Henry File and Whiskey

On the 4th of July in 1776, Henry Oliver File was born in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, near Stone River.

His father Jacob Feile had emigrated from Rottenacker (75 miles west of Munich), Germany to North Carolina--possibly via Pennsylvannia, as that was a common occurrence.

Henry was married in St. John's Lutheran Church to his first wife, Peggy Reep. She gave him four sons; George, Daniel, Moses [our link to Henry], and Tobias. They also had one daughter, Sally. Peggy died three hours after giving birth to their son Tobias in 1810. They had been married about 13 years at the time of her death.

Still living in North Carolina, he remarried in 1811 to a widow named Mary (Polly) Hagler Anthony. She brought with her a son, Abraham, from her first marriage. Henry and Mary had three boys and three girls: Nellie, John (Nelson), William, Jacob, Kate, and Lucinda.

The family moved to Tennessee where they became friends with the Vollentine family. Both families drove cattle from St. Louis to Bond county in Illinois, hoping to establish cattle farms. William and Hardy Vollentine worked with George File to cut down the area's wild prairie grass and use it for fodder. A fire destroyed the hay so they drove the cattle back to St. Louis and sold it. They returned to Tennessee for the winter.

March 1817 brings both families permanently to Bond county. Henry had brought with him two slaves. When they died, he buried them along the bank of Shoal Creek near a large tree which eventually was uprooted in the 1980s. It was a known landmark up until WWII.

Not long after they came to Illinois, Henry erected a small still in which he manufactured the first whiskey distilled in Bond County. At that time, a gallon of spirits had the equivalent value of a bushel of corn and could be traded. Americans drank an inordinate amount of alcohol during the 1700s and 1800s. See more at the bottom of this post.

Son Moses (our connection) married and moved to his own farm north of Old Ripley, taking the still with him. Later he moved to 160 acres near the family homestead and cemetery. His granddaughter Clara File Clark reported that she could make no excuse for her grandfather and could only hope that he later learned better and destroyed it (the still). Moses' land was still in the family as of 1982, owned by his great great grandson Warren M. File.

When he died in 1836, Henry left an inheritance of over 600 prime acres in Bond County. The land that he left to his wife Polly was 20 acres around the family home and 2 acres of apple orchard. His will is vague on the location of son George's property. It reads, "120 acres of land the plantation where he now lives". I assumed that it would be between the homestead/cemetery and the 3 boys' inheritance. At present I have not verified its exact location.

File Family Land in 1835

File Family Genealogy

Uncle Earl's book has been my source for much of this tale. I have been able to add to the information with online searches (and Ancestry, of course). I am not sure of how I came into possession of the book. I would guess that my mother Lily got it from my grandmother Lucille and passed it on to me.

Henry and Polly's son John Nelson

(our 4X Great Uncle)

Our 3x Great Grandparents

Thomas and Mary's son Frederick Sylvester File and family.

Nancy died within two years of this photograph.

Their family home and the siblings (all grown up) are in "Strong-Willed Woman."

America and Drink

Americans in the 1700s and 1800s consumed an unbelievable amount of alcohol. To be drinking at 1830 levels, you and your spouse would be plowing through roughly 3.4 standard, 750 ml bottles of Jim Beam per week, in a single household.

My goal in all of the Dead Family Tales is to present stories that would have been told around a kitchen table or campfire during family gatherings.

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