What was Dr. Kilmer's Swamp-Root? It was a diuretic for the kidneys and a mild laxative. I would call it the Go & Flow medicine of its day. Nothing has changed much in our needs.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION of Ingredients:
alcohol 10% (drug active ingredients)
buchu leaves (drug active ingredients)
scullcap leaves (drug active ingredients)
golden seal root (drug active ingredients)
colombo root (drug active ingredients)
valerian root (drug active ingredients)
cinnamon (drug active ingredients)
oil of juniper (drug active ingredients)
oil of birch (drug active ingredients)
balsam copaiba (drug active ingredients)
balsam tolu (drug active ingredients)
venice turpentine (drug active ingredients)
peppermint herb (drug active ingredients)
rhubarb root (drug active ingredients)
mandrake root (drug active ingredients)
sassafras (drug active ingredients)
cape aloes (drug active ingredients)
(The National Museum of American History)
If you go to Bottles.com you can read an extensive history of Andral S. Kilmer. He was known as the 'Swamp-Root King.' That website has several paragraphs noted from History of the Kilmer Family in America by Charles H. Kilmer 1897.
Around 1878 Andral set up a practice and dispensary in Binghamton, NY. His brothers Jonas and Andrew joined the lucrative firm, as well as his nephew Willis, son of Jonas who had taken courses in modern advertising for the times at Cornell. He placed his Uncle Andral likeness on the products boxes and in the pamphlets. It was a financial boon. By 1895, it is noted that the company sold 18 different medicines. The best sellers was Swamp-Root. But it seems Andral was cast aside or 'brought out' unwillingly by his wonderful relatives in 1892. GREED. It seems to always rear its ugly head... Dr. Andral sued his relatives 'bitterly complaining about his being disenfranchised.' Jonas and his son Willis ran the company until Jonas died in 1924.
Noted: Willis bought estates, an ocean-yacht, and a stud farm. A patron of the arts, won the Kentucky Derby, exhibited at Madison Square Garden, introduced golf to his area of NY, founded a newspaper, and left his widow 10-15 million dollars.