The steamer list has been updated and upgraded. Each research trip to The National Archives uncovers more information. The steamer list is in alphabetical order by packet name. It can also be searched and sorted by Build Date and Build Location, Primary Owner and Build Date, etc., leading to interesting analysis. The link is GtownSBList 180806.
Like most family boats, there were several owners and masters during the lifetime of most vessels. The primary ownership, displayed in the following table, represents the primary owner according to the first Certificate of Enrollment of the Custom House in Pittsburgh, PA. Where the original owner is not a Georgetown family name, I have listed the Georgetown connection by providing the position, such as Master, Pilot, Clerk, etc. A link to the Certificate of Enrollment, if available, is provided via the packet name. It should also be noted that starting around the time of the Civil War, companies were established with shares distributed to the partners to limit the risk. It should also be noted that the Poe wives and sisters were owners of Poe family boats. For example, Martha Jane Poe, Thomas Washington Poe’s second wife, owned 2/16 of the str Clara Poe according to the Certificate of Enrollment in 1862. That was eight years before her husband whacked her in the head with an axe when the str Nick Wall was snagged on the Mississippi in Dec 1870.
The names on many of the hand-written Certificates of Enrollment are misspelled. Of course, the Georgetown Calhoon family is a prime example often listed with the more common spelling Calhoun. Suurprisinglyt, the name George Washington Ebert has been the most abused. The listings observed so far include: Geo Ebert, GW Ebert, Washington Ebert, and even George W Ebbert.
All Georgetown steamers, keelboats, tugs, and barges with a capacity of more than twenty tons had to registered with the Custom House at the Port of Pittsburgh after 1835. Before 1835, Pittsburgh was a region of the Custom House of New Orleans. The usual Cause of Surrender of the Certificates of Enrollment was:
(1) license expired,
(2) change in owners,
(3) change in property, such as adding a new deck
The counts for Georgetown currently stands at:
Steamers 105
Keelboats 36
Tugs 3
Barges 8
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