Use as a methodological and labor-history correction. It supports early Tennessee distilling and Shelby's commercial role, not an unqualified first-distiller claim.
The source tests a later first-distiller claim against contemporary commercial records and the distinction between ownership and technical labor.
Hannush's reconstruction finds 1780 evidence that Evan Shelby supplied rye meal and malt to Peirce Wall in exchange for whiskey. The record supports Shelby as an organizer or contractor, but it does not identify whether Shelby, a hired worker, a family member, or an enslaved person performed the distillation.
PDF sheet 33; displayed ebook page 18
PDF sheet 30; displayed ebook page 15
Early Tennessee distilling and the Evan Shelby claim
Fresh text comparison2026-09-28: PDF sheets30–33; extracted on-screen ebook labels15–18. Physical PDF-sheet locator is canonical. Full457-sheet visual layout survey completed; contact sheets are not fine-detail proof. Capture lacks endnotes, bibliography and index; this verifies representation of a secondary source, not its primary evidence.
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