Archive for August, 2010

Georgetown Steamboat Men and Their Licenses

Monday, August 16th, 2010

Carl Hugh Jones, the river historian and researcher, compiled the data presented in the following table.  He charges a small fee to search his files and books for information on steamboat captains and crew.  For my request, he researched all the steamboat licensed men from Georgetown, PA.  His results produced thirty names rather than the twenty known to me.  If you have a similar requirement, Mr Jones can be reached at the following email addr:  Carl Hugh Jones

 

I will add this table to one of the static pages in the near future.

 

 

Georgetown Steamboat Men and Their Licenses

Compiled by Carl Hugh Jones  August 13, 2010 

 

Name Birth Death License InformationIssue/Type//Date/Region
Calhoon, John 1809 1846 Died before licenses issued.
Calhoon, James Hutchinson 1813 1849 Died before licenses issued.
Calhoon,Milton 1817 1889 Died before licenses issued.
Calhoon, George Groshorn 1820 1850  
Calhoon, Richard 1821 1895 1st /  / about 1855/ 13th / 1st class pilot / 1868
Calhoon, Thomas Dawson 1822 1860 Listed as Capt by F Way.
Calhoon, Joseph MC 1823 1855 Listed as Capt by F Way
Calhoon, Thomas Stevenson 1834 1910 1st / 1st class masters / 1871 St Louis25th / of pilots / 1897 Pittsburgh   
Calhoon, William A     1st /  1st class pilots / 1871 Pittsburgh
Calhoon, William A     1st./ pilots / abt 1890 /   6th / Pilots /  19 Mar 1897.
       
Ebert, George Washington 1814 1879 1st /pilot / about 1855 /13th / 1st class pilot / 1868 / Pittsburgh14th  renewal / 1st class pilots / 1869 /1st / 1st class Masters / 1871 St Louis
       
Kinsey, Henry 1812   1st /  pilots / about 1862 Pittsburgh
Kinsey, Jonathan 1820   Listed as owner by F Way.
Kinsey, Thomas 1826   12th /   1st class pilots /   1868 Pittsburgh
       
Parr, Andrew Haque 1831 1907 1st /   pilots /   about 1860 /9th renewal / 1st class pilots / 1869 /11th / 1st class pilots / 1870 /12th / 1st class pilots / 1871 /23rd /    masters / 1897 /28th /   pilots / 1897 /
Parr, Jacob     3rd / combined Masters and pilots / 1874 /
Parr, Jesse 1836 1881  
Parr, John Quincy Adams 1867 1932 Clerk on 5 steamers according to F Way.
Parr, Nathan     /.pilots license / 1862 / Pittsburgh
Parr, Quincy A     1st./ pilots license / 7 April 1915 / Pittsburgh
Parr, William J 1826 1897 1st./ Pilots license / abt  1853/13th / 1st class pilot / 1868 / Pittsburgh16th / 1st class pilots / 1871 /3rd / combine masters pilots /1876 / Pittsburgh23rd / Master /1897 / Pittsburgh

33rd / Pilots / 1897./  Pittsburgh

       
Peppard, Standish 1813 1874 Clerk on 6 steamers according to F Way.
       
Poe, Andrew H 1809 1887 8th / 1st class pilots / 1868 / Pittsburgh
Poe, Adam W 1816 1896 1st / pilots / abt 185414th renewal / 1st class pilot / 1869.
Poe, Jacob 1813 1891 1st / pilot./ abt 185414th / 1st class pilots / 1868 / Pittsburgh17th / 1st class pilots / 1870 /Pittsburgh5th / combined Masters pilots / 1876 / Pittsburgh
Poe, Thomas Washingtonalso Thomas, Jr 1819 1881 1st / pilot./ abt 1853 /15th renewal / 1st class pilot / 1869 /1st /.1st Class Masters license / 1871 /St Louis1st / masters license /  1874
Poe, George W 1830   1st / pilots license / abt 1853 /14th / 1st class pilots / 1868 /15th / / 1869 /   17th / pilots / 1870 /19th / pilots/ 1871 /

3rd / combined masters and pilots / 1874 /

 

Poe, George WE 1844 1943 1st / 2nd class pilots / 1867 /1st renewal / 2nd Class pilot / 1868 /3rd renewal / 1st class pilots / 1869 /4th  / 1st class pilots / 1870 /5th 1 class pilots 1871,  
10th  / 1st class pilots / 1874./

20th / Masters / 1897
30th / Pilots / 1897 /

22nd / Masters / 1907 /

32nd / Pilots / 1907 /

 

       
Stockdale, Jackman Taylor 1828 1887  
Stockdale, Jackman Taylor, Jr     2nd./ special pilots / 25 June 1897 /
1st / combined  masters Pilots / Nov 19, 1897./ good for 5 years.     
Stockdale, Thomas     15th / combined Master and Pilot / 1897 /
       

A Glance at the Compromise of 1850

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

The Compromise of 1850 did not answer the question of whether slavery would be allowed into the new western territories.  The transcontinental railroad was one of many factors to finally force the answer.  Would there be a northern route through Chicago or a southern route with New Orleans as its hub?  The northern route had the Indian problem.  The Nebraska Indian Territory was populated by native tribes who had been shoved out of the east.  To build the railroad, the land would have to be lawfully available for settlement. 

 

On 4 Jan 1854, Senator Stephen Douglas introduced a bill to seize and organize the territory into two states: Kansas and Nebraska.  The legislation also included a clause making the Missouri Compromise inoperative.  The bill passed.  The pro-slavery South won a battle.  The issue of slavery in the new territories would be voted on by the inhabitants of the states.

 

The North exploded in fury.  Once conservative businessmen became stark mad abolitionists forming companies to establish “free state” colonies in the two states.  The rough Missouri frontiersmen seethed as they watched the steamboats full of “the filth, scum, and offscourings of the East bound for Kansas”. [1]  Missouri Ruffians, as the proslavery forces were called, stole the territory’s first election. 

 

During this time, Captains Adam Poe and Thomas W Poe worked on the Missouri and Kansas Rivers.  The str Georgetown commanded by Thomas W Poe was working the Missouri in 1853 and was fatally snagged on 11 May 1855 at Bellefontaine Bluffs on the Missouri.  Capt Adam Poe on the Financier No 2 ventured to Ft Riley on the Kansas River in 1854 — one of three steamers to reach the fort.  In 1855, the Financier No 2 was one of six steamers to supply the settlements along the Kansas River Valley. [2]  The str Ella owned by Capt Adam Poe and others from Georgetown was also working on the Missouri in 1854.  Three Poe steamers on the Missouri during the same 1854 season suggest that either Jacob Poe  or George W Poe was probably commanding the third boat.

 

The Poes were devout members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Georgetown.  In fact, it was reported that boats commanded by Adam Poe  tied up along the shore on the Sabbath.  In 1844 the Methodist Episcopal Church split into two conferences, North and South, over the issue of slavery.  Using this thin thread of conjecture as evidence, I believe that the Poes transported abolitionists with their guns to Kansas in the 1850′s.

 

 

References.

 


[1] Debby Applegate, The Most Famous Man in America, Three Leaves Press, 2006, p 278.
[2]  William E Lass, Navigating the Missouri/ Steamboating on Nature’s Highway, 1819-1935, (University of Oklahoma Press, 2007), p 142.