Bottle Pickers

HEALY & BIGELOW: THE KICKAPOO MEDICINE COMPANY

John E. Healy was a clerk in New Haven, Connecticut in 1867 He would open a bokerage house in Boston sometime in 1878. In 1881 he got an idea of using Indian names for products. He would partner with Charles F.Bigelow in 1882 to start a new business.

John E. Healy and Charles F. Bigelow patent the label "Sagwa" and " Indian Oil" in July 1882. The address that was given was New Haven, Conn. Four the next several years the company remained a small business. In 1885 the first advertising material was copyrighted in 1885.

Healy and Bigelow got the idea to put on medicine shows using supposedly with real Kickapoo's Indians. Sometime in 1894 John Healy would leave the business. Now the business was managed by Charles Bigelow and James Averil. The company now would have offices in New York City also.

In 1901 the company would move to Clintonville, Connecticut under new ownership. Now the companys name became The Kickapoo Medicine Company Inc. In 1907 new packages were adopted and the word Indian was deleted. The company would expand and laboratories were set up in Philadelphia, Penn. and St. Louis, Mo. Eventually the C. I. Hood Company would purchase the Kickapoo Medicine Company.

Below is an almanac from 1892

kickapoo almanac

Below is the Kickapoo Indian Dream Book from1896 - 1908.

Below is a product card showing Kickapoo products from 1907. The companys product list was Kickapoo Oil, Indian Sagwa, Kickapoo Salve, Kickapoo Liver Pills, Kickapoo Worm Killer, Kickapoo Medicated Soup, Kickapoo Prairie Plant, Kickapoo Sage Hair Tonic and Kickapoo Indian Cough Cure.

kickapoo ad 3

Below is a ad and bottle for the their Indian Sagwa product.

There are six variants of these bottles.

INDIAN SAGWA / / HEALY & BIGELOW [embossed Indian head facing left] HEIGHT: 9 x 3 x 1 ¼"" COLOR: Aqua SHAPE: Rect. LIP: SB BIMAL

Variant A: same as above except 7 ¾". Early Sagwa (Circa 1884). There are many different molds and some have strikingly different Indian heads embossed.

Variant B: INDIAN SAGWA / / HEALY & BIGELOW [embossed Indian Head Facing left] HEIGHT: 8 ¾" COLOR: Aqua SHAPE: Rect. LIP: RB with lower flare BIMAL. Most common variant used between 1885-1890's.

Variant C: same as above except amber

Variant D same as above except clear

Variant E: SAGWA / / SAGWA HEIGHT: 8 ¾"and 7 ¾" COLOR: Aqua SHAPE: Rect. with three Indented panels LIP: RB with lower flareBIMAL. Believed to have been used around 1901.

Variant F: KICKAPOO SAGWA STOMACH / LIVER AND KIDNEY RENOVATOR / / CLINTONVILLE, CONN. / / KICKAPOOINDIAN MEDICINE Co. HEIGHT: 8 ¾" COLOR: Aqua SHAPE: Rect. LIP: RB with lower flare BIMAL. This bottle replaced the "Sagwa" with the embossed head. Circa 1906.

There are three variant of the Kickapoo Indian Cough Cure. This
product was tradeark in 1888. The last reference of this product was 1914.

kickapoo bottle 1

HEALY & BIGELOW'S / KICKAPOO / INDIAN COUGH CURE HEIGHT: 61 / 8" COLOR: Aqua SHAPE: Round with Indented front panel LIP: SB BIMAL. Circa 1888.

Variant A: KICKAPOO / COUGH CURE Same as above except 6 ½"Circa 1900

Variant B: KICKAPOO / COUGH SYRUP Same as above except 6 ¼"Circa 1912

Below is a photo of their Healey & Bigelow's / Kickapoo / Indian Oil. There are three variants of these bottles. The Indian Oil was trademarked in 1882 under the name of "Indian Oil".