Thursday, November 29, 2012

Weston distillery has ties to St. Joseph's Missouri Valley Trust

From The Weston Chronicle, Dec. 24, 1965, p. 4

Ancestors Worked At Distillery

Although only 18 registered at the local museum on a recent Sunday there were some very pleasant visitors and exciting moments for the hostesses, Mrs. Ida Allison and her guest, Mrs. Nettie Miller.  Mrs. Miller is not a native but is far more interested in Weston, its history and its museum than some who are closer to the 'good earth' of their home town. She interviewed several persons, among them Carl R. Wellenkoetter of St. Joseph, who was seeking information about his great-great grandfather, Abbott Porter Goff.

Goff, according to his descendant was at one time an investor and a bookkeeper at the Holladay Distillery forerunner of McCormick. Mr. Wellenkoetter thinks it was about 1860 Goff was also one of the first directors of the Missouri Valley Trust Company, oldest bank west of the Mississippi today. He owned vineyards and a winery on Lovers Lane in St. Joseph.

From the name it is assumed Goff belonged to the German population of Weston and with most of them moved to St. Joseph when the steamboat fiasco occurred here and the handwriting on the wall indicated Weston's doom as a commercial center.

(end of my transcription...more in the paper of the women assisting them along with a thank you note.)

1 comment:

  1. Is there any way I could get a copy of the original article or any other information you have? I am a Goff heir and Carl R. is my father.
    Thank You,
    Karl C. Wellenkoetter

    ReplyDelete