Today is a good day to remember Lyman Parkhurst. He was born sometime in February of 1830 in Oswego, New York to a family who has been in America since 1635. He was probably considered a black sheep to his old Puritan family but here on Tavern Trove he is recognised as an extraordinary man.

Lyman was just 16 when he had a child out of wedlock, and this seems to have set his life on its adventurous course. Soon after the birth of his grandson, Lyman's father moved Lyman and his younger brother Charles 750 miles west to LaSalle County, Illinois.

Lyman's father retired to farming and Lyman became employed as a boatman on the Illinois and Michigan Canal. In 1848 he was a clerk on the riverboat "Bon Accord", by 1860 he was on the "La Crosse", then the "Fanny Harris". His routes took him all around the central (then western) United States.

In 1856 he married Amelia Eaton Keton and together they had three children, one of whom died as a young girl. Parkhurst's father passed away in 1862 at age 67. At about the same time the "Fanny Harris" was confiscated for the Union during the Civil War. In April of that year Parkhurst partnered with John Dawson to form the Union Brewery in Bloomington, Illinois. The partnership was dissolved in November, and Parkhurst continued as sole proprietor until May of 1864, when he sold out to William T Ragland.

In early 1865, perhaps sensing the imminent end of the war, Parkhurst moved to the captured Confederate city of Memphis, Tennessee and established a brewery there. During the war Memphis was a key supply base for the Union army, but after the departure of union troops the city became racially turbulent. The ethnic violence, specifically the riots of 1866 (in which at least 48 people were killed) may have caused young Parkhurst to look to the west. He had run an expensive half-page ad for his brewery in the 1866 Memphis directory, but by 1868 he wasn't even listed as a resident.

He had found a new home in Denver, Colorado where his brother Charles had opened up the Tremont House Hotel. In September of 1869 Parkhurst started a brewery with Moritz Sigi, but their partnership was dissolved after someone ruined their first batch of beer by sabotaging it with soap. On January 5, 1870 the two Parkhurst brothers partnered in a new brewery. When Charles died in May, Lyman continued brewing for a while then sold out to Crocker & Goodfellow on the 5th of August 1871.

In the late 1870s the Parkhurst family moved to the gold fields of Deadwood, Dakota Territory where Lyman started a new brewery. He ran that for about six years before removing to Rapid City where he continued brewing until he retired in about 1890. Later that decade, while in his 70s, Parkhurst moved once again back to Denver Colorado to live with his son.

Lyman Parkhurst died in Denver on July 25th, 1898. He was 99 years of age.

Learn more at the links below

Associated Breweries

Lyman Parkhurst Brewery of Memphis, Tennessee, USA
The Union Brewery of Bloomington, Illinois, USA
Lyman Parkhurst & Bro. of Denver, Colorado, USA
Model Brewery, Lyman Parkhurst of Deadwood, South Dakota, USA