Jack Daniel

Jasper Newton “Jack” Daniel grew up near Lynchburg, Tennessee, and learned distilling while young. The surviving record of his birth is uncertain, and dates from 1846 to 1850 have been proposed. He developed a whiskey business using the limestone spring at Cave Spring Hollow and charcoal mellowing associated with Tennessee whiskey.

Daniel never married and eventually transferred management to his nephews, including Lem Motlow. He died in Lynchburg in 1911. Later company history made him an American commercial icon, while modern research has restored attention to Nathan “Nearest” Green, the formerly enslaved distiller who trained him.