My Wealthy New York Relative, Willis Sharpe
Kilmer
Information Compiled by
D. A. Sharpe
Willis Sharpe Kilmer is my half second cousin, once
removed. Our ancestor in common is John Elsefer Sharp, Willis' great
grandfather and my great, great grandfather. Willis is descended through John
and his first wife, Eve Markle. I am descended through John and his second
wife, Elizabeth Bodine.
Willis Sharpe
Kilmer was born October 18, 1868 in Brooklyn, New York. His family moved to
Binghamton, New York in 1878 where he lived the rest of his life, which ended
in 1941.
Willis Sharpe
Kilmer was born on the first anniversary of the United States' acquisition of
Alaska from Russia. He was born in the year that the Great Train Robbery took place near Marshfield, Indiana,
as seven members of the Reno gang made off with $96,000 in cash, gold and
bonds.
"Binghamton
is a city in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It is near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at
the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers. Binghamton is the county seat of Broome County and is the principal city and
cultural center of the Greater Binghamton metropolitan area (also known as the
Triple Cities), home to a quarter million people.
The population of the city itself, according to the 2010 census, is 47,376.
"The city was
named after William Bingham, a wealthy Philadelphian who bought
the surrounding land in 1792. Before that, the first known people of European
descent to come to the area were the troops of the Sullivan Expedition in 1779, during the American Revolutionary War.
"The community was first settled
around 1802 at the junction of the Susquehanna and Chenango rivers and was
known as Chenango Point.
Binghamton was first incorporated in 1834 as a village of the Town of Binghamton. Binghamton became a city in 1867.
Abel Bennett, who was elected as secretary on January 30, 1845 of the
Pennsylvania Coal Company, was the city's first mayor. His extensive property
on the city's west side is known as the Abel Bennett Tract."*
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binghamton,_New_York
The
Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer newspaper article by Dan Parker in the Sunday, December 8,
1946 issue provides very interesting information on Willis Sharpe Kilmer,
published some six years after his death. The heading claimed, "Everything
the Patent Medicine King Touched Turned to Gold - Even Horse Racing." He was known to have amassed a $10
million plus fortune, mostly on a cure-all patent medicine known as Swamp Root, but also in newspaper publishing,
real estate development and horse racing.
The greatest
medicine he gave the public was what was considered a bag of horse bones named Exterminator, the winner of the Kentucky Derby on
May 11, 1918 in a field of eight contenders. The jockey riding the winner was
William Knapp, the breeder was F. D Knight and the trainer was Henry McDaniel. In
1928, Willis was the breeder for the winner of the Kentucky Derby, Reigh Count. That horse was ridded by jockey Charlie Lang, trained by
Bert Mitchell, and owned by Mrs. John D. Hertz. That same year, Reigh Count was
voted the American Award for Horse of the Year. Also in that 1928 Derby, Willis
owned the 11th place horse out of 22 running, Sun Beau. The rider was jockey John Craigmyle and the trainer was Charles W.
Carroll. Willis, of course, was the breeder as well. This horse racing
information came from an Internet search on Willis' name.
Another major
source of the Kilmer family wealth under the leadership of Willis was vast
elements of real estate development. He built the first sky scrapper in
Binghamton, New York, a towering six stories high! It was the Kilmer Building, 141 Chenango Street, built in 1903, which was originally
used as the home of the Kilmer product, Swamp Root. It was at the corner of
Chenango and Lewis Streets.
"When
you step off the railroad train, the Swamp-Root laboratory is the first
striking object that confronts you - a beautiful, white, high-towering
building." This description of a first impression on arriving in
Binghamton and seeing the Kilmer Building, appeared in a 1917 issue of New York Sunday
World. The article continued: "In many respects this
building stands unique. The main office is wholly unlike anything of the kind
in the country. The massive columns of solid marble and beautiful hand-carved
molding, cornices and ceiling, and the marble mosaic floor, is of a type that
forces admiration."*
Even
in 2010 when the Kilmer Building was undergoing renovation (there have been
several owners over the years), the project head was quoted as saying about the
Kilmer Building that it is "one of the last riveted steel buildings made,
and will probably be here for another 500 years."
http://nyslandmarks.com/treasures/07sep.htm
About 1914, Kilmer
brought Alfred (Fred) Lansing Sharpe up from Texas to
manage his buildings. Fred is a first cousin to Willis' mother, Julia Sharpe Kilmer.
In 1904, Fred was the first Republican elected to a state office in Texas,
following the Days of Reconstruction, Post War Between the States. In 1916,
Fred's life ended with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, following an argument
and shooting of Fred's daughter, Holland. She survived.
He
generally was referred to by his full name of Willis Sharpe Kilmer, with the
emphasis on the middle name. This not only accounted for the strong heritage of
his Mother, but a general acknowledgement about the acumen he was perceived to
possess. This reflected his success in the four wildly divergent endeavors he
pursued, medicine, publishing, real estate development and horse racing.
Kilmer was age ten when
the family moved to Binghamton. His father obtained an interest in the
proprietary medicine business owned by Dr. S. Andral Kilmer, Willis' uncle. Their product, Swamp Root, was reputed to be
a cure-all for kidney, liver and bladder ailments. During those years, the
business was mostly in and around Binghamton.
This all changed
when Willis returned home from his Cornell University education in marketing. His first step was to insert
advertisements in small newspapers all over the country. It was one of the
first national advertising campaigns in the country, a bold act which almost
drove the small company into bankruptcy. However, sales gradually increased
into a steady stream of growing and significant business.
All went well with
the Kilmers, until the turn of the century, when newspapers and magazines began
to attack patent medicine firms which made extravagant claims for their
products. Swamp Root, the maiden aunt's favorite beverage when she wanted to
get a "glow" without losing her membership in the Women's
Christian Temperance Union, was as high on the list of nostrums under fire, as it was in alcoholic
content - 12%.
The result of the
campaign against the medicine makers was to bring about stricter regulatory
laws. By this time, young Kilmer, now in control of the company, had come to
regard the City of Binghamton as his feudal estate. Many of the townsfolk
worked for him, and the Kilmer wealth had a powerful influence on the local
politics.
Kilmer was a big,
impressive looking man, six feet one inch tall, weighing 215 pounds and crowned
with a shock of iron gray hair, which later turned pure while (that's a
description of me today, except I'm not quite all white hair yet). Under
beetling eyebrows, he had a pair of piercing blue-gray eyes which turned dark
whenever he was challenged. An immaculate dresser, he always carried a cane as
his scepter of office as Baron of Binghamton. If common folk weren't frightened
or at least awed by all these props, there was the Baron's deep, booming voice
to keep them in line.
More extensive
light is shown in the following material taken from Seward's
History of Binghamton and Broome County,
pages 148-149. I've paraphrased it for you.
Swamp Root is still
available on the market today, and I purchased four bottles recently at over $5
each for the four ounce bottles! I
notice it is 10% alcohol, which I assume adds to its attractiveness.
In 2004, I was
phoned by Steven Palmatier, who lived in Greene, New York, near the Binghamton
area. We planned to compare some information he has. Steven is the grandson of
a man who was an employee of Willis Sharpe Kilmer, and a distant relative of
Willis. I am indebted to Steven for sharing much of his Willis Sharpe Kilmer
files, which has enabled me to enhance greatly this report on Mr. Kilmer. Unfortunately,
Steven Palmatier died October 24,
2016, so that door
was closed to me then.
Steven told me that
Willis died while at his country estate, Sky Lake, outside of Windsor, New York.
It is now a Methodist Camp (conference meeting grounds). Kilmer also was a
founding member of the Binghamton Country Club, being an admirer of the sport
of playing golf.
There is a very
interesting source on the Internet giving a narrative about Willis Sharpe
Kilmer, by a Mr. John E. Golley, (e-mail: ByGolley@email.msn.com
) at the web site address:
http://www.antiquebottles.com/kilmer.html
Below is an
excerpt:
"Willis Sharpe
Kilmer was born in Brooklyn, New York on October 18,1869. He graduated from
Cornell University in 1880, and went to work in the family business. Willis was
put in charge of the advertising department of Dr. Kilmer and Company, which
lead to a swift increase in business. Advertising in the late 1800's was not
the "science" that it is today, and Willis Sharpe Kilmer was one of
advertising's earliest pioneers. His first wife was Beatrice Richardson who's
socially prominent father was one of the brightest executives in a fledgling
newspaper advertising agency in New York City. Willis Kilmer had a more
metropolitan upbringing than many of his peers, and his relationship with Mr.
Richardson and his family connections all helped benefit Willis and his new
ideas. Dr. Kilmer and Company utilized all the forms of advertising of the day,
including painted wooden signs, posters and printed circulars, but with the
entrance of Willis' leadership, began purchasing advertisement space in
newspapers, expounding the virtues of their numerous cures. They were amongst
the fore-runners in printing Almanacs, which not only would list the normal
items, such as moon phases, best planting times and the like, but at every turn
of the page, listed one or more of the products, printed testimonials for the
same and helped diagnose 'ailments' of which one of their products would
'cure.'
"The packaging
of their products was also easily noticed on the shelf. For ease of finding the
correct cure, their Heart Remedy had an embossed heart on it, Swamp Root Kidney
Cure had a kidney embossed on it and so forth, and their packaging was bright
orange, with the likeness of a whiskered Dr. S. Andral Kilmer, printed boldly
on the front. The package also invited customers to write to Dr. Kilmer for advice
and prescription, which, long after Dr. S. Andral Kilmer had sold his share of
the business, caused Dr. Kilmer to initiate a lawsuit against his brother and
nephew in which he accused Dr. Kilmer and Company of representing him as the
physician in charge of their medical department. He contended that they
pretended to give medical advice and prescribe medicines for diseases which
they pretended to diagnose. When a lower court ruled against Dr. Kilmer and
Company, Willis pursued the suit in The Appellate Court, and in 1917, the
decision against the company was reversed. It was Willis Sharpe Kilmer's
advertising prowess, as well as his 'muscle' via political and professional
contacts, that made Swamp Root a household word. When other patent medicines
were losing popularity, due to The Pure Food and Drug Act, as well as an
increased respect for medical science, Swamp Root was still filling the Kilmer
coffers. When asked what Swamp Root was good for, Willis Kilmer once replied,
'About a million dollars a year!'
"Patent
medicine wasn't the only thing in which Willis Sharp Kilmer was involved. On
April 11, 1904, Mr. Kilmer founded The
Binghamton Press, which became a very well-respected newspaper in the
country. It has been alleged, although never proven, that he started the
newspaper for putting The Binghamton
Evening Herald out of business, and he also could control the
advertising of various patent medicines and any articles condemning the same. There
were several people, such as Samuel Hopkins Adams, who were very much against
patent medicines, and were lobbying very hard for the passage of The Pure Food
and Drug Act. Mr. Kilmer was very successful in 'squashing their stories, and
did eventually put The Evening Herald,
run by his long-time personal and political enemy Guy Beardsley, out of
business. Mr. Beardsley later sued Willis Sharpe Kilmer, charging conspiracy to
put him out of business; Beardsley lost the suit.
"Willis Sharpe Kilmer was also a
very fine judge of horses. The family mansion is still located on Riverside Drive in Binghamton, and on the surrounding grounds, Mr.
Kilmer built Sun Briar Court, which had a 1/5-mile indoor track, an outdoor
track connected to a half-mile circular track, 100 fire-proof stalls, and the
main stable, included offices, quarters and a clubhouse. The Kilmer racing
colors were brown, green and orange. He owned many fine horses; Genie, the son
of Man O'War, Sun Briar, Sun Beau and Exterminator, which won the 1918 Kentucky
Derby, and was the leading money winner for four straight seasons. Sun Beau
held the American record for money won, until Sea Biscuit broke the record in
1939.
Mr. Kilmer owned a large
estate on the Rappahannock River in Virginia known as Remlik (Kilmer spelled
backwards), as well as a game preserve near Binghamton, called Sky Lake. He was
a pioneer in forest and game preservation in New York as well as in Virginia. He
established the Kilmer Pathological Laboratory in Binghamton, and started
Binghamton's first nine-hole golf course, which later became the Binghamton
Country Club.
An interesting story is available here about the USS Remlik and the Metal of Honor! Remilik is Kilmer, spelled backwards.
"Willis Sharpe Kilmer died of
pneumonia on July 12, 1940, leaving an estate estimated at $10 to $15 million
dollars, and is interred in the family mausoleum in Floral Park Cemetery in
Binghamton, New York.
"After World
War II, his second wife, Sarah Jane Wells, sold the rights to make and
manufacture Swamp Root to Medtech Laboratories of Cody, Wyoming. The six-story
Kilmer Building, built in 1903 after the original building was damaged by fire,
still stands at 141 Chenango Street, and Swamp Root was still on the shelves of
the E. C. McKallor Drug Company in Binghamton in 1983. It can still be ordered
today, more than almost 120 years after it was first produced, a testament to
the advertising skill of Willis Sharpe Kilmer and the strength of the Kilmer
name and reputation.Ó
About in 1994, Steven Palmatier loaned me a
paper-bound book, well over 100 pages long, that used as the catalog for
cautioning off the race horse stock of Willis' estate on October 30, 1940 at
the Farm, Court Manor, near New Market, Virginia. The elaborate book gave the
schedule for the day, including lunch, displayed an inventory of all the
stallions, weanlings, and brood mares, had an individual page devoted for the
genealogy and pedigree of each of the 102 horses being sold, including
photographs some of them, and a table showing the house race winnings of Kilmer
annually, totaling $3,919,519 for the previous 18 years. This, of course was
not all his winnings, for we know he owned a Kentucky Derby winner in 1918. This
table of winnings begins at 1922. The book states that Kilmer's horses had won
over 220 races in 1940 alone. The Forward in the book thoroughly establishes
the preeminence of Willis Sharpe Kilmer in the world of thoroughbred horse
racing.
Here is a web site that gives a
history for Exterminator, who it shows won over a quarter of a million dollars in his races:
Bingham was an
interesting town. "Located in the Southern Tier of New York state where
the Susquehanna and Chenango rivers meet, the city is the birthplace of
International Business Machines, better known as IBM. Also, birthed in Bingham
were Endicott-Johnson Shoes and the Link Co., which developed flight training
simulators. Binghamton is home to cartoonist Johnny Hart, creator of
"B.C." and "Wizard of Id." Also, born there: TV producer
and 'The Twilight Zone' creator Rod Serling.
As an aside, lBM
was my employer in 1957-58 half time as a college student in Austin College, Sherman, TX, and full time from 1962-1969. Those employments were in Sherman,
TX and in New Orleans, Louisiana. New Orleans is where I met
my wife to be, Suzanne Margaret Boggess.
Willis Sharpe
Kilmer, not only is an extraordinarily interesting historical man, he is a
primary reason which led me into the interesting pursuit of genealogy and the
learning more extensively about my family ancestry and heritage.
It started about
1978 with my brother-in-law, Victor (Vic) Marcus Ehlers, Jr. (1923-1985). My
father, Dwight Alfred Sharpe (1901-1981) had mentioned to him something about
potentially being heir to a portion of a significant state. He mentioned
Maybelle Alberta Sharpe (1883-1973), his first cousin, as someone who had
tracked the information on this estate. Vic was able to
contact the daughter of Maybelle Alberta Sharpe; whose name was Alberta Killie
(who was my second cousin). She passed on information about the estate of
Willis Sharpe Kilmer.
In my files is a
PDF copy of the Bingham Press issue of Tuesday, February 20, 1945, page 15 (7th
column from the left, toward the bottom, the first item in the "Legal
Notices" section). Since Willis Sharpe Kilmer died without ever giving
issue to any children, his estate was left to his lateral relatives alive at
the time, with his widow given the privilege to enjoy the estate throughout her
lifetime before distribution was made to the lateral relatives. The notice
listed all of what the attorneys at the time understood were the legal lateral
relatives. My father, Dwight Alfred Sharpe is one of them listed, and we
believed his share would have been a little over 16% of the estate.
A reality affecting
greatly the administration of this estate is the fact that when Willis married
his second wife, to whom he was married at his death, she was a very young
woman. At the time of their marriage about 1920, he was age 62 and Sarah Jane
Emily Wells was age 24. Additionally, Sarah Jane lived to the age of 81, not
dying until 1985.
Upon her death,
there became a realization among some potential heirs that the will had a
vagueness that ultimately would interpretation by the courts. The idea about
the estate going to his living lateral relatives alive at his death would
dictate who would be eligible to inherit from the estate. The vagueness was
that stipulation existed: Would
it be the lateral relatives alive at the time of his death OR the time of her
death! Willis died in 1940 and
Sarah Jane died in 1985! Quite a
few relatives died during those 45 years!
Through Maybelle
Alberta Sharpe's estimation, my father would be in line to receive about 1/6th
of the estate, if interpreted as those relatives living at Willis' death.
Here is a copy of the court plea in the Matter of Kilmer. These
plaintiffs did prevail in the court proceedings.
However, since my
father died in 1981 and Sarah Jane died in 1985, the court's decision, among
other things, would dictate whether my father would receive anything at all,
which would trickle down to his descendants. As it turned out, the court
decided in favor of the relatives pressing for the interpretation being those
alive at the time of her death. So, my father was eliminated from possible
distribution.
The value of the
estate was never publicized, either at the probation of Willis' will, nor at
the occasion of Sarah Jane's death, which concluded Willis' will. However,
outside estimates, by newspaper articles and others, placed the estate's value
between 10 and 15 million dollars! With
prudent investment, even with Sarah Jane's living expenses taken out, surely by
1985 the estate was quite a large sum!
Compiled by:
Dwight Albert (D.
A.) Sharpe
805 Derting Road
East
Aurora, TX
76078-3712
817-504-6508