Infallible Yeast Powder, Portable Lemonade
By Richard Leisenring, Jr.
Established in 1845 in Boston, Massachusetts, Preston & Merrill was created with the
partnership of Joshua P. Preston (1808 – 1876) and Joseph Warren Merrill (1819 – 1889) merging
their two small chemical and pharmaceutical business’s into one. The firm began producing a
lemonade mix that Merrill had created in 1837 along with yeast powder, extracts and flavorings
for cooking as well as a limited number of medicines. As the company grew, it expanded their
products to include a variety of soaps, cosmetics, inks and shoe polish.
Around 1870, T. Watson Merrill (1850 – 1904) Joseph’s oldest son, would join the business as a
partner and would later take over as owner, eventually selling off or closing the business around
1898.
Two of the firms products that can be documented to the Civil War (1861 – 1865) are found on
the remains of the Steamship Bertrand which sank in the Missouri River on April 1, 1865. These
are Infallible Yeast Powder (120 cans recovered) and Preston’s Portable Lemonade or Sugar of
Lemons (18 cans recovered).
Infallible Yeast Powder
Preston & Merrill’s Infallible Yeast Powder first appears in advertising in 1851, while it may
have been produced under that name much earlier. It continued to be advertised up to December
of 1897. The main image of the label featuring a loaf of bread first appears in an advertisement
found in The Boston Directory of 1853 and afterwards, published by D. Bigalow & Co.
However, the design may actually date to 1851 although the loaf of bread does not appear in any
earlier advertisements at this time. The label design was used as late as 1887 based on trade cards
and illustrated advertisements such as that found in the St. Louis Dispatch (Missouri), December
29, 1887.
Advertisement illustration from the 1853 Boston City Directory (R. Leisenring Collection)
Original can from the SS Bertrand, middle (courtesy DeSoto Nat. Wildlife Refuge)
Reproduction, right (courtesy hotdiptin.com)
Preston’s Portable Lemonade or Sugar of Lemons
In the case of “Preston’s Portable Lemonade, or Sugar of Lemons”, which was produced from
about 1847 to 1887, the label did not change in design from at least 1865 to 1887. The earliest
known label at this time being those found on the SS Bertrand.
Original can from the SS Bertrand, left (courtesy DeSoto Nat. Wildlife Refuge) Reproduction,
right (courtesy hotdiptin.com)
An 1872 advertisement proclaimed the beverage as having “…stood the test of twenty-five years
in all countries and climates as the best substitute for fresh lemons ever invented. During the
late war large quantities of it were sent south and west by the United States Sanitary
Commission, and it gave great comfort, and materially aided the recovery of soldiers in many
hospitals. Arctic explorers and others on long voyages have found this article almost invaluable,
particularly as a preventive of scurvy, and as making a cooling drink in cases of fever.”
“Preston’s Portable Lemonade or Sugar of Lemons” was packaged in one-pound cans, along
with a half ounce vial of lemon oil. The directions called for 4 to 5 teaspoons of the powder to
be added to a tumbler of cold water, along with 6 to 10 drops of the liquid from the vial, stirring
the mixture until dissolved. Each canister would yield 25 to 30 tumblers or about 5 quarts.
During the firm’s 50-year history, Preston & Merrill were constantly battling imitation products
and infringement on their brand names and would continuously warn the public of it in
advertisements from 1867 to 1888. The Infallible Yeast cans found on the SS Bertrand were
marked on the label as being registered on April 29, 1863. A later version of the Yeast can label
has plainly marked on it in large letters, “Trade Mark Patented Apr. 22, ‘73”. This was done
under the trademark act of 1870. Preston & Merrill would register “the representation of a loaf of
bread” for their yeast powder as a trademark again in 1881. The Preston’s Portable Lemonade
label would also undergo a series of registrations over the years including registering the “word-
symbol ‘Portable’” as a trademark in 1881.
Below is one of those “counterfeits”. This imitation was produced by the firm of Schroeder,
Albrecht & Company of Sacramento, California. Its label was registered as a trademark in the
State of California on July 29, 1869 under the California Trademark Act of 1863. The label, with
a few minor substitutions, closely resembles the Preston & Merrill label.