OHBROWN-L Archives

From: Randal W Cooper <>
Subject: [OHBROWN-L] Tobacconists and Tobacco Growers
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 14:25:13 -0800

Dear Researchers of Brown and Adams Counties, Ohio,

My third-great grandfather William COOPER's occupation in 1850, in
Greenup County, Kentucky, was "Tobacconist".

After carefully reading every occupation in the 1850 Census of Greenup
County, Kentucky, with an obsession that only a genealogical researcher
could identify with, I was intrigued to see that William COOPER was the
ONLY [I repeat, ONLY] Tobacconist in said Census. Add to that the fact
that Biggs's "History of Greenup County, Kentucky" gave the 1870's as
the time that tobacco was first cultivated in the county, and I began to
cast about in my mind as to what scenario I was looking at. What was
this information trying to tell me?

This led to the conclusion that a rural Tobacconist did not necessarily
GROW the tobacco. A Tobacconist converted the tobacco leaves into
tobacco PRODUCTS, such as pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, snuff and
cigars ["segars"]. He then, I would imagine, sold these products to the
neighboring stores, steamboat captains, taverns and individuals. Perhaps
the backwoods Tobacconist had routes that he covered periodically.

Tobacconist William COOPER had to obtain tobacco leaves to carry on his
household artisanship of small-scale tobacco manufacturing. The largest
tobacco-growing regions were not far from Greenup County, Kentucky,
namely, in Mason County, Kentucky and Brown and Adams Counties, Ohio.
Comments?

Thank you, Hermon Brown Fagley, for two extremely interesting postings
on tobacco. If anyone has a suggestion on how William COOPER's
occupation of Tobacconist in 1850 could lead me back to William COOPER's
birthplace and parents in Massachusetts or Connecticut between 1817 and
1825, please share! Thank you very much. Lead me by the "HAND" of
tobacco!

Randal W. Cooper <>
Lorain, Ohio

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