- written by John Jameson, with a lot of help from Jamesons (the Whiskey).

Probably every person on earth with the surname Jameson (regardless of the spelling), knows about the whiskey brand with that name, and it is probably fair to say many have actually enjoyed a taste or two of that. But not everybody knows the true story about the company or the family behind the product, or even how it all actually came to be.

John Jameson, the one born in 1740 at Alloa, Clackmanshire, Scotland, is widely credited as the man behind and responsible for the story of the Jameson Irish Whiskey, of Dublin in Ireland. However, most of these stories should probably be best described as somewhat overstated in reality, although not completely untrue.

The Jameson family of which John (1740) was one, can be found in the Alloa area of Scotland, for many years, going back at least to David Jameson born about 1600, and maybe even before that. John was undoubtedly not the only Jameson in Alloa during the time he lived, but was by far however, the most prominent and successful Jameson there, of that time and ever since.

This was a time not to soon after the Erskine family ruled this area of Scotland. It appears that John Jameson (1740) may have been a boyhood friend with one of the younger Erskine sons, as they all lived nearby (apparently on the Ersktine property) and would have grown up together, or at least at the same time and place. In fact, John Jameson named one of his own sons Francis Erskine Jameson. Many have speculated that this relationship was the source of John’s education and eventually lofty appointment as Sherif-Clerk of Clackmannshire, beyond anything known or expected of, or from those Jamesons in this area at that or any other time.

This was also a time and the area where a good deal of the Whiskey in Scotland was being made. Much of that was near by in the Ketnnetpans, where the Stein, Haig and even Erskine families were involved with these early distilleries. Although there is no record of John Jameson involved directly with any of these Clackmanshire distilleries, or the whiskey business in general, he certainly would have known about it and probably had some involvement given his position as the Sherif-Clerk of that area at that time.

Not only that, but John actually married into the Haig family, his wife Margaret being the daughter of John Haig and Margaret Stein. There were also several marriages with the children and grandchildren of John and Margret (Haig) Jameson who then themselves married Haigs, Steins, Woolseys and probably others, as well. It can easily be said that the Jamesons were well connected and quite likely aware of the Whiskey business in eighteenth century Scotland.

Some time in the mid 1700’s, the Stein family was having financial difficulties. Specifically, difficulties with their Whiskey making distilleries in Dublin, Ireland. Not surprisingly John Jameson (1740) somehow (any one of an abundance of family connections) became aware of this and as the story goes, traveled to Dublin (about 1780) whereafter he became involved (at least financially) with those Dublin distilleries. This is however, where the story get’s a little cloudy. It was sometime soon after John’s early visit, that his son John (b.1773) can be found at the Stein Bow street distillery in Dublin, where by 1805 he (the son) was in charge of running the the entire operation, probably with some of his brothers otherwise involved as well. This soon became known as a Jameson family business, especially as his children and other offspring eventually became involved. It was in 1810 that it officially became known as John Jameson and Son Irish Whiskey Company.

In addition to all of this by the early nineteenth century, we find William (b.1777) and James Jameson (b.1783), different sons of John (b.1740) and brothers of John (b.1773), were, along with some of their Stein relatives, operating a different and totally separate Dublin distillery, just south of the Bow street operation, which soon became known as William Jameson Marrowbone Lane Distillery. It appears that the elder John (b.1740) was protecting his investments by imbedding his children within the various distilleries where he had invested, where they ran things and built the businesses. Not only that, but another son, Andrew Jameson (b.1783) established another distillery in the south-east area of Ireland, in Fairfield, near Enniscorthy, County Wexford.  By then the Jameson’s were clearly becoming giants in the Irish Whiskey business. However, contrary to modern folklore, John Jameson (b.1740), the father, is not known to have been in any official way, present in Dublin or with any hands on operational part of these businesses. In fact, we can find no record of him even visiting Dublin again, before his death in 1823. Unlikely, but quite possible, given his considerable and continuing duties in Scotland as Clerk-Sherif of Clackmannshire, which he held until his death, after which his son Robert took over.

Clearly, the powers that now control the image of the various Jameson products worldwide, have made a successful campaign promoting a different image of patriarch of this Jameson family as their active and colorful anchor, even though the facts do not seem to support that directly or accurately. It is true and can honestly be said that he was behind and responsible for this Jameson family taking over and making a success of the several different Jameson Whiskey business, it was just done a little differently than a more modern marketing campaign would now want the world to believe.

There is of course, more to all the rest as well. Ireland went through a serious prohibition period during the early 1800’s, with the obvious effect on the various Jameson whiskey businesses, as did natural disasters like floods, fires and famine. Andrew Jamesons’s business in Enniscorthy failed early on and in 1898 several of the distilleries in Dublin merged into one common Jamesons Whiskey entity. Jamesons, became then and now the single biggest provider in what is universally accepted as the Irish Whiskey Industry. It once, until the mid twentieth century, mostly only produced a bonded liquor, provided in bulk and bottled separately by others. It survived the prohibition of 1920-1933 with the help of bootleggers and remains today, no doubt with the help of effective marketing, an absolute giant in the world, recognized and known to everyone, worldwide.