Paul, from Silver Spring, Maryland, send in the following story about his relatives involvment with the seltzer industry.

My ancestors were involved in the seltzer business in New York in the early-mid 20th century.

When my great-grandfather Jacob Rascoff came to America in the 1890s, he apparently worked for a man who made seltzer in his basement. When my great-grandmother Esther came from Russia to join him a few years later, she apparently decided that they could have their own seltzer business, so that’s what they did (or so the family story goes).

Esther either purchased or founded the Red Star Bottling Company (I think she purchased it, but I am unsure). She eventually went into business with one of her sons (David “Dolly” Rascoff) and a son-in-law (David Hammer), and the company was called Hammer Soda.