# EXWACO JAR



## dano (Feb 1, 2011)

My son just found an EXWACO jar that`s green with a porcelain centered lid. It`s about 7 inches tall and maybe 2 and a half inches across. Can see a swirl with some bubbles in the jar and there is a 4 on the base. Any idea what it was used for or if it has much value?  Kind of pretty after he cleaned it up.


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## dano (Feb 1, 2011)

EXWACO Jar


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## surfaceone (Feb 1, 2011)

Hey Dano,

 Welcome to the Forum & thanks for bringing this nice green guy. Did your son dig it?






 "Mustard jars with original Exwaco (Exley, Watkins & Co, Wheeling, WV) product labels."






 "Exwaco style tall colored pint mustard jars." From.

 "W. H. EXLEY, a prominent resident of Wheeling and a member of the board of 
 education, is president of Exley, Watkins & Company, extensive 
 manufactures of and wholesale dealers in preserves, jellies, catsup, 
 mustard and sauces. Mr. Exley was born at Wheeling, Ohio county, West 
 Virginia, in 1867, and is a son of W. H. Exley, Sr. 

 W. H. Exley, Sr., was also born in Wheeling, and for some years was 
 associated with his father, also names W. H. Exley, in contracting, house 
 building, etc. In this line of business he continued until 1878. He then 
 retired from active work, and devoted the latter years of his life to 
 travel. He died on October 8, 1900. 

 W. H. Exley, Jr., was the only child born to his parents, and at an early 
 age attended the public schools. He subsequently entered Eastman's 
 Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York, and completed the course of 
 study in 1884. Immediately thereafter he returned to Wheeling and entered 
 the employ of Mr. Hunter, in the line of business in which he is now 
 engaged. In 1896, with three other employees of this firm, namely, C. H. 
 Watkins, Jr., W. B. McGavin and John M. Vollinger, he established his 
 present business, now conducted at Nos. 86-88 Nineteenth street. The 
 building first used stood across the creek, and was destroyed by fire 
 September 15, 1898, after which the present plant was erected, which is 
 practically fireproof. The main building has about 30,000 square feet of 
 floor space, and the other building about 20,000 square feet. The 
 copartnership of the four men continued until May 18, 1899, when Exley, 
 Watkins & Company was incorporated, with the following officers: W. H. 
 Exley, president; W. B. Mcgavin, vice-president; C. H. Watkins, Jr., 
 secretary; and John M. Vollinger, treasurer. These four officers, with C. 
 H. Watkins, Sr., compose the board of directors. They employ on an average 
 60 girls and 25 men, but through the busy season can easily use double 
 that number. The trade of the company extends from California to Maine, 
 and one or two men are constantly on the road, one of them always being a 
 member of the firm. The business is conducted through brokers and by mail 
 orders and is exclusively wholesale. The plant is complete in all its 
 details, modernly equipped and run by steam. The vegetables, such as 
 tomatoes, etc., are contracted for with neighboring farmers, and mustard 
 seed is bought in car lots along the California coast. The necessary 
 vinegar is brought in tank cars from the West. In the rear of this 
 extensive plant is a regular depot, with a dside track sufficent in length 
 for four cars. There has been a wonderful growth in the business 
 transacted by this company,--a fact due solely to judicious management and 
 practical methods of doing business. 

 Mr. Exley was united in marriage with Lizzie Lindsay, of Steubenville, 
 Ohio, and they have two children: Charlotte C. and Howard L. They reside 
 at No. 40 Thirteenth street, where Mr. Exley owns a comfortable home. In 
 politics he is a Republican, and in November, 1900, was elected a member 
 of the city board of education from the third ward or Clay district. 
 Fraternally he is a member of Nelson Lodge, No. 30, A.F. & A.M.; Wheeling 
 Union Chapter, No. 1, R.A.M.; Wheeling Commandery, No. 1, K. T., and is 
 a thirty-second-degree Mason. He also belongs to the Royal Arcanum. 
 Religiously, he is an attendant of the Methodist Episcopal church." From.

 "...Charles Hamilton Watkins, Jr., was born on Wheeling Island, March 7, 
 1871.  Watkins is a very old American family of Welsh ancestry.  There were 
 three brothers, named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego Watkins, who came from 
 Wales and settled in the colonies of Delaware and Maryland, whence their 
 descendants have scattered to all parts of the country.  The 
 great-great-grandfather of the Wheeling business man was Peter Watkins, who 
 was born in Delaware, December 30, 1712.  During the Revolutionary war he 
 held letters of marque from the Continental Congress.  He was killed on board 
 a United States Man o' War, April 12, 1788.  His son, Thomas Watkins, was 
 born March 8, 1771, and was an early pioneer of Southern Ohio, locating in 
 Guernsey County, where he followed farming until his death on August 7, 1844. 
  On November 2, 1802, he married Elizabeth Worley, who was born in Belmont 
 County, Ohio, October 12, 1786, and died in Guernsey County, March 11, 1831.  
 Their son, John Watkins, grandfather of C. H. Watkins, Jr., was born in 
 Guernsey County, Ohio, November 11, 1804, and as a young man settled on 
 Wheeling Island, thus having a home convenient to his business as a steamboat 
 engineer and river pilot.  The last years of his life he was toll taker at 
 the old bridge between Bridgeport and Wheeling Island.  He died at the age of 
 seventy-two.  December 12, 1828, John Watkins married Sarah Dillon Hunter, 
 who was born December 12, 1800, and died on Wheeling Island in 1866.
     Charles H. Watkins Sr., was born on Wheeling Island March 21, 1841, and 
 spent all his life in Wheeling.  He was an accountant, and for a number of 
 years was manager of M. Marsh & Son.  He died at Forest View, Elm Grove, 
 Wheeling, in October, 1908.  He had a record as a soldier of the Union Army 
 in the Civil war, having enlisted in 1861 in Carlin's Battery D, First West 
 Virginia Light Artillery.  He was taken prisoner at the battle of Lexington, 
 and was in Libby Prison until he and a companion, William Pebler, made their 
 escape from that famous warehouse prison.  As a result of his stay there he 
 was incapacitated for further duty, and after 1864 was not in the army.  He 
 served three years as city clerk of Wheeling, but after resigning would never 
 seek another political office.  He was one of the founders of the Thompson 
 Methodist Episcopal Church of Wheeling and very active in its affairs.  C. H. 
 Watkins, Sr., married Rachel Ann Marsh, who was born at East Wheeling in 
 1844, and died in 1906.  A record of their children is:  Mifflin Marsh and 
 William Brown, both of whom died in infancy; Charles H., Jr.; John Wagner, 
 who died at the age of twenty years; Harry Adams, owning and operating a 
 ranch near Fruita, Colorado; Edna Rachel, wife of French D. Walton, former 
 city editor of the Wheeling Intelligencer and now conducting a successful 
 publicity business at Wheeling; Joseph Jacobs, a dealer in automobile 
 accessories at Clarksburg, West Virginia; Roy Naylor, who died at the age of 
 four years; and Wilbur Whally, who was associated with his brother, Charles, 
 in business and died of the influenza, January 30, 1919.
     Charles H. Watkins, Jr., attended the public schools of Wheeling, but at 
 the age of sixteen left school to go to work in a retail store.  For a short 
 time he was assistant bookkeeper of L. S. Delaplain Son & Company, and then 
 kept books for J. W. Hunter until 1896.  His first independent effort in a 
 business was as member of the firm Exley, Watkins & Company, operating a 
 preserving plant, and Mr. Watkins retained his financial interest in this 
 business until 1907.  However, after 1900 he was not active in the 
 management, having, as noted above, acquired the interests of his partner in 
 the firm Foster & Watkins, with which he had been previously associated as a 
 silent partner.  Then the firm Foster & Watkins was changed to C. H. Watkins, 
 Jr., & Company, and Mr. Watkins has been the leading spirit in the successive 
 changes and increases in this great mercantile and department store.  He has 
 direct personal charge of the undertaking department of the business.  There 
 are seven departments altogether...." From.


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## dano (Feb 1, 2011)

I a box, cleaning out an old shed. Thanks for the reply.


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