Anthony Clifford Eugene

Parents

Father Date of Birth Mother Date of Birth
 Anthony Albert C. 7 OCT 1841  Richardson Emily 1841

Partners & Children

Partners Date of Birth Children
 Thorner Ida Estella Fee 13 SEP 1880  Anthony William E.
 Anthony Margaret E
 Anthony Charles C.

Events

Event Type Date Place Country Description
Birth 15 JAN 1878
Death 29 MAY 1963 Buffalo, NY USA

Facts

Media

Notes

Buffalo Evening News
Buffalo, NY
Saturday 27 April, 1963
page B1

Anthonys Have Been Operating Drugstore Here for 100 Years

by Bob Williams

Buffalo's oldest drugstore has been run by the Anthony family for 100 years and shows no signs like the one-hoss shay, of falling apart at the seams.

Three of the four generations who have run the Anthony drugstore are still at it. Albert C. Anthony, its founder, died in 1900. He had opened the store at 384 Seneca St. in 1863.

His son, Clifford E. Anthony, went to work in the store after graduation from the University of Buffalo as a pharmacist. At 85, Mr Anthony recalls the era as one in which the druggist was also a part-time doctor, dentist and family adviser.

We used to pull teeth in the back room," said Mr Anthony, "We sure got some dandies."

He and his wife, who live at 79 University Ave., have been married for 63 years.

***

Pill-Rolling was just that when Clifford Anthony, a man of slender build who drove his own car until two years ago, went to work with his father. He still has a gadget fro rolling pills, as well as apothecary scales and small weights.

There are even a few old jars in which chemicals were kept. And the drugstore in the 1870 street at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society has relics from the Anthony store.

Almost anyone with $3 could get a druggist's license, Mr Anthony said; but, though a druggist could fill prescriptions, he couldn't own a drugstore unless he had a college degree in pharmacy.

And a bill passed in 1879 gave anyone with a lot of nerve and $1 for a license the right to pull teeth. Mr. Anthony charged 25 cents for each one extracted.

***

In 1926 the store was sold and the Anthony's reopened at 155 E Ferry St. That's were, in 1924, the third generation ---William E. Anthony---got into the act.

William opened another store in 1934 at the present location 2281 Fillmore Ave.

His son, Richard W. Anthony, 28, the fourth generation in the family business works with his father there now. He, too , is a pharmacist.

"But the business is different," said William, "My father sold narcotics over the counter like cough syrup."

"One fellow," said Clifford, " came in every day for two grains of cocaine. Five cents. It was a good thing when the sale of narcotics was controlled."

***

The first Anthony once bought an elixir called Wright's Indian Cough Remedy -- "guaranteed to cure consumption in its advanced stages" and almost anything else.
"It was a good cough syrup," said Clifford, "but some of the claims were exaggerated."

When a law was passed to regulate patent medicine sales, labels were scrutinized carefully. One day a couple of federal agents suggested the claims for Wright's Indian Cough Remedy be toned down.

"By the way," asked an agent, "have you got any Indians working on this stuff?" No Indians, Mr Anthony replied.

"Tell you what," said the agent, "You can put the ingredients into the mixing bowl, then have an Indian stir it. That way you can go on using Indian in the name."

The Anthonys decided to quite the cough medicine business, despite the fact orders were still rolling in.

***

The eldest Mr Anthony remembers well the 5-cent soda -- "There weren't any sundaes yet." -- and drugs so inexpensive that he bought things such as laudanum in five-gallon jars. It now sells at 60 cents an ounce and comes in small bottles.

Leeches, too, were sold regularly. Boys who tied to sell Mr Anthony small ones from local streams were disappointed because they were not suitable. The druggists bought larger leeches from Italy.

The toothache business finally got to be a pain.

"One day a man came in to have a tooth pulled," said Clifford, "and I thought his jaw would break. When it was all over, the man said he wouldn't pay.

"The sign outside says painless." he said.

Did it pain you?" asked Mr Anthony.

"Not the pulling, Doc, But it hurts me to pay that 25 cents."
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World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

Name: Clifford Eugene Anthony
City: Buffalo
County: Erie
State: New York
Birth Date: 15 Jan 1878
Occupation: Pharmacist, 354 Seneca Street, Buffalo, self employed
Race: White
Nearest Relative: Ida Anthony
Roll: 1712128
DraftBoard: 11

--------------------------

Buffalo, New York Directory, 1890

Name: Clifford E. Anthony
Location 1: 384 Seneca
Location 2: b. 49 Ashland avenue
Occupation: clerk
Year: 1890
City: Buffalo
State: NY

Sources

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