The Mystery of the Garrett Snuff Fortune

The following article is archived from Delaware Today, located here.

The Mystery of the Garrett Snuff Fortune
A fortune built on Red Clay Creek went mostly to lawyers.

BY MARK DIXON

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Haven’t written a will yet? Then, you should know about the Garrett Snuff fortune—$30 million, most of which went to lawyers.



The story begins in 1930 when Henrietta Schaeffer Garrett—a childless widow and heir to a fortune that took 150 years to build—died without heeding her long-dead husband’s request that she write a will. By the time it was over in the 1950s, more than 26,000 self-proclaimed heirs had come forward to claim the estate.

“Like ants frenzied by a blog of sticky honey, the alleged heirs…converged on Philadelphia by bus, train and automobile,” wrote historian Clifford Weslager. Dozens misrepresented their own ancestry, accused their dead parents of having affairs and falsified official and family documents to present themselves as Garrett heirs.

In Germany, a man who shared Henrietta’s maiden name shot his aunt and uncle after they refused to fund his trip to America to claim the Garrett fortune. (In remorse, he then committed suicide.) In Philadelphia, “someone” slipped an entire forged page into the bound files of death certificates in the vital records office. Even Henrietta’s trusted business manager made his play.

“One searches the voluminous records of the Garrett case in vain to find an unselfish character to contrast the godly with the unrighteous,” wrote Weslager. “There was one wholesome, fine, upright person, and that was Walter Garrett, whose money was the cause of it all.”

Garrett was the great-grandson of John Garrett, who began making snuff in 1782 at what had been a flour mill on Red Clay Creek near Yorklyn. Snuff is a form of powdered tobacco inhaled into the nose by users. Natives of Brazil are the first to have used snuff, which was introduced to Europe by a Franciscan monk after he noticed natives using it on Columbus’ second voyage in 1493. By the 18th century, snuff was the tobacco product of choice among elite Westerners.

Garrett Snuff was long a leading brand, mostly because the family got into the business early and built a lead over other producers. Folk tales in New Castle County asserted that the water of Red Clay Creek conveyed special properties to the Garrett products. But, according to Weslager, the tobacco was grown elsewhere and Garrett manufacturing processes were nothing unusual.

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It was a hugely profitable business. In 1850, Walter’s father, William Garrett, built what Weslager called “one of the most pretentious mansions in Christiana Hundred”—three stories tall with 19 rooms, oak floors, paneled doors, wainscoting, fireplaces with marble mantles and balustrade stairs. Locals called it the “snuff mill mansion.” And it wasn’t even William Garrett’s full-time home; he had moved to Philadelphia. William Garrett bequeathed the snuff mill to his sons, Walter and William Jr., the latter of whom died childless, thus returning his share to his brother.

When Walter Garrett married Henrietta Schaeffer in 1871, he was a 40-year-old bachelor—tall and heavyset, with a flowing mustache, who wore a frock coat, starched collar and silk hat. She was 22, and blond and had left school in the eighth grade. As one of the richest men in Philadelphia, Garrett had a wide choice of potential wives. According to Weslager, however, he was “smitten” when he saw Henrietta scrubbing the stoop in front of her parents’ house on South 13th Street.

“A latter-day Cinderella story” is how the newspapers described it. Walter bought her a three-and-a-half-story house on South Ninth Street. Then he bought the house next door for her family and connected the two so Henrietta could visit her family at will. He also provided a coach and horses, a coachman, a cook, a personal maid and a downstairs maid.

“To say that Walter loved his pretty, young wife is an understatement,” wrote Weslager. “He adored her, he cherished her and he became so devoted to her that he didn’t want to leave her side.” Henrietta didn’t like highbrow amusements such as the opera, so Walter stopped going. She did like sentimental sheet music, so he bought her a rosewood piano on which to play it. She also liked Atlantic City, so he built her a 10-room “cottage.”

But Henrietta was not dumb. After Walter died in 1895, she did not blow the $6 million he left her. She lived modestly—more so than Walter—and kept careful track of her investments. Her physician would later testify that he often found her reading stock reports when he made house calls. In the 35 years before her own death, the estate grew to $17 million and to $30 million by the time it was distributed in 1951.

Settling the estate took years because every claim had to be investigated. In 1937, Henrietta’s body was exhumed to confirm that no will had been secreted in the coffin. Genealogists produced a three-volume report dismissing relationships to all but three cousins. These were people Henrietta had never met, but to whom she was related through her mother.

Afterward, workers went to Henrietta’s house on Ninth Street with orders to smash everything, including the rosewood piano. Administrators had decided that nothing could be sold, lest some buyer later use an item to claim a relationship to the family and make a new claim on the fortune. The fragments were loaded into seven wagons, transported to a lot outside the city and burned.

Now, call your lawyer and make that will.

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I found this article interesting, because it refers to the Garrett snuff empire, and suggests how successful it was.  It is sad to think that the fortune had no direct heir to go to, and that the whole thing ended in a huge legal battle and all the money going to lawyers.

Mark Stinson
Modern Snuff Website

Famous Snuff-Taker - Samuel Johnson

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Dr. Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and committed Tory, and has been described as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history." He is also the subject of "the most famous single biographical work in the whole of literature," James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson.

Samuel John spent eight-years compiling and writing his A Dictionary of the English Language, with 42,773 word entries, and approximately 114,000 literary quotations included to illustrate the usage and context of the words.  Johnson had planned to complete the work in three years.  In comparison, the Académie Française had forty scholars spending forty years to complete their dictionary of the French languate, which prompted Johnson to claim, "This is the proportion. Let me see; forty times forty is sixteen hundred. As three to sixteen hundred, so is the proportion of an Englishman to a Frenchman."

Johnson was a tall and robust man. His odd gestures and tics were disconcerting to some on first meeting him. Boswell's Life, along with other biographies, documented Johnson's behaviour and mannerisms in such detail that they have informed the posthumous diagnosis of Tourette syndrome, a condition not defined or diagnosed in the 18th century.

It is said that Dr. Johnson took snuff by the fistful and filled the pockets of his coats with the magic tobacco dust.  Below is an image of one of his snuff-boxes.  It is carved ivory in the shape of a gloved hand.  It has a silver top that is engraved with, "Dr. Samuel Johnson, The Lexicographer, 1770, From a Friend." (Circa: 1770, Size: 4" H x 2 1/8" W x 1 3/4").

Mark Stinson

Modern Snuff

Frederick the Great Was Saved by his Snuffbox

Frederick the Great ruled Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786.  Frederick aspired to embody the Platonic ideal of a "philosopher-king."  He was a poet, a writer, a musician, a domestic reformer and a brilliant military strategist.

Frederick led his nation through multiple wars with Austria and its allies. His daring military tactics expanded and consolidated Prussian lands, while his domestic policies transformed his kingdom into a modern state and formidable European power.  He was an enthusiastic patron of the arts and sciences, and corresponded with the top minds of the Enlightenment.  He had a long and sometimes contentious friendship with Voltaire.

Frederick The Great used snuff, especially under the stress of command. Once a musket balll hit a snuff box in his breast pocket, saving his life!

The cynical temper of Frederick the Great is well known. Once when his sister, the Duchess of Brunswick, was at Potsdam, Frederick made to the brave Count Schwerin the present of a gold snuff-box. On the lid inside was painted the head of an ass. Next day, when dining with the king, Schwerin, with some ostentation, put his snuff-box on the table. Wishing to turn the joke against Schwerin, the king called attention to the snuff-box. The Duchess took it up and opened it. Immediately she exclaimed,' What a striking likeness! In truth, brother, this is one of the best portraits I have ever seen of you.' Frederick, embarrassed, thought his sister was carrying the jest too far. She passed the box to her neighbor, who uttered similar expressions to her own. The box made the round of the table, and every one was fervently eloquent about the marvelous resemblance. The king was puzzled what to make of all this. When the box at last reached his hands, he saw, to his great surprise, that his portrait was really there. Count Schwerin had simply, with exceeding dispatch, employed an artist to remove the ass's head, and to paint the king's head instead. Frederick could not help laughing at the Count's clever trick, which was really the best rebuke of his own bad taste and want of proper and respectful feeling.

Mark Stinson
Modern Snuff Website

The Marie Antoinette Most of Us Don't Know

In the 18th century giving a snuff box as a present became a sign of exalted gift-giving.  Marie Antoinette had fifty-two gold snuff boxes in her wedding basket.  While this may seem extravagant, it should be remembered that in the eighteenth century the snuff box was the equivalent of jewellery and not only did the snuff box change with artistic fashion but anyone who was anyone needed to have a variety of these boxes.

What most people think they know about Marie Antoinette is actually false.  She was originally Austrian. She never actually said, “Let them eat cake.”  She was a champion of the American
side of the Revolutionary War, and without her efforts the war might have ended quite differently.  After the French Revolution, none other than the American revolutionary Thomas Paine (at that time part of the French Legistlature, as strange as that sounds) advocated exile for the Royal Family to the United States, rather than death.   Marie Antoinette was a loving dedicated mother, and she faced execution by guillotine bravely.  Marie Antoinette also took snuff, though it is said she was more likely to carry a box of bon bons on her person, than a snuff box.

She may have also standarized the modern handkerchief as we think of it today.  The handkerchief has a long history as a piece of cloth carried to clean one's nose.  But, prior to the triumphant arrival of tobacco (specifically snuff tobacco) in Europe, the handkerchief had become an object of fashion.  Snuff brought the handkerchief back to its original purpose, as it became indispensable for cleaning snuff-stained noses! White handkerchiefs were hardly suitable for this and people took to using large, coloured kerchiefs to hide the stains.  Up until this time, the handkerchief had come in many shapes, such as round, square, triangular, etc.  According to legend, one day Marie Antoinette at Versailles remarked that the square-shaped handkerchief was the most pleasing as well as convenient. This prompted Louis XVI to make it mandatory for all handkerchiefs produced within the kingdom to be  square in shape.  And the rest, as they say, is history...

Click Here to read about more famous snuff-takers.

Mark Stinson
Modern Snuff Website

1967 Video - Snuff Month in Oxford

The history of snuff-taking is interesting, and its fun when you stumble across some old film of snuff-takers.  This particular piece is from 1967 and was shot at Oxford, where the Society of Snuff Grinders, Blenders, and Purveyors sponsored a month of snuff sniffing sessions for experienced snuff-takers and newcomers as well.

I love the 1960's sound and feel of this video, and you get to see a couple of cool snuff boxes and plenty of snuff pinching.  This video is belongs to British Pathé, a producer of newsreels, cinemagazines, and documentaries from 1910 until 1970 in the United Kingdom.

Mark Stinson
Modern Snuff Website

Why Some Snuff Boxes are Shaped like Women's Shoes...

If you google vintage or antique snuff boxes, you find quite a few of them that are shaped like women's shoes.  And so this begs the question, why did the Victorians use shoe-shaped snuff boxes?  For those of us living in modern times, it seems like an odd choice.

  

When I decided to dig into this question, I was amazed at the number of different theories there were, and how diverse they were.  Here are a couple of theories that you will hear from time to time, that I believe to be incorrect.

1.  That because most of them are shaped like women's shoes, the snuff boxes must have all belonged to women, because "women seem to like shoes."  This as we will see below, is incorrect.  In actuality, men owned these shoe-shaped snuff boxes, and they were not relegated to women.

2.  One source suggests that the shoe is a symbol in Freemansonry, and that many shoe-shaped snuff-boxes are decorated with masonic symbols.  While some of these snuff boxes do have masonic symbols on them, most of them do not.  Freemasons decorate all sorts of things with their symbolism, so of course some of them decorated their snuff boxes in this way.  While the shoe is a symbol in Freemasonry, shoe-shaped snuff boxes did not originate with the Freemasons.

3.  The same source from #2, also suggested that in the Bible the shoe symbolizes the earthy in contrast with the holy, and thus the shoe-shaped snuff box was a reminder that snuff taking was an earthly vice.  There is no reference to this in any other source that I could find, and as we'll see below the shoe symbolizes many more things than the "earthly."

4.  Its been suggested that Victorians were a little obsessed with catching a glimpse of a woman's shoe and ankle, and therefore identified a woman's shoe with something a bit naughty or illicit.  And thus, what better shape for a man to offer another man a pinch form, than a somewhat illicit woman's shoe.  While this is true, there is more to it than that.

So, let's build on this last one and give as complete an answer as is possible.

  

The shoe is symbolic of good-luck, it has romantic connotations, and specific it has symbolic connections with weddings and travel.  So in the 18th and 19th centuries, a shoe-shaped snuff box was often given as wedding gift or as a gift to a traveler to bring them good luck.  There was a novelty aspect to making many different Victorian objects in the shape of a shoe, and the snuff-box was just one of these objects.  If you enjoy history, then you may enjoy some additional information.

Shoes are more than just a depiction of footwear here. The shoe is a romantic symbol that has been with us a long time. In the middle ages, a father would hand the bridegroom a shoe to transfer the authority he had over his daughter to her husband. Today, we tie shoes to the bumper of the honeymoon car.  Shoes and Eros are soul mates: Fetishists adore shoes as symbols of the female sex. In the Victorian age, the peek of a shoe from under the all encompassing, many layered skirts could arouse a passionate interest. Cinderella loses her shoe and it leads the prince to her, the 12 Princesses dance holes in their shoes and finally, there's Puss in Boots!

Shoe- shaped snuff boxes were commonly made throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Traditionally associated with good luck wishes, they were given as gifts for travelers and wedding couples setting off on the "journey" of marriage. (Source)

And some additional information from another source:

Shoe and boot shaped snuff boxes were made throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Shoes have long been associated with love and marriage and were often given for good luck.  (Source)

A tradition of giving a shoe-shaped snuff box as a gift at a wedding or to a traveler would explain why we see so many examples of shoe-shaped snuff boxes.  This tradition is in line with the romantic nature of shoes, especially for the Victorians.

    

  

I enjoy this sort of historical mystery, so let's go a bit deeper.  In "A History and Price Guide to
Miniature Shoes," Zita Thornton has this to say:

Modern, ornamental shoes made from porcelain or resin, have become a collectable favourite in the last few years. However, a fascination with miniature shoes goes back thousands of years. Miniature sandals have been found in Egyptian tombs and fashioned from ancient Persian pottery.

When shoemaking became a highly skilled, decorative craft in the seventeenth century, shoe makers expressed their skill in miniature too. Until the nineteenth century, miniature shoes, as exquisite in their detail as their full sized counterparts, became tokens of prosperity and love and symbolised a desire to share worldly goods, hence the tradition of hanging boots on the back of a newly wed's car.

The emergence of porcelain brought the fashion to aristocratic circles when elegant but expensive porcelain or enamel versions were exchanged. In the nineteenth century the love of novelty encouraged the manufacture of miniature shoes in a wider variety of materials such as leather, wood and brass and brought the custom within the reach of sentimental Victorians of all classes. The less sentimental looked for a function in their ornamental shoes and in this they were continuing a tradition that had its roots in ancient times. The Romans had oil lamps shaped as a foot in a sandal, and perfume containers as hob nailed boots. An ancient ancestor of the stirrup cup was a drinking vessel called a rhyton, which was sometimes made in a boot shape. Victorian gentlemen had shoes fashioned as gin flasks, umbrella handles, paper knives and ink wells, as well as all the paraphernalia associated with smoking and snuff taking such as snuff boxes, match holders, tobacco jars, ashtrays and pipe stops.

The snuff box on the right is an interesting example.  And the following information is from the webpage from which I borrowed the image for this discussion.

This snuff box was owned by the artist Talbot Hughes (1869-1942), who had a large collection of historic dress and accessories. The London department store Harrod's bought the collection and gave it to the Museum in 1913 after displaying it in the store for three weeks.

Shoe-shaped snuff boxes were made throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, probably as gifts. This boot, with its squared toe, is in the fashion of the 1860s. Shoes were traditionally associated with good luck wishes for travellers and wedding couples setting off on the 'journey' of marriage. Silver-coloured shoes are still sometimes used at weddings as good luck tokens.

So, that is definitely my longest blog post thus far.  I've been intrigued with the shoe-shaped snuff boxes since the first time I saw a picture of one.  They seem odd at first look, but with a little consideration of their symbolism and historical meaning, they tell an interesting story from the history of snuff-taking.

To see a photo album with lots of shoe-shaped snuff boxes, Click Here.

Mark Stinson
Modern Snuff Website

Charles Darwin, a Monkey, and Some Snuff

Charles Darwin used snuff as a stimulant while working.  He once game up snuff for a month, and described himself as feeling “most lethargic, stupid, and melancholy.”

His moustache “slightly brown from the habit” of using snuff, Charles Darwin administered snuff to a monkey in order to study its emotions. “It closed its eyelids whilst sneezing; but not on a subsequent occasion whilst uttering loud cries,” he recorded.

Darwin's son wrote this about his father and his snuff-taking:

Our former neighbour and clergyman, Mr. Brodie Innes, tells me that at one time my father made a resolve not to take snuff except away from home, “a most satisfactory arrangement for me,” he adds, “as I kept a box in my study to which there was access from the garden without summoning servants, and I had more frequently, than might have been otherwise the case, the privilege of a few minutes’ conversation with my dear friend.”

He generally took snuff from a jar on the hall table, because having to go this distance for a pinch was a slight check; the clink of the lid of the snuff jar was a very familiar sound. Sometimes when he was in the drawing-room, it would occur to him that the study fire must be burning low, and when some of us offered to see after it, it would turn out that he also wished to get a pinch of snuff.

Charles Darwin clearly enjoyed his snuff.  :-)

Mark Stinson
Modern Snuff Website

St. Philip was a Heavy Snuff-User

A fair number of Catholic Saints were snuff-takers.

During the beatification investigation of Philip Neri, to determine if he would be made a Saint, the man's snuff use became an issue.   An examination of Philip Neri's corpse during the investigation showed that the soft tissues of his nose had gone (he was 79 when he died) and so his body was not incorruptible. It was suggested that this was due to his heavy use of snuff.  Despite this set-back, Philip Neri was canonized a Saint in 1622.

As far as Saints go, Philip's story is pretty interesting.  During an exorcism he forced a demon dog out of a woman, and when it ran at him, he threw a mace at it causing it to flee.  This was a man of action.

Another time, a boy was drowning, and Philip "bi-located" right next to the boy in the water and drug him to shore.  While praying, Philip was so filled with love that his heart expanded breaking two of his ribs!

Another time, a young prince had died without making confession.  Philip put holy water on the prince's lips, brought him back to life long enough to make his confession, and then let the boy slip away again.

Whether religion or saints are your thing, everything I read about Philip suggested he was a very good man at a time when good men were somewhat rare in the Catholic church hierarchy.  I think snuff-takers can be proud this gentleman was one of us.

Mark Stinson
Modern Snuff Website

Abraham Lincoln Enjoyed Snuff

"The items in Abraham Lincoln's pockets the night of the assassination were as follows: a pocketknife, a linen handkerchief, a sleeve button, a fancy watch fob, two pairs of spectacles, a lens polisher, a tiny pencil, tiny fragments of hard red and green candy, a fine brownish powder which appeared to be snuff, and a brown leather wallet (one section was engraved "U.S. Currency" and another section was engraved "Notes"). The wallet contained a Confederate five dollar bill, and nine old newspaper clippings. Included among these clippings were two articles of praise and five others dealing with the issues that were on Lincoln's mind during his final months."

This quote is from this website, but the information is available from news stories, etc.

It is interesting to think of Lincoln, under all the stress of the Presidency and the Civil War, stopping to take a pinch of snuff.

Mark Stinson
Modern Snuff Website

George and Martha Were Snuff-Takers...

Most people in our culture know absolutely nothing about tobacco use or tobacco history prior to the Age of the Cigarette.  They hear that you sniff powdered tobacco up your nose, and think it is the oddest thing they've ever heard!  Like it is some new-fangled idea that doesn't make a bit of sense.

But, a huge number of historic figures that people relate to and know about, were avid snuff-takers.  So, perhaps some images are in order that will educate people that snuff was common-place, mainstream, and one of the most popular ways to enjoy tobacco.

I made the image on the right tonight, to sort of these out the idea.  Click on the image to see it enlarged.  If you are so inclined, feel free to re-post this image, or use it however you would like.

Martha is said to have liked the "best Violette Strasberg," and after George could not longer get his favorite English snuff (for obvious reasons), he would grind up his own snuff and flavor it himself.

Mark Stinson
Modern Snuff Website