Wm E French


Company Names, addresses, dates: 1
  French & Camp, 36 Sycamore Street, Petersburg VA (1869-1872) 1,2
  Wm E French, 36 Sycamore Street, Petersburg VA (1872) 3
  Wm E French, 202 N. Sycamore Street, Petersburg VA (1875-1895) 1,4
  Wm E French, 263 High Street, Petersburg VA (1907-1909)

Notes:
 William Edward French (1844-1922)5 teamed up with William Henry Camp (1848-1915)6 in 1869 and purchased the drug business of "F. O. Hinton", forming the "French & Camp" drug store.2

By 1872, the partnership had broken up and French became the sole owner of the drugstore at 36 Sycamore Street.7
Camp went on to run his own drugstore.1

By 1875, French had moved to 202 Sycamore Street, as that is the year of the earliest newspaper mention I could find for him at that address.4

I've seen a card advertizing Wm. E. French's "COCKADE BITTERS"8.
I've also seen a bottle in an auction that had a label that said "FRENCH'S VIRGINIA TONIC BITTERS ... PREPARED BY WM E FRENCH". So it seems that French prepared and sold Bitters.

In the years after 1895, French was listed as an Insurance Agent and as Manager of the Academy of Music. 1
Then in 1906 he showed up in a Richmond city directory as a druggist at 1229 E Broad Street in Richmond.
Then in the 1907 and 1909, he shows up as a drugstore owner in Petersburg again, this time at 263 High Street. 1
The next year, 1910, he shows up in a Norfolk city directory as a manager of a Peoples Pharmacy in that city. He was living in Norfolk when he passed away in 1922.9

Bottles:
french_02 This is an amber 6.4" mouth-blown bottle embossed:
verticle: W. E. FRENCH / WHOLESALE DRUGGIST / PETERSBURG, VA.
french_01 This is a clear 3.5" mouth-blown bottle embossed:
horizontal: WM E. FRENCH / (mortar & pestle with WEF monogram) / PETERSBURG / VA.


1 Petersburg VA city directories for years: 1866,70,72,76-77,79,82,86,88,91,93,95,97,99,1901,03,05,07,09,11,13,15,17-18,20-22,24,27,29,31,33,35,37,39,41,43,48,50,52,54-55,57,59
2 The Daily Express (Richmond), 16-Feb-1869, p.2 (announcement of new co-partnership "French & Camp")
3 Mecklenburg Sentinel, 20-Jul-1872, p.2 (ad for Wm E French druggst @ 36 Sycamore Street)
4 Roanoke Valley, 10-Dec-1875, p.2 (ad for Wm E French druggst @ 202 Sycamore Street)
5 Find-a-grave entry for William E. French
6 Find-a-grave entry for William Henry Camp
7 Mecklenburg Sentinel, 20-Jul-1872, p.2 (Ad for Wm E French successor to French & Camp)
8 Peachtree Glass article by Fredinand Meyer V
9 Virginian-Pilot, 19-Nov-1922, p.14 (Obituary for William Edward French)


Back to my drugtstore bottle home page.

This page last updated on June 9, 2026.