According to a family website, he was the fourth son in a family of 13 children born in Pennsylvania to Dr. Joseph Rickey and Elizabeth McCleary, an immigrant from County Cork Ireland. The family history puts his 1842 birthplace as Keokuk, Iowa.
Sometime during the Civil War, he met Miss Sallie Howard, who was attending school at a Missouri convent where his sister was a fellow student. They were married soon after the end of the war and had five children. He became a lobbyist in Jefferson City.
Recognizing his own superior talents as a lobbyist, Rickey determined to take them to the nation's biggest stage, Washington, D.C. He apparently came during the early-1880's bearing the title "Colonel," a rank he did not achieve in the Civil War but apparently bestowed because of some work done on the staff of the Governor of Missouri. Among his clients were Western silver interests.
His favorite "watering hole" was Shoomaker's Saloon. It was located a few doors from the National Theater on Pennsylvania Avenue. When Shoomaker's came up for sale about 1883 Rickey bought the place and hung out there as the genial host. It was here the Gin Rickey was born, a concoction that spawned a myriad of cocktails called "Rickeys".
Before long Colonel Joe publicly disavowed that he had invented the gin drink. In an interview published in the New York Telegraph, he was quoted to say: "The drink named after me was always made by the experts in Shoomaker's from limes thereafter, and soon became popular."
The New York Times reported he died at the corner of Broadway and Twenty-fifth Street in New York. His health had been poor.
An eloquent tribute came from Al Smith, future governor of New York and later a Presidential candidate. Smith told the New York Times: "He was the soul of honor. He was square as a die, and if you were his friend you could command his last dollar. He has given away a fortune to those he deemed in need."
Condensed from a fascinating blog:
12 Sept 2013
https://pre-prowhiskeymen.blogspot.com/2013/09/joe-rickey-gave-his-name-to-cocktail_12.html
Sometime during the Civil War, he met Miss Sallie Howard, who was attending school at a Missouri convent where his sister was a fellow student. They were married soon after the end of the war and had five children. He became a lobbyist in Jefferson City.
Recognizing his own superior talents as a lobbyist, Rickey determined to take them to the nation's biggest stage, Washington, D.C. He apparently came during the early-1880's bearing the title "Colonel," a rank he did not achieve in the Civil War but apparently bestowed because of some work done on the staff of the Governor of Missouri. Among his clients were Western silver interests.
His favorite "watering hole" was Shoomaker's Saloon. It was located a few doors from the National Theater on Pennsylvania Avenue. When Shoomaker's came up for sale about 1883 Rickey bought the place and hung out there as the genial host. It was here the Gin Rickey was born, a concoction that spawned a myriad of cocktails called "Rickeys".
Before long Colonel Joe publicly disavowed that he had invented the gin drink. In an interview published in the New York Telegraph, he was quoted to say: "The drink named after me was always made by the experts in Shoomaker's from limes thereafter, and soon became popular."
The New York Times reported he died at the corner of Broadway and Twenty-fifth Street in New York. His health had been poor.
An eloquent tribute came from Al Smith, future governor of New York and later a Presidential candidate. Smith told the New York Times: "He was the soul of honor. He was square as a die, and if you were his friend you could command his last dollar. He has given away a fortune to those he deemed in need."
Condensed from a fascinating blog:
12 Sept 2013
https://pre-prowhiskeymen.blogspot.com/2013/09/joe-rickey-gave-his-name-to-cocktail_12.html
According to a family website, he was the fourth son in a family of 13 children born in Pennsylvania to Dr. Joseph Rickey and Elizabeth McCleary, an immigrant from County Cork Ireland. The family history puts his 1842 birthplace as Keokuk, Iowa.
Sometime during the Civil War, he met Miss Sallie Howard, who was attending school at a Missouri convent where his sister was a fellow student. They were married soon after the end of the war and had five children. He became a lobbyist in Jefferson City.
Recognizing his own superior talents as a lobbyist, Rickey determined to take them to the nation's biggest stage, Washington, D.C. He apparently came during the early-1880's bearing the title "Colonel," a rank he did not achieve in the Civil War but apparently bestowed because of some work done on the staff of the Governor of Missouri. Among his clients were Western silver interests.
His favorite "watering hole" was Shoomaker's Saloon. It was located a few doors from the National Theater on Pennsylvania Avenue. When Shoomaker's came up for sale about 1883 Rickey bought the place and hung out there as the genial host. It was here the Gin Rickey was born, a concoction that spawned a myriad of cocktails called "Rickeys".
Before long Colonel Joe publicly disavowed that he had invented the gin drink. In an interview published in the New York Telegraph, he was quoted to say: "The drink named after me was always made by the experts in Shoomaker's from limes thereafter, and soon became popular."
The New York Times reported he died at the corner of Broadway and Twenty-fifth Street in New York. His health had been poor.
An eloquent tribute came from Al Smith, future governor of New York and later a Presidential candidate. Smith told the New York Times: "He was the soul of honor. He was square as a die, and if you were his friend you could command his last dollar. He has given away a fortune to those he deemed in need."
Condensed from a fascinating blog:
12 Sept 2013
https://pre-prowhiskeymen.blogspot.com/2013/09/joe-rickey-gave-his-name-to-cocktail_12.html
Sometime during the Civil War, he met Miss Sallie Howard, who was attending school at a Missouri convent where his sister was a fellow student. They were married soon after the end of the war and had five children. He became a lobbyist in Jefferson City.
Recognizing his own superior talents as a lobbyist, Rickey determined to take them to the nation's biggest stage, Washington, D.C. He apparently came during the early-1880's bearing the title "Colonel," a rank he did not achieve in the Civil War but apparently bestowed because of some work done on the staff of the Governor of Missouri. Among his clients were Western silver interests.
His favorite "watering hole" was Shoomaker's Saloon. It was located a few doors from the National Theater on Pennsylvania Avenue. When Shoomaker's came up for sale about 1883 Rickey bought the place and hung out there as the genial host. It was here the Gin Rickey was born, a concoction that spawned a myriad of cocktails called "Rickeys".
Before long Colonel Joe publicly disavowed that he had invented the gin drink. In an interview published in the New York Telegraph, he was quoted to say: "The drink named after me was always made by the experts in Shoomaker's from limes thereafter, and soon became popular."
The New York Times reported he died at the corner of Broadway and Twenty-fifth Street in New York. His health had been poor.
An eloquent tribute came from Al Smith, future governor of New York and later a Presidential candidate. Smith told the New York Times: "He was the soul of honor. He was square as a die, and if you were his friend you could command his last dollar. He has given away a fortune to those he deemed in need."
Condensed from a fascinating blog:
12 Sept 2013
https://pre-prowhiskeymen.blogspot.com/2013/09/joe-rickey-gave-his-name-to-cocktail_12.html
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