UMB 611, WAT 478
The Daily Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) January 17, 1882

The Ring and Ham listing above notes an advertisement in The Daily Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) on January 17, 1882. This note is incorrect, as we can not find it, and it is too late for the bottle.

Embossed prominently on one face of the bottle is ‘ANDRUS & PALMER SOLE PROPRIETORS & MANUFACTURERS’ in three lines reading top to bottom. This copy occurs in an inset beveled panel. The opposite side is blank and would have been where a paper label would have been placed. ‘PALMER’S TONIC’ is embossed on one thin side while ‘BITTERS’ is embossed on the other, again reading top to bottom and set with inset panels. The mouth is an applied tapered collar and the base is smooth.

One small eagle is embossed on the wide-angle roof over the label side. Two ornate calligraphic monograms reading ‘A & P’ for Andrus & Palmer are embossed on the opposite side roof panels.

Palmer’s Tonic Bitters was a mystery for many years as we did not know who Andrus & Palmer were or where they operated out of. New information surfaced in April 2020 revealing that we are speaking about Dexter Apollyon Kaiser Andrus (most historical references are just D. A. K. Andrus) and William T. Palmer who lived and operated out of Rockford, Illinois. An all-important 1869 listing in the Rockford City Directory and County Gazetteer says that Andrus was an agent for Andrus & Palmer and that he boarded on the east side of Church Street between Peach and North. Palmer was listed as a patent medicine manufacturer with Andrus & Palmer boarding at No. 802 West State Street.

There were two other Andrus listings in the 1869 directory. The first was Issac Andrus. He was born on December 2, 1796, in Scipio, Cayuga County, New York. He was a private in the War of 1812 in Capt. James McMahan’s New York Militia. He married Sophronia Knowlton on May 29, 1823, in Stockton, Chautauqua Co., New York, and they had two children, William D. E. Andrus and Dexter Apollyon Kaiser Andrus. The Andreus family headed west and settled in Rockford, Illinois where Isaac was a dry goods merchant.

An older brother of Dexter’s, William David Ellis Andrus (most historical references are just W. E. A. Andrus), was also listed in the 1869 directory. He previously was a Captain with the Eleventh Regiment Illinois Volunteers, Company D during the Civil War. All lived under the same roof in Rockford.

Andrus & Palmer had an idea for a tonic bitters and ordered a short run of very nice bottles. It was based on medicine that William T. Palmer developed. They had their last names, initials, and sole proprietors & manufacturers embossed on the bottles. The endeavor did not last long. By 1872, Wm. T. Palmer was listed as a salesman for Geo. S. Haskell & Co. who were importers and seed growers in west Rockford.

Dexter A. K. Andrus was born in 1844 in Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois. In the 1870 United States Federal Census, he was listed as a theatrical agent. His main business was dealing in government and foreign postage stamps. By 1879, he was the editor and proprietor of the Daily and Weekly News in Rockford. He was married twice, first to Carrie E Hazeltine Andrus (1845–1880) and then to Annette Savage Andrus (1845–1931). He would die on June 14, 1900.

By 1872, Issac Andrus, the father of D. A. K and W. D. E. Andrus, ran an established retail business as a dealer in boots, shoes, and rubber goods located at 325 West State Street in Rockford, Illinois. He died on January 24, 1880 in Rockford, Illinois. 

William David Ellis Andrus was born in 1834 in New York. He fought in the Civil War and afterward, worked with his father in the shoe business in Rockford. From there he went to and founded Andrus, Bon Homme Co., South Dakota. Andrus is now a ghost town and passed out of existence long ago. It was located on Choteau Creek, about 18 miles west of Springfield, South Dakota. From an old accounting, “Joseph Krejci managed a large flour mill there, known as the Andrus Roller Mill. It burned down in 1894. Maj. W. D. E. Andrus had a small general merchandise store, later was succeeded by Andrus & Schwerdtmann and finally, a Mrs. Tinker conducted the business. George Trumbo was postmaster at Chouteau Creek, near Andrus at one time and also this was a stopping place for the stage and others on their way to Ft. Randall and the up hill country, as it was called in the early days.” W. D. E. Andrus married Maria Isabelle Westfall on January 3, 1869. They had two children, both passing in infancy. He died from meningitis in Andrus and was brought back to Rockford for his funeral in January 1902.

Primary Image: Palmer’s Tonic Bitters imaged on location by the FOHBC Virtual Museum midwest studio led by Alan DeMaison.

Support: Reference to Bitters Bottles by Carlyn Ring and W. C. Ham. Use of Palmer’s Tonic Bitters illustration courtesy Bill Ham.

Support Image: Auction Lot 68: “ANDRUS & PALMER / SOLE PROPRIETORS & / MANUFACTURERS – A & P / PALMER’S TONIC – (Motif on an Eagle) – A&P / BITTERS”, (Ring/Ham, P-12), American, ca. 1865 – 1875, deep emerald green shading to a lighter color in the corners semi-cabin, 10 1/4”h, smooth base, applied double collar mouth. A faint 1/4” ‘ice pick’ bruise is on the inside edge of the lip and some light spotty external stain. An extremely rare and important semi-cabin bitters bottle! The minor stain can easily be professionally removed, and the inside lip bruise does not deter its overall appearance! In 1996 we auctioned a perfect one for $17,000! – Jim Hagenbuch, Glass Works Auctions Auction #153

Support Image: Group table photograph featuring a Palmer’s Tonic Bitters from the Dave Kyle collection.

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