Fee Brothers

fee brothers

1835 is the year and Owen Fee the 31 year old explorer, who has his eyes set on New York. Born in Ireland's County Monaghan he was destined for New York and by 1847 had his own butchers shop up and running in Rochester, with his wife Margaret and three children James, Mary Jane and Owen Jr. One year later in 1848 and their fourth son John Fee arrives, and by 1850 another son Joseph arrived making it five children in their ranks.

By 1855 Owen Sr. passed away leaving his wife Margaret and 5 children to fend for themselves. Margaret took this all in her stride and raised the children on her own alongside running the business and converting the butcher shop to a saloon and delicatessen. The shop made and sold sandwiches to local travelers. By the time James had reached 25 he had opened his own Grocery/Liquor store and by 1864 his mother Margaret had mortgaged her houe to allow for his new business James Fee & Company to trade. 

The years went by and the Fee family worked at the store and eventually developed into producing Wine and imports. Bye 1883 due to the partnership formed between the brothers the name was changed from James Fee & Company to Fee brothers. They continued to work together for years to come until 1908 when a fire caused $400,000 worth of damage to the building they operated from. However this did not stop them, and within months they were back in operation and had gained more people to the ranks in the form of John and James' children.

The business remained in the family and has been passed down from generation to generation, they experienced more troubles during prohibition but were able to continue trading and eventually developed into producing bitters. To this day they still produce bitters with over 100 different flavours to their names.