The Waterway of the World

The Motto of the 

Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Packet Line

 

“Finally, the quality of the boats used and the efficient service rendered has never been excelled on the upper Ohio.  To this day one needs only to mention the names Thomas S Calhoon, J Frank Ellison, and Charles W Knox, commanders of the “Second” Pittsburgh and

Cincinnati Packet Line, to revive the best river traditions of the Ohio River…  The steamboatmen of this period are the pride and boast of the inland waters.  In courtesy they had few if any superiors; in efficiency and accomplishments they were surpassed, among rivermen, only by their contemporaries, “the coal barons”.  For a generation or more the richest river annals of America have been the stories of their deeds and achievements…  From their biographies and those of their contemporaries who have passed on in the last generation could be written important chapters in the story of our national development.”  [1]

No finer tribute could be penned.  In 1932 Charles Henry Ambler, an honored professor of history and prolific author, wrote that description of the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Packet Line and its steamer captains:  [2]  History does not come neatly packaged.  What follows is not a full history of the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Packet Line, or even all of the of men mentioned in it.  It is, rather, the story of a collection of people whose paths put them on the Ohio River during a time of the great titans of industry.

 

The Beginning.

Some fifty-five years earlier in Nov 1877 while the steamer Katie Stockdalewas being built, Jackman Taylor Stockdale and Thomas

Stevenson Calhoon were actively engaged in organizing the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Packet Line.  Thomas S Calhoon was the nephew of Jackman T Stockdale.  This uncle-nephew combination were partners in many river transportation enterprises since before the Civil War.  Capt Thomas S Calhoon and Capt Jackman T Stockdale were also neighbors living within foot distance of each other and the Georgetown Landing.  Both built homes in Georgetown, PA with large picture windows and second story porches overlooking the Ohio River.  Both had long careers in Ohio River commerce. [3]  Both served during the Civil War as masters of civilian transports moving troops and supplies on the western rivers.  They were Union men.  Their loyalties were deeply felt.  The str Horizon, ownership which they shared, sunk on Island No 10 near Grand Gulf, MS on 1 May 1863.  Loaded with troops and supplies, the Horizon had been ordered to steam down the Mississippi past the batteries at Vicksburg.  Running after dark on a moonless night without lights, making evasive moves, badly riddled by rebel cannons, the Horizon was not in serious trouble until the collision with the Moderator. The Moderatorhad been damaged to the degree that it was unmanageable.  Both vessels sunk.  Reports differ on the number of troops lost.  After the Civil War Capt Jackman Stockdale moved his

family to Allegheny City taking his “Georgetown spirit” with him.  Capt Thomas S Calhoon lived all his life in Georgetown and was laid to rest next to his wife in Georgetown Cemetery looking down from the hilltop setting to his home and Georgetown Landing.  If such a place could ever be described as charming, this cemetery surely could.  The whole area takes on the appearance of a well-kept park.  Certainly, anyone buried in the Georgetown Cemetery was at least half-way to his or her final reward.

The Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Packet Line was the imaginative forward-looking concept of river commerce of Jackman T Stockdale and Thomas S Calhoon.  The prime feature of the concept was luxurious river passenger travel service.  The deluxe packets, from their crystal chandeliers and gilt trimmed mahogany cabins to their fancy topped stacks, were designed to cater to high class patrons.  The first officers of the newly organized Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Packet Linewere Jackman T Stockdale (Superintendent with offices in Pittsburgh), James A

Henderson (Steamboat agent with offices in Pittsburgh), Charles M Fairman (Steamboat Agent with offices in Cincinnati), and Thomas S Calhoon (Master of the str Katie Stockdale). [4]  The str Katie Stockdale was the first deluxe packet of the line.

Confusion clouds the original name of the packet line.  The line name on a letterhead found on correspondence dated Nov 1878 was the Pittsburgh, Wheeling, & Cincinnati Packet Line.  Later letterheads eliminated Wheeling as a destination of the line name and so the name Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Packet Line (PCPL) was settled on.  In a few years, it would become the most luxurious line on the inland waterways.  Often this packet line is referred to in print as the “second” Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Packet Line.  The “first” PCPL had been established in 1842 by William Thaw, Thomas Shields Clarke, and others.  The “first” PCPL faded from existence before the Civil War.  [5]

 

The National Scene.

In 1878 as the PCPL was being organized, the nation was beginning to recover from the Long Depression which started with the Panic of 1873.  This financial crisis marked the entire second term of US Grant’s Presidency. [6]   One of the causes of the severe nationwide economic decline was the extreme over-expansion of the nation’s railway system.  Speculative investments in railroads had been driven by generous government land grants and subsidies to railroads.  Even with government support, sixty of the nation’s railroads went bankrupt in the first year of the panic.  Banks with significant railroad investments also failed.  In general, the post-Civil War economy was one of unregulated growth with the government playing no role in curbing banking and manufacturing abuses.  Think of the men who were to form the new nobility of industry and banking during this period.  They reached their manhood when President Lincoln issued his first call for volunteers during the Civil War:  Philip Armour (Beef and Pork in Chicago), Andrew Carnegie (Steel in Pittsburgh),” Diamond Jim” Fisk (Stockbroker and Erie RR in NYC), Jay Gould (Erie and Northwest RRs), James Hill (Coal and Great Northern RR in St Paul), JP Morgan (Banking and RRs in NYC), and John Rockefeller (Oil Cleveland).  All of these “robber barons” bought substitutes to serve in their behalf during the Civil War. [7]  In addition to vulgar wealth accumulation and the ruined fortunes of many American families, it was also time of the origin of bitter animosity between workers and business leaders.   Think of the workers targeted by the new nobility: steel and rail workers maimed and killed, coal miners burned in their homes with their families, and workingmen jailed, beaten, or deported.  It was in historical setting, this thunder cloud of gloom, that the PCPL was founded.

 

 

The Gilded Age of River Travel.

The packets comprising the first fleet of the PCPL, steamers Katie Stockdale, Emma Graham, Granite State, WP Thompson, and Buckeye State, were new luxurious boats giving the line a good start.  [8] The information about the packets listed below include their build date and the departure day from the ports of Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. [9]  In addition to well-heeled passengers, these packets also transported finished steel from the Carnegie Steel mills along with other regional products, such as fine glass, coal, and pottery.

PCPL Fleet in 1879

Packet

Build date

DateDepart PittsburghDepart Cincinnati

Katie Stockdale1877MonThu

Emma Graham1877WedSat

Granite State1870FriSun

Buckeye State1878??

WP Thompson1876??

 

The str Katie Stockdale was the first boat built expressly for the PCPL at a cost of $33,561.65 in 1877. [10]  Capt Thomas S Calhoon was long her master on the Saturday run to Cincinnati.  As newer and more luxurious boats entered the fleet of the PCPL, the Katie Stockdale became the Monday boat from Pittsburgh.  A round trip fare for one passenger, Pittsburgh to Cincinnati as advertised, was $10.  After a long and prosperous career, in 1890 the Katie Stockdale was dismantled in Marietta, OH and much of her machinery including her whistle and roof bell was removed and installed in the new sternwheeler Keystone State. [11]   Capt Thomas S Calhoon commanded the Katie Stockdale her entire 13 years.  He was her only master.

In 1883, the letterhead for the PCPL listed four boats in service. [12]   All were grand packets of the day.

PCPL Fleet in 1883

Packet	Depart Pittsburgh	Depart Cincinnati
Katie Stockdale	Mon	Thu
Emma Graham	Wed	Sat
Scotia	Fri	Mon
Hudson	Sun	Wed

Over and above the normal passenger and freight service the str Katie Stockdale commanded by Capt Thomas S Calhoon led a special relief effort for the victims of the Flood of 1884.   This incredible story begins with a summons to Capt Thomas S Calhoon to get back to his boat which he had tied up in Cincinnati when the Ohio River stage was 16 feet.  It was 40 feet and rising when the summons arrived.  There was no general alarm because the Flood of 1883 had topped at 66 feet 4 inches in Cincinnati.  When Capt Calhoon stepped aboard the Katie on Sunday, 3 Feb, the river was at 46 feet.  Rising and raining.  Fear and anxiety.  No doubt a major flood was coming. [13]

The situation was alarming and yet Capt Calhoon decided to run the 470 miles to Pittsburgh breasting the flood.  All the tributaries of the Ohio for a thousand miles were flooding at the same moment.  Marks showed 57 feet and rising four inches per hour in Cincinnati.   It was a mournful day in Cincinnati.  The city was fighting to save life if it could not save property.  Business was entirely suspended in Pittsburgh. [14]  Although the river full of floating ice and not another steamer was stirring, Capt Calhoon’s biggest concern was whether the Katie Stockdale could get under the railroad bridge at Pt Pleasant, WV.  Even with stacks lowered, the bridge when sighted was going to take the top of the pilot house.    Capt Calhoon ordered the boat’s carpenter to take off the top of the pilot house.   (Another source indicated that the pilothouse was sawed off level with the pilot’s wheel on 10 Feb 1884 to get under the Parkersburg bridge.)   When the roof was dismantled, the pilots, Billy Abrams and his partner Halloway, aimed the Katie at the center of the span.  Afterwards it was told, that the pilot’s wheel raked cobwebs from the bridge’s underspan.  The pilots had counted 120 houses bobbing by that one day.  [15]

When the Katie Stockdale blew her landing whistle at the Point Bridge in Pittsburgh, the flood crest had passed.  The crest on 14 Feb in Cincinnati was 71 feet 12 inches. [16]  The Ohio River valley from Wheeling to Cairo was a major disaster.

After the fairly risky trip up the Ohio, Capt Calhoon was summoned to the wharfboat for a conference.  His partner  Capt Jackman T Stockdale introduced him to Col Samuel Cushing of the US Army.  The US Congress had appropriated $300,000 for Ohio River flood relief of which $60,000 had been allocated to Col Cushing.  The Katie Stockdale under orders of the US Army was quickly loaded with supplies.  Then Capt Calhoon was in command of the distribution of the supplies.  With 300 tons of freight aboard the Katie Stockdale began downriver on 10 Feb. [17]

The devastation was horrific.  Capt Calhoon was under orders to deliver relief to the towns between Wheeling and Ironton, OH.

At the trip’s conclusion, decks bare, the Katie steamed into Pittsburgh on George Washington’s birthday.  Mission accomplished.  The effort of the Katie Stockdale was the first instance of federal purchase and distribution of flood relief supplies along the inland rivers. [18]

 

In 1886, the officers of PCPL fleet included:

PCPL Fleet in 1886

Packet	Captain	Clerk
Katie Stockdale	TS Calhoon	Charles W Knox
Scotia	George W Rowley	Robert H Kerr
Hudson	JF Ellison	AJ Slaven

The PCPL fleet never had less than three packets at work.

On 8 Jun 1887, Capt Jackman T Stockdale died suddenly and unexpectedly at age fifty-nine. [19]  After some time, James A Henderson, who had been Capt Jackman T Stockdale’s chief assistant in the Pittsburgh offices, and his brother-in-law, George WC Johnston, bought a controlling interest in the line.  The Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Packet Line was reorganized in 1889 bearing the same name and listing its officers as follows:

 

PCPL Officers in 1889

Officer	Position
James A Henderson	President and General Manager
Thomas S Calhoon	Vice president
George WC Johnston	Secretary and Treasurer General Freight and Passenger Agent
Alex J Henderson	Assistant Superintendent
John Crockard	Agent – Wheeling, WV
J Frank Ellison	Superintendent – Cincinnati

 

In 1889 as the Keystone State was being built for Thomas Stevenson Calhoon and the str Katie Stockdale was being dismantled, the steamer Rainbow was chartered by the PCPL.  On 10 Mar 1890, the Congo was chartered to replace the Rainbow which had unfortunately burned while laid up for low water near Cincinnati.

At this time a round trip fare, Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, was $12 ─ meals included.  A round trip fare to the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1892 and 1893 was $18.  The dedication ceremonies for the World’s Columbian Exposition were held on 21 Oct 1892 and the fair continued until 30 Oct 1893.  That people preferred to travel by packet is noteworthy  ─ beyond what is usual or established history in the age of railroads.

In 1890, Capt Calhoon built the Keystone State for the PCPL.  Capt Calhoon was her master for 5 years.  When Capt John N Philips resigned command of the Iron Queen, Capt Calhoon succeeded him.   He was aboard the Iron Queen for only three trips before she was destroyed by fire.

 

PCPL Fleet in 1892

Packet	Depart Pittsburgh	Depart Cincinnati
Keystone State	Mon	NA
Scotia	Tue	NA
Hudson	Wed	NA
Iron Queen	Fri	NA
CW Bachelor	Sat	NA

 

In 1893 the PCPL was incorporated.  Its charter was registered in West Virginia and its capital stock, owned mostly be the executives and captains, was valued at $200,0000. [20]  The officers and stockholders are listed in the following table.

 

PCPL Officers in 1893

Officer	Position
James A Henderson	President and General Manager
George WC Johnston	Secretary and Treasurer
J Frank Ellison	Superintendent – Cincinnati
Cat Thomas S Calhoon	Stockholder
Capt Thomas M Rees	Stockholder
Capt John M Philips	Stockholder

 

The PCPL packets and officers in 1893:

PCPL Fleet in 1893

Packet	Captain	Purser
Keystone State	Thomas S Calhoon	Charles W Knox
Scotia	Mace Agnew	Daniel M Lacey
Hudson	Robert S Agnew	AJ Slaven
Iron Queen	John M Philips	RH Kerr
CW Bachelor	JM Keever	George W Hunter
Andes	Thomas Hunter	AJ Slaven

 

The PCPL packets and officers in 1894:

PCPL Fleet in 1894

Packet	Captain	Purser
Keystone State	Thomas S Calhoon	Charles W Knox
Scotia	GE Rowley	Tim Penwell
Hudson	J Frank Ellison	DM Lacey
Iron Queen	John M Philips

TS CalhoonRH KerrCongo Ed F MaddyJ WehrmanAndes Thomas HunterAJ Slaven

The Iron Queen went up in flames on 3 Apr 1895 while Thomas Stevenson Calhoon was in command.  The steamer LA Sherley with Capt Ed F Maddy and J Wehrman in the office was chartered to replace the Iron Queen until the completion of the Virginia which was launched in Dec 1895.  The Virginia with Capt Thomas S Calhoon in command came out on New Year’s Day 1896. [21]

The PCPL packets and officers in 1896:

PCPL Fleet in 1896

Packet	Captain	Purser
Keyston State	Charles W Knox
Queen City	Thomas S Sandford	Daniel M Lacey
Virginia	Thomas S Calhoon	RH Kerr
Hudson

These were the glory days of the PCPL  The luxury of Queen City and her sister the Virginia were unmatched.  By design these two deluxe packets catered to a rather high class patronage.  Both were advertised in the Pittsburgh social register, to great advantage, as many fashionable Pittsburghers trod their decks.  Both made annual trips to the Mardi Gras with great success.  The minutes before departure of a PCPL boat always had a somewhat carnival air.  Men were dressed in topcoats and silk hats; women wore outfits made complicated by bustles.  All this while roustabouts performed their ballet of loading barrels and boxes.

The str Virginia was the ultimate in luxurious travel.  Before the Broadway Limited of railway fame, the Virginia cruise from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati was a trip of breathtaking elegance and adventure.  The cabin was 190 feet long with 50 state rooms.  Each state room had an upper and lower berth.  The mattresses, sheets, and pillows and linens were proved by Joseph Horne and Co, the famed department store in Pittsburgh.  An upright piano in the ladies’ cabin was provided by Kappel Music House.  The full-length hallway was also used as the dining area.  Tables could be finely set for 120 passengers and officers. [22]

The Virginia built in 1896 and the Queen City built in 1897 at the same Cincinnati boatyard were similar in size, appearance, and capacity.  However, they were not alike in appeal.  According to George W Henderson in 1962, the family favorite was the Virginia.  The Queen City had class; the Virginia had charm. [23]

In 1898, the PCPL declared an annual dividend of nine per cent.  Nearly every trip made a profit. [24]

The PCPL packets and officers in 1904.

 

PCPL Fleet in 1904

Packet	Captain	Purser
Keyston State	Charles W Knox
Queen City	Thomas S Sandford
Virginia	Thomas S Calhoon
Hudson

 

 

Thomas S Calhoon retired from the river in 1904 at age 70.  His career spanned 56 years from his first trip aboard his Uncle Richard Calhoon’s steamer Caledonia to his final voyage on the Virginia. [25]   He was one of the few Georgetown river men who stayed until the river commerce disappeared and nothing was left but the scenery.  He died at his home in Georgetown on 3 Apr, 1910 at 11:30 in the morning after a short illness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Decline.

The opening of the 20^th Century pointed to continued prosperity for Ohio River commerce.  The years preceding were record breakers as far as tonnage carried.  Tonnages in bulk traffic: coal, lumber, grain, sand and gravel, and steel, improved while regular passenger packets held their own.  The fleet was the most luxurious ever assembled.  In 1905 two million passengers traveled the Ohio. [26]  Nonetheless the Ohio River transportation system entered a period of decline.  Evidence was abundant.  In 1908 PCPL was forced into receivership.  It continued to operate until 1912 when its assets were sold to John W Hubbard of Pittsburgh bringing twenty-two thousand two-hundred dollars ─ one-fifth of their appraised value. [27]  After that, one could travel along the upper Ohio for a full day and never see a steamboat.  [28]  The Ohio River was as dead as a church on Monday morning.  Not only were steamboat owners and their crew financially harmed, the entire steamboat building economy was destroyed along with all the support businesses located at or near the wharfs and boatyards.

The causes of this decline were numerous and no one of them was powerful enough to cause destruction so complete and so quickly. In those early years of the twentieth century, the permanent characteristics of the US were being hardened.  Giant corporations were growing in power; benign government regulation was supported by businessmen and Presidents; the wobblies (IWW) organized; etc.  The fact that European river traffic was increasing to the benefit of railroads there was ignored by those in favor of the total transition to railroads here.[29]  The blame of the decline has largely been fixed to the greed of railroad barrons who owned the river terminals and facilities and refused to cooperate with river lines on prorating freight arrangements as they had in the 1890’s.  In other words, a packet could no longer discharge its freight and passengers at a port without excessive fees: wharfage and way charges which were so prohibitive that landings became unprofitable.  Packet lines making many intermediate stops were effectively taxed out of existence.  Most prorating arrangements between packet lines and railroads had been withdrawn around 1900.

Probably the single most effective blow to the PCPL PCPL was the formation of United States Steel Corporation (USS) in 1901.  USS was the former Carnegie Steel Company purchased and renamed by JP Morgan.

USS made a corporate decision to ship their products by rail only regardless of the freight rates.  JP Morgan had control of more than twenty railroads and held significant influence over members of the US Congress.  At that time river rates were regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC).  Strangely, the ICC’s rulings pertaining to fair rates for freight transfer at railroad junction points were not applicable to rail and river junction points.  And “inventive genius and the business talent of the country” were drifting toward the railroads according to one Congressional oversight committee.  [30]  A key assumption in this inversion was that railroads deserved government support while river transportation did not.  The deck was stacked doubly against the packet lines.

The PCPL never operated less than three packets moving iron and steel and glass south and farm products and whiskey north.  Financial success depended on both freight and passenger traffic.  Under the existing conditions in 1908, and in some instances unscrupulous forces, the rivermen were unable to carry on.

And so the days of PCPL were over.  The packets built expressly for the PCPL had been the best of their day.  Style and luxury were their key features:  Katie Stockdale (1877), Keystone State (1890), Iron Queen (1892), Virginia (1895-6), Queen City (1897).   Surviving packet lines generally curtailed operations.  After boasting their ability to supply all transportation needs of the country, railroads continued to fail the country in times of crisis.  In 1917 their total breakdown was admitted.  The world war came on and railroads failed to meet the transportation needs of the country.  It mattered not that tonnage had shifted from coal and passengers to iron and steel.  Old steamboats were remodeled and recommissioned.   Barge building became the order of the day.   The Barge Age of river transportation had arrived.  Unlike the “good old days” when bells and whistles announced arrivals and departures of packets at river town landings, the steamboats of the Barge Age moved quietly, unobserved, and unannounced without so much as a hand salute to the river towns passed.

Strange and impossible as these events may seem The Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Packet Line is gone.  Its legacy is a gift, and a responsibility.  It is up to us to preserve it and pass it along to future generations.

 

 

 

 

Five Deluxe Packets and their Officers

Five luxurious packets were expressly designed and built for the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Packet Line.  The names of the officers of each packet have been gleaned from various sources. [31]   By no means is the list deemed complete nor ordered by date of service.   None of these boats were designed to operate or carry a bar. [32]

 

Packet	Build Year	Dismantled
Katie Stockdale	1877	1888-9
Keystone State	1890	1926
Iron Queen	1892	1895 burned
Virginia	1895-6	1926
Queen City	1897	1929

 

 

Str Katie Stockdale  

In 1879, the Katie Stockdale started as the Saturday boat departing Pittsburgh, but by 1882 was switched to the Monday boat.  When the Katie Stockdale was dismantled. The engines, whistle, and roof bell installed on the Keystone State.

Captain	Clerk	Pilot	Mate	Engineer
Thomas S Calhoon	AJ McConnell	James Rowley
	Nat Eathart	George Hughes
	Mart F Noll	Thomas S Sandford
	Chas M Buchanan	J Harry Ollum
	HC Caldwell	? Halloway
	Clark Barringer
	Chas W Knox

 

Str Keystone State

One curious event: carpenter William T Terry was shot from shore and killed at Parkersburg, WV in the spring of 1901.  Sidney Cole, after his conviction for the crime, served time in Moundsville penitentiary.

George Day was a steward under Thomas S Calhoon.

In 1913 Capt D Walter Wisherd and Sam Gregory bought the steamer and converted it into an excursion boat named Majestic.

Captain	Clerk	Pilot	Mate	Engineer
Thomas S Calhoon	Charles W Knox	Thomas S Sandford	Ben Baker	George Knox
Charles W Knox	William D Kimble	J Harry Ollum	Richard Pharris	Charles McDaniel
	Augustus Martindill	William Anderson	Thos Martin	Grant Paige
	Karl Crawford	E Dayton Randolph	Eugene Morris
	J Presley Ellison	Chas Prall
	AL Voeghtley	Ed McLaughlin
	Daniel Lacey
	Henry Best
	E Dayton Randolph
	Logan Noll
	AJ McConnell
	George Donally
	William Barringer

 

Str Iron Queen

Captain	Clerk	Pilot	Mate	Engineer
John M Philips	Robert H Kerr	Dayton Randolph	Ort Shriver	William Bell
Thomas S Calhoon	Geo McCollough	James Rowley	Hod Knowles	James Ellison
	Clayton Agnew	Ed McLaughlin
	AL Voeghtley

 

 

Str Virginia 

The Virginia was exceptionally quiet and was one of the first steamboats on the upper Ohio to install a carbon arc searchlight, called a White Squadron.

 

The Virginia is well known for missing the Ohio River channel during a period of high water on 6 Mar 1910.  Capt Calhoon was not the master when the Virginia unceremoniously settled in a cornfield in Willow Grove, WV.  A Pittsburgh engineering firm, Eichleay Co, managed to move her back into the water.  When the Pittsburgh Cincinnati Packet Line folded in 1909 due to the favored railroad travel, the Virginia went through a series of changes until she was dismantled in New Orleans around 1921. [33]

Captain	Clerk	Pilot	Mate	Engineer
Thomas S Calhoon	Robert H Kerr	Thomas Spence Sandford	John Sweeney	George Johnston
Thomas S Sandford	William Kimble	J Harry Ollum	Hod Knowles	? Owens
Alfred Pennywit	Daniel Lacey	James Martin
Charles W Knox	George McCollough	William Anderson
	Clayton Agnew	Dwight Hollister
	Wm C Lepper
	Clyde Packard

 

 

Str Queen City

 

Captain	Clerk	Pilot	Mate	Engineer
Thomas S Sandford	James Gardener	J Harry Ollum		George Knox
Robert R Agnew	Daniel Lacey	Philip Anshutz		Charles Paige
Arthur B Brown	Unk Chapman	Anthony Meldahl		CA Watson
J Presley Ellison	C Boyd Taylor			William Watson
John Sweeney	William R Barringer
	AB Browne
	Charles Howard

 

 

Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Packet Line Scrapbook

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 17 Str Queen City on Ohio 1912 RPPC (F Nash Collection)

 

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References and Notes.

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Captain John Smith McMillin

History books inform us that the shelling of  Ft Sumter in Charleston Bay marked the beginning of the Civil War.  This bombardment provoked the war between the states, but the shots fired there on 12 April 1861 were not the first act of war.

Talk of secession had advanced beyond words before the attack on  Ft Sumter.  In Dec 1860, South Carolina was the first state to secede from the union.  Others followed.  Rumors of war were rife in local newspapers.  A southern sympathizer, Sec of War John B Floyd under Pres Buchanan and a former governor of VA,  sent an order to the Allegheny Arsenal in Pittsburgh to ship 124 canons to New Orleans and Galveston.  The steamers Silver Wave and Marengo were contracted by the US Army to transport the artillery south.  Col John Symington, the commander of the Allegheny Arsenal, attempted to obey the order from Washington under the darkness of Christmas Eve.  When citizens of Pittsburgh learned of this action ─ from a whistleblower at the arsenal ─ the citizens protested, knowing that the guns would be used to fortify the south.  Angry Pittsburgh crowds halted the movement of the canons and their military escorts to the Monongahela wharf.  Before the crowds blocked the streets to the wharf, thirty-eight guns had been loaded on the str Silver Wave.  Further, Pittsburgh citizens threatened to blow the str Silver Wave out of the water if it’s captain attempted to go down the Ohio River with the thirty-eight guns aboard.  To avoid potential violence the order for shipment was countermanded.  The str Silver Wave never left the wharf. [1]

Southern politicians in Congress were outraged that ordinary Pittsburgh citizens threatened to interfere with military orders for the distribution of federal artillery and munitions south of the Mason-Dixson Line.   The protest by the citizens of Pittsburgh which prevented the repositioning of arms was the first genuine act of war between the North and South.  Their citizen activism reminds us of the need to resist – to do what is right.

The packet at the center of this turmoil was owned and operated by Capt John Smith McMillin.

Later in 1863, the str Silver Wave was the first noncombat steamboat to successfully pass the Vicksburg batteries.  That feat was a big deal!  Vicksburg, deemed impassable, was the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River.  The Union convoy, three gunboats and the str Silver Wave and three other packets, was riddled with holes carrying supplies to Gen Grant’s army below the city.  Many historians consider the fall of Vicksburg the tipping point of the Civil War.   In that campaign, Capt John Smith McMillin played a consequential role.

Capt John Smith McMillin, born on 23 Jul 1817 in Georgetown, PA, began his river career keel-boating in the 1830’s.  In the 1850’s he was the primary owner and master of several packets.    He moved to Grandview Ave on Mt Washington in Pittsburgh in 1853.  My 3rd great grand uncle, Capt John Smith McMillin, will first and always be a Georgetown man of honor.

 

 

 

Family Background.

A news article about general history of the steamboat era taken from The Pittsburgh Gazette Times dated 5May1909 is a tribute to the men who steamed on the Ohio River.  Two of the seven portraits are Georgetown captains: Jacob and Adam Poe.  Two partial columns of print are devoted to Georgetown and the men who worked the river from there.  Capt Thomas S Calhoon is described in detail.  Others such as George W Ebert, Standish Pepard, Thomas Poe, Richard Calhoon, George Laughlin are documented in a sentence.  Capt John S McMillin was included with Georgetown men even though he had moved to Grandview Ave in Pittsburgh in 1853.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Business Ventures.

Str Huron.  The str Huronwas a sternwheel wooden hull packet built in 1851 at

Christler’s Landing, PA (now called Shippingport).  It was rated at 168 tons.  Its dimensions were 157x24x4’8’.  According to Way’s Directory the str Huron was snagged and lost on 23 Feb 1855 on the Atchafalaya River. [1]

The  Certificates of Enrollment Record Type 41 provided evidence that Capt John S McMillin was the primary owner and master of the str Huron in 1852 and 1853.  In the registration for 1853, there was a change in ownership.  One partner from 1852 was removed  (T Keffer) and the share of ownership for JS McMillin increased equal to the  share of the partner removed.  In other words, he bought out one partner.

No documents nor newspaper clips have been discovered to indicate where Capt JS McMillin  was nor what he was doing in 1852/53.  If he was following the path of his Georgetown neighbors, he was probably working on the lower Missouri River transporting passengers and their belongings to their jump point for the long trek to the west along te Mormon or Oregon Trails.

 

 

                                                                                               Str Huron   Certificate of Enrollment translated

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6634      ?
JS McMillin	9/16	Enroll No :	128
Steel McMillin	1/24	Cert Date:	1 Sep 1852
Geo Anderson	1/8	Cert Type::	Enrollment
Wm Anderson	1/16	Build Locn:	Christler’s Landing, PA
A Wilkins	1/8	Build Date:	1851
T Keffer	1/12	Master	John S McMillin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Str Bedford

The str Bedford was a stern wheel packet rated at 180 tons.  Its dimensions were 155’x24’8”x5’.  Like the str Huron, the str Bedford was built at Christler’s Landing, PA.  According to Way’s Directory, the str Bedford met its end by fire at Harpeth Shoals, TN on 1 Jun 1854.  The probable location of the wreck was on the Cumberland River approximately 40miles  below Nashville..

No documents or newspaper clips have been found to determine the work of the str Bedford.  Unlike Poe family vessels where profits and risks were shared, it appears that Capt JS McMillin consolidated his ownership of this steamer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Str Bedford   Certificate of Enrollment translated

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6634      ?
JS McMillin	14/16	Enroll No :	157
A Bailly	1/16	Cert Date:	1 Sep 1852
A Wilkins	1/16	Cert Type::	Enrollment
		Build Locn:	Christler’s Landing, PA
		Build Date:	1851
		Master	John S McMillin

 

 

 

Str Silver Wave

The str Silver Wave has a markedly, extraordinary history of service during the Civil War.  On 24 Dec 1860, the str Silver Wave was contracted by the US Army to transport canons from the Allegheny Arsenal in Pittsburgh to New Orleans.  That contract caused a riotous protest in Pittsburgh.   On 18 Oct 1861, the Silver Wave was one of six packets contracted to transport the first Pittsburgh enlisted troops to Louisville, Ky.   The str Clara Poe was also one of the select six. [2] On 9 May in 1862, str Silver Wave docked in Pittsburgh with a cache of arms captured from the Confederacy after the fall of Island No 10.  In 1863, the Silver Wave was the first noncombat steamer to successfully pass the Vicksburg batteries.  That was a very big deal.  In 1864, str Silver Wave was with Gen Porter on the Red River.

The str Silver Wave was severely damaged during its runs through the Vicksburg batteries.  The str Horizon owned by Captains John N McNurdy and Thomas S Calhoon og Georgetown, collided with the str Moderator on its second pass by the batteries.  The str Horizon  was a complete loss with many lives lost.  Neither vessel received full compensation for their losses.

Several letters were exchanged requesting compensation.  The  claims went through the US Army Quartermaster.  In 1873, the claim was rejected and partially satisfied.

An astounding resume for any steamboat captain.  A final honor for str Silver Wave was its connection to the Columbian Liberty Bell manufactured by Clinton H Meneely Bell Co, Troy, NY in 1893 for the Columbian Exposition.   A shell fired into the str Silver Wave was one of the relics used to forge the bell.  Other relics included the keys of the residence of Jefferson Davis, 250K pennies donated by public school students and souvenirs from the battlefields where American struggles for freedom took place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Built for Capt JS McMillin in Glasgow, PA (opposite Georgetown) in 1854, the str Silver Wave was a sternwheel wooden hull packet rated at 245 tons.  [3]  Before the Civil War, the str Silver Wave was a tramp steamer in the Pittsburgh to Cincinnati to Louisville trade, and also made appearances on the upper Mississippi River.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Str Silver Wave  Certificate of Enrollment translated

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6637
JS McMillin	13/16	Enroll No :	189
Charles Wilkins	1/16+1/32	Cert Date:	5 Dec 1856
Steel McMillin	1/16+1/32	Cert Type::	Enrollment
		Build Locn:	Glasgow PA
		Build Date:	1854
		Master	John S McMillin

 

 

In a newspaper advertisement in the Pittsburgh Daily post the str was scheduled for departure at 10:00 AM on Wed, 14 Nov 1855.  The clerk identified in the ad was Wilkins, probably a partner.  In the same column of newsprint ”News for Rivermen”  the weather was clear and pleasant.  The river level was 5’11” and falling.

Georgetown Packets on Wed, 14Nov1855.

Steamer	Master	Clerks	Destination
Washington City	Capt George W Ebert	S Peppard	New Orleans
Clifton	Capt Jacob Poe	M’Cance	Nashville
JC Fremont	Capt Jackman T Stockdale	A Stockdale	St Louis
Silver Wave	Capt John S McMillin	Wilkins	St Louis

 

Four of eight boats departing Pittsburgh were owned and commanded by Georgetown men.  That day other Georgetown captains, such as Jacob Poe’s brothers (Adam and Thomas), Jackman Stockdale’s nephew (Thomas S Calhoon), and the Calhoon brothers (John and Richard) were no doubt plying the watery highways to faraway ports with the hope of being home from the Christmas holiday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capt John Smith McMillin was also an inventor. In that role, he was awarded a US Patent for the invention of the steam-powered capstan. [4]  The capstan patent was a Letters Patent No 63,917, granted on 16 Apr 1867 to John S McMillin for “an improvement in applying steam-power to the capstans of steamboats and other craft”. [5]

The steam-powered capstan patent was contested in court in two cases, if not more.  One case in 1875 was decided in his favor.  See  McMillinJohn 750927 PatentRyuling PittWeeklyazette p4.

Another suit, McMillan [6] v Rees [7]  (17 OG, 1222), was filed against John S McMillin to “restrain the infringement” of the patent.  The circuit court opinions issued in both cases were not in favor of Capt McMillin.   The capstan patent was declared void “for want of any patentable invention”.  The basic arrangement of “shafts and cog-wheels” of the capstan was unchanged.  In the case against McMillin, the argument was that the modification to steam power did not warrant the issue of a patent because there was no “ingenuity of merit”, only the “ordinary judgement and skill of a trained mechanic”.   Capstans and steam engines were old technology, well known elements used in many places including grist mills and steamboats.

Capt McMillin appealed the decisions.  On 17 Nov 1884, the Supreme Court of the US decided:

     Upon the ground stated, we think the letters patent upon which the suit is based are void.  The decree of the circuit court      by which the patent was sustained must therefore be reversed and the cause remanded with direction to dismiss the bill,      and it is so ordered.  [8]

The history of the patent process was long and curious.  The first application for the patent was filed by Capt McMillin on 23 Jul 1855.  This application was rejected.   On 7 Feb 1856, the application was amended.  This amended application was also rejected.  Eleven years later, the application awarded the patent included the drawings and specifications of the first application unchanged.  The steam-powered capstan had been in wide use for more than a decade without any new state of the art developments or improvements.   That was the defense relied on to defeat the patent in court.

It is unclear whether John S McMillin was demanding royalties from other steamboat owners and lines.

An article from the St Louis Dispatch dated 10 Jul 1880 looks back 28 years to identify the prominent steamboat captains of 1852.  Plus one-hundred-forty years from the news article.  Of the thirteen captains named in 1852, Capts John S McMillin and Adam Poe were residents of Georgetown, PA.  Both Georgetown captains were working on the Wabash River.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burials.

July 10. 1866:
PHEBE ANN McMILLIN, aged 50 years, wife of Capt. John S. McMillin, of Grandview avenue and Bigham street. Service at the church, conducted by Dr. Killikelly, the rector, assisted by the Rev. Dr. Page and the Rev. Mr. Snively, of the city. Buried in Allegheny Cemetery. “A devout communicant of Grace Church, a most excellent Christian woman and a valuable member of the church and of society.”

March 14, 1893:
JOHN SMITH McMILLIN, aged 76 years. Service at the late residence of the deceased, Grandview avenue and Bigham street, and interment in Allegheny Cemetery, the Rev. R. J. Coster, his pastor and friend for twenty-five years, officiating. A strong character, noted for his simplicity and integrity. (See Note 5.)

A biography of Capt John S McMillin was  included in the history of A history of the Grace Church Parish transcribed or contributed by Joan Skinnell Benincasa.  See footnote [9]

The Columbian Exhibition in 1893 was a fitting and glamorous way to enter into the coming Twentieth Century.  The exhibition also marked the time of John Smith McMillin.

 

 

 

References and Notes.

A list of steamers owned and operated by Georgetown men between the years 1837 and 1894 can be downloaded for local analysis.  The link is GeorgetownSBList.

 

	Georgetown Steamer Table
	Data from Way’s Directory and Newsclips
	Date:	4-Aug-18
	Packet Name	Build Date	Build Locn	Primary Owner
	Admiral	1853	McKeesport, PA	Jackman T Stockdale
	Aleonia	1851		Jackman T Stockdale
	Ambassador	1851	Monongahela City, PA
	Amelia Poe	1865	Georgetown, PA	Thomas W Poe
	American	1845	Smiths Ferry, PA	Samuel Smith
	America	1846	Freedom, PA	Richard Calhoon
	Annie Robert
	Argyle	1853	Freedom, PA	Adam Poe
	Armadillo	1865	Pittsburgh, PA	Thomas S Calhoon, Clerk
	Australia	1869	California, PA	Jackman T Stockdale
	Barranquilla	1869	Pittsburgh, PA	Jackman T Stockdale
	Beacon No 2	1842
	Beaver	1837		Jacob Poe
	Belfast	1843		George W Ebert
	Belfast No 2	1857	Freedom, PA
	Belmont	1842		Jacob Poe
	Belmont *	1856	California, PA	George W Ebert
	Big Foot	1875	Pittsburgh, PA	Adam Poe
	Bridgewater	1843	Pittsburgh, PA	George W Ebert, Master
	Buckeye State	1850	Shousetown, PA	Standish Peppard, Clerk
	Caledonia	1848	Industry, PA	George W Ebert
	Caledonia *	1853	McKeesport, PA	George W Ebert
	Camelia	1863	Brownsville, PA	Thomas W Poe
	Caroline	1853	Pittsburgh, PA	James H Clarke
	Carrie Brooks	1866	Pittsburgh, PA
	Cashier	1847	Industry, PA	Josh Dawson
	Cinderella	1847	Elizabeth, PA	Andrew Poe
	Citizen	1860	Elizabeth, PA	Richard Calhoon
	City of Chartiers	1886	Pittsburgh, PA	Jackman T Stockdale
	Clara Poe	1859	California, PA	Thomas W Poe
	Cleveland	1845	Freedom, PA	Richard Calhoon
	Clifton	1855	Glasgow, PA	George W Ebert
	Coal Bluff
	Columbiana	1843	Wellsvile, OH	Richard Calhoon
	Commerce	1856	Freedom, PA	GW Rowley
	Coquette	1835	Peninsula, OH	William Dawson
	CW Batchelor	1879	Brownsville, PA
	Declaration	1846	West Elizabeth, PA	Z Kinsey
	Delaware	1852	Freedom, PA
	Ella	1854	Elizabeth, PA	Adam Poe
	Emma Graham	1861	Belle Vernon, PA	Jackman T Stockdale
	Euphrates	1844	Freedom, PA	Joseph MC Calhoon
	Fairmont	1846	Glasgow, PA	Thomas Poe, captain
	Fallston	1837		Jacob Poe
	Federal Arch	1850	Brownsville, PA	GW Bowman
	Fidelity (Ferry)			Jesse Smith
	Financier	1845	Pittsburgh, PA	Adam Poe
	Financier*	1850	Freedom, PA	Adam Poe
	GenChasHTompkins	1878	Pittsburgh, PA	Jacob Poe, pilot
	Georgetown	1852	Line Islandd, PA	Thomas W Poe
	Gladiator	1846	Freedom, PA	Samuel Smith
	Glaucus	1849	West Elizabeth, PA	George W Ebert
	Glencoe	1870	Shousetown, PA	Jackman T Stockdale               Thomas S Calhoon
	Golden State	1852	McKeesport, PA	Joseph MC Calhoon
	Grand Turk	1855		Thomas Potts
	Harigon
	Hawkeye			George D Laughlin
	Hibernia	1844	Pittsburgh, PA
	Hibernia*	1847	Elizabeth, PA
	Horizon	1854	California, PA	Thomas S Calhoon
	Hudson	1846	Glasgow, PA	George W Ebert
	Hudson *	1886	Freedom, PA	Andrew Poe
	Huron	1851	Christler’s Llanding, PA
	Hyena	1880		Thomas Stockdale
	Iron Queen	1892	Harmar, OH	Thomas S Calhoon
	Ida Stockdale	1867	McKeesport, PA	Jackman T Stockdale
	JT Stockdale	1863	Brownsville, PA	Jackman T Stockdale
	Jacob Poe	1855	Freedom, PA	A Stuart
	John B Gordon	1848	Brtownsville, PA	Adam Jacobs
	John B Gordon #2	1849	Brtownsville, PA	Adam Jacobs
	JohnCFrmnt/Horizon	1854	Freedom, PA	Jackman T Stockdale
	John T McCombs	1860	Freedom, PA	Thomas S Calhoon
	Katie Stockdale	1878	California, PA	Jackman T Stockdale
	Kenton	1860	Shousetown, PA	George W Ebert
	Keystone State	1890	Harmar, OH	Thomas S Calhoon
	Leonora	1848		Richard Calhoon, clerk
	Lizzie Martin	1857	Belle Vernon, PA	Thomas S Calhoon                   Capt Laughlin
	Mary E Poe	1871	Cincinnati, OH	Thomas W Poe
	Melnotte	1856	California, PA	Richard Calhoon
	Metropolis	1855		Richard Calhoon
	Mollie Ebert	1869	Pittsburgh, PA	George W Ebert
	Murillo	1872		Richard Calhoon
	Neptune	1857	California, PA	Adam Poe
	New Castle	1837		Jacob Poe, Capt
	Nick Wall	1869	Pittsburgh, PA	Jackman T Stockdale
	Paris	1848	Freedom, PA	Capt Smith
	Parthenia	1854	Freedom, PA	Richard Calhoon
	Pioneer	1846	Elizabeth, PA	Adam Poe, captain
	Queen City	1894	Cincinnati, OH	Thomas S Calhoon
	Rhode Island	1844	Freedom, PA	RW Dawson
	Rob Roy	1864	Cincinnati, OH	Thomas S Calhoon, clerk
	Robert Burns	1864	Cincinnati, OH	Standish Peppard, clerk
	Royal Arch	1852	West Elizabet, PA	Adam Poe
	SC Bricker
	Sallie	1868	McKeesport, PA	Thomas S Calhoon
	Scioto	1862	Portsmouth. Ohio	BS Smith
	Silver Wave	1854	Glasgow, PA	John S McMilllin
	Suella
	Tempest	1856	Freedom, PA	Benjamin Laughlin
	Tuscarora	1849	Glasgow, PA	Jacob Poe
	Utica	1840		Standish Peppard
	Virginia	1895		Thomas S Calhoon
	Washington City	1852	Freedom, PA	George W Ebert
	Wellsville	1847	Industry, PA	Adam and Jacob Poe
	Wilmoth
	Yorktown	1853	Pittsburgh, PA	George W Ebert
	Yorktown *	1864	Freedom, PA	Jacob Poe
	Tow Name	Build Date	Build Locn	Primary Owner
	Abner O’Neal
	AJ Baker
	Fearless			Thomas W Poe
	Keelboat	Build Date	Build Locn	Primary Owner
	AV Dupont	1861		GW Laughlin
	Aluvia	1848	Georgetown, PA	Geo Calhoon
	American Eagle	1848	Georgetown, PA	Thomas D Calhoon
	Big Foot	1850	Glasgow, PA	Jacob Poe
	Caledonia	1849	Georgetown, PA	Richard Calhoon
	Cinderella 2	1850	Philis’s Island, PA	James Haslett
	Commerce	1850	Georgetown, PA	Thomas Laughlin
	General Green	1848	Georgetown, PA	Theodore Ebert
	General Taylor	1846	Beaver Co, PA	GW Ebert
	Framers	1848	Georgetown, PA	Robert D Dawson
	Hampton	1846	Beaver Co, PA	Samuel Smith
	Hero	1850	Glasgow, PA	G Dawson
	Hudson	1846	Beaver Co, PA	Theodore Ebert
	Hudson No 2	1848	Pittsburgh, PA	Andrew Poe
	Huzza Buxa	1846	Beaver, PA	Richard Calhoon
	Industry	1847	Industry, PA	Adam Poe
	JS Porter	1848	Industry, PA	Samuel Calhoon
	Key Stone	1850	Christlow’s Landing, PA	B Dawson
	Lewis Whitzell	1847	Industry, PA	Geo Dawson
	Lizzie Boy	1856	Shippingport	G Laughlin
	Martha Anderson	1854	Industry, PA	George Laughlin
	Monsoon	1849	Georgetown, PA	Jacob Poe
	Neptune	1846	Industry,PA	JW Dawson
	Ocean Wave	1850	Georgetown, PA	George Laughlin
	Odeon	1846	Beaver Co, PA	GW Ebert
	Osceola	1853	Christlow’s Landing, PA	HW Laughlin
	Pioneer	1846	Beaver Co, PA	Adam Poe
	Return	1845	Georgetown, PA	Robert Dawson
	Rough & Ready	1847	Georgetown, PA	Benoni Dawson
	SR  Smith	1857	Industry, PA	George Laughlin
	Sauserer Ador	1846	Georgetown, PA	John Safer
	Swan	1850	Glasgow, PA	A Reed
	Talisman	1856	Industry, PA	HW Laughlin
	Weirton	1847	Georgetown, PA	Richard Calhoon
	WM Porter	1856	Industry	B Laughlin
	Wm Rodgers	1854	Industry, PA	Benjamin Laughlin
	Barges	Build Date	Build Locn	Primary Owner
	JG Green	1863		Henry A Laughlin
	Vulcan No1			Henry A Laughlin
	Vulcan No2			Henry A Laughlin
	Vulcan No3			Henry A Laughlin
	Vulcan No4			Henry A Laughlin
	Vulcan No5			Henry A Laughlin
	Vulcan No6			Henry A Laughlin
	WA Adas	1863		Henry A Laughlin

 

 

Copyright © 2018 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved

No part of this website may be reproduced without permission in writing from the author.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The term “Frontier Fighter” is a label that cannot be worn by many men, at least not to the extent of the Adam Poe and his older brother Andrew Poe.  Adam Poe earned the title protecting frontier settlers along the Ohio River in western PA at a time when our country was not quite civilized. 

 

Adam Poe was born on 03 Mar 1747 along the Antietam Creek near Frederick, MD.[1]  On 12 Oct 1777 in Westmorland Co, PA, Adam married Elizabeth Smith Cochran who was born in Ireland on 10 Feb 1758.  Adam died on 23 Sep 1838 in Dalton, Tuscarawas Township, Stark Co, OH and was buried in Sixteen Reformed Church Cemetery, Massillon, OH. [2]  It is said that when dying, he closed his own eyes with his fingers, then quietly passed away.  His wife, Elizabeth, died on 27 Dec 1844 and was laid beside her husband.  They had ten children ─ eight sons and two daughters.

 

Family Background.  The story of the Georgetown Poe family begins with the emigration of George Jacob Poe from the Palatine Region of the Rhine River to the Maryland countryside near Frederick, MD about 1741.  George Jacob Poe Sr, Adam’s father, was murdered by an indentured servant in 1762.  Adam’s father had owned a plantation on the east side of the Antietam Creek in what is now Leitersburg, MD.  There he operated flour mills and marketed his products in Baltimore.  It was along the road to Baltimore that George Jacob Poe Sr was shot in the stomach by his servant.  Money was stolen and the servant was never heard from again. [3]

 

 

In accordance with the English law and custom of primogeniture, Adam’s older brother George Jacob Poe Jr inherited the entire estate by Right of Primature.  According to some accounts, George Jacob Poe Jr was a hard master.  After Andrew attained his majority, he left the MD farm in 1764 across the newly constructed Cumberland Road to Ft Pitt.  There he honed his skills as a woodsman and scout at the conclusion of the French and Indian War. [4]  In 1768, he acquired some land near Harmons Creek in what is now Washington Co, PA.  Then that land was also claimed by VA.  The tract of land was approximately twelve miles from the Ohio River. 

 

In the spring of 1772 Andrew returned to MD and persuaded Adam, who was five years younger, to join him in PA.  He also invited his sister Catherine.  Both Adam and Catherine moved first to Ft Pitt and later in 1775 to the Harmons Creek property in Washington CO, PA. They traveled with the Wetzel brothers and lived with the John Crist family during the Revolutionary War.   Andrew apprenticed Adam to a German shoemaker.  Catherine, or Kate, was also able to find suitable work and a good home.  They moved to the Georgetown area in 1777.

 

During the Indian Wars, Adam was a good friend of Col David Williamson.  Through Col Williamson’s influence Adam received a commission as the captain of the fort opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek. [5]  In honor of Col Williamson’s friendship Adam named his youngest son – David Williamson Poe. [6] 

 

 

 

Revolutionary War Service.  Like his brother Andrew, Adam was a scout and participated in many expeditions against the Indians who were constantly crossing the Ohio River to attack isolated pioneer settlers.  Adam volunteered in 1776, serving as a private in Capt G McCormick’s Company (militia).  He was also a private in Col Cannon’s PA Regiment and Capt T Bass’s (Bay) Company.  In 1781 Adam and Andrew were in the Battle of Sheepsgate where Andrew was wounded.  Adam also served as a private for not less than six months in Col James Marshall’s regiment.  From 1781 – 1783 he was a private in the 7^th Company, 4^th Battalion, PA Militia (Capt Kidd’s Company).  From the summer of 1776 through 1783 Adam enlisted multiple times. 

 

The Sep 1781 fight with the Wyandot Indian chief is well documented by numerous historians.  Adam Poe’s daughter, Sarah, penned her account of the adventure.  In her statement her Uncle Andrew, who was severely wounded, wanted his brother to collect the scalp of the Indian chief, but her father Adam went to his wounded brother’s assistance while Bigfoot was swept down the river.  The scalp as a trophy or bounty was lost.  One note to add to the many descriptions of the fight is that Adam shot four members of the raiding party, including Bigfoot.  Andrew shot one raider and John Cherry killed one before he took fatal fire.  Although some accounts report three pursuers of the Indian raiders were killed only one has been named ─ John Cherry.  His body was carried home and buried in the Cherry Graveyard in Mt Pleasant Township, Washington Co, PA.  The stock of the gun used by Adam was saved as a family relic which unfortunately was stolen from a canal boat “about the time of the World’s Fair in Philadelphia”.  It was wanted for exhibition at the fair. [7]  The tomahawk recovered from the Bigfoot fight was also handed down through the Poe family.  It was last reported in 1926 in the possession of Ms Mabel (Poe) Dantel of Cleveland, OH, a great granddaughter of Andrew Poe. 

 

The importance of this little campaign was the great display of bravery in a desperate time.  Seldom does a conflict prove so fatal to the great proportion engaged.  That conflict was only one instance of astonishing bravery and self-sacrifice displayed by Adam Poe throughout his military service on the frontier.

 

Under Col Marshall, Adam was elected Capt in defense of the frontier.  He also served under Col Baird and Daniel Williamson.  On 31 Aug 1832, he applied for a pension. [8]

 

Adam Poe’s Scalp Bounty.  The original PA scalp bounty offer was declared on 14 Apr 1756 by the Deputy Governor of PA, Robert Hunter Morris who announced that this was “the only way to clear the frontier of savages”. [9]  The scalp bounty proclamation of 7 Jul 1764 renewed the offer of reward for Indian prisoners and scalps during those troubled days.  On 22 Apr 1778, Joseph Reed, President of the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of PA, declared a bounty for the entire state of PA allowing $3,000 Continental for every Indian or Tory prisoner and $2,500 Continental for every Indian scalp.  $2500 Continental was valued at $33 1/3 in silver.  The bounty proclamation of 22 Apr 1780 remained in effect until it was repealed on 21 Mar 1783. [10]  During the three-year period, according to PA Treasury records, the state acquired only a half dozen scalps.  The rewards went to Capt Samuel Brady, Capt Henry Shoemaker, Capt Andrew Hood, Capt Alexander Wright, William Minor and Adam Poe. [11]  Most of the scalps returned for reward were probably burned, but for one exception.  The scalp which Adam Poe turned in became a museum piece.  In his accession list dated Jul 1782 for the “American Museum”, Pierre-Eugene du Simitiere of Philadelphia wrote:

 

A Scalp taken from an Indian killed in Sep 1781, in Washington Co near Ohio in this state by Adam Poe, who fought with two Indians, and at last kill’d them both, it has an ornament a white wampum bead a finger long with a Silver Knob at the end the rest of the hair plaited and tyed with deer skin.  Sent me by the President and the Supreme Executive Council of this state with a written account of the affair. [12]

 

After his death in 1785 du Simitiere’s collection was sold.  The scalp was lost to history, but the written accession account and other du Simitiere manuscripts were purchased by the Library Company of Philadelphia. [13]  Whether Adam Poe received the bounty payment is unknown.

 

According to the PA Colonial Records Vol 13 Page 248, Adam Poe was paid 12 pounds, 10 shillings for one Indian scalp on 02 Apr 1782. 

 

Post Revolutionary War. In 1786, Adam left the land along Harmons Creek in Washington Co, PA and settled on a tract of land not far from the Ohio River.  That land known as “Poeville” was granted to Adam via a VA certificate.  It contained 377 acres and was surveyed on 13 Jan 1786. [14]  In 1812, Adam moved from Poeville to the west fork of the Little Beaver Creek which flows into the Ohio River opposite Georgetown.  He acquired several sections of land in Range 3, Wayne Township Columbiana Co, Ohio which he cleared for farming.  [15]  In 1813 he moved from Columbiana Co to Wayne Co with his wife and youngest son David Williamson, and his daughter Catharine.  Adam took a house on North Market St in Wooster and returned to his shoemaking trade for three years.  It was said that he was an excellent tanner and shoemaker.  At age seventy he purchased sixty acres of land from his son, George, where he lived for twelve years.  Aging and infirm he moved in with his son Andrew in Stark Co.  There he was a member of the Lutheran Church. [16] 

 

In Stark Co, OH he died on 23 Sep 1838 aged ninety-three (93).  The day before, he had attended a political meeting for the presidential campaign of William Henry Harrison.  Adam Poe was lionized by the crowd. The hero of the day.  He returned home from the political meeting exhausted and died.

 

 

Another adventure told by Sarah Poe occurred when two intoxicated Indians Adam Poe’s home in Ohio.  The Indians were threatening and loud but fell asleep under a tree. when the Indians awoke, they accused Adam of stealing their guns.  Adam picked up his gun only to see three more unarmed Indians approaching.  Adam told his wife and children to hide in the cornfield because there was a fight ahead.  Adam confronted the Indians.  He dropped his gun and attacked the five with his fists.  After a terrific encounter lasting ten minutes, he had them in a heap.  One by one he threw them over a fence and out of his yard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary.  None of the pioneer settlers along the Ohio River won as much fame as “Indian Fighters” as the Poe brothers, Andrew and Adam.  From 1777 to 1784, they were the first and most fearless responders to Indian raids on the upper Ohio River.  The story of their fabled fight with Bigfoot may have grown in the telling, but the true story is still heroic beyond measure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

References.

 

Misfortune paid its respects to Capt Thomas Poe many times and often far from home.  On 11 May 1855  the str Georgetown was fatally snagged at Bellefontaine Bluffs on the Missouri in route to a military post.  The  str Georgetown  was owned by Thomas W Poe and other partners from Georgetown, PA.  He was the principle owner of the str Clara Poe which was burned during the Civil War by rebel forces on 17 Apr 1865 at Eddyville on the Cumberland River.  He also owned the str Amelia Poe which was a complete loss when snagged on the upper Missouri river on 24 May 1868 and salvaged by 1,500 riotous Indians.  And he was the master of the str  Nick Wall which met a tragic end on the Mississippi River near Napoleon, AK on 18 Dec 1870.

Here a grisly incident occurred that Mark Twain retold, with some literary trimmings, in “Life on the Mississippi”.  The str  Nick Wall struck a snag and sunk rapidly.  Though injured himself by a falling roof, Capt Thomas W Poe attempted to save his wife trapped in a stateroom.  Things did not look good in the Poe stateroom.  Capt Poe chopped a hole in the roof with an ax striking the unfortunate Martha Jane (Troxell) Poe in the head.  Martha Jane Poe, fatally wounded, died on shore as the result of exposure and injuries, and was returned to Georgetown for burial.  Thirty-nine lives were lost in the tragedy  including Capt Poe’s wife.  His sister’s youngest son aged seventeen, his nephew Charles McClure, also drowned.

Then on 17 Oct 1873, a boiler explosion on the str Mary E Poe caused a fire and the boat was intentionally run aground near Island 26 above Osceola, AK.  An armed swarm of TN natives drove away the mate left behind to guard the wreck.  By the time the salvage team arrived most of the cargo had been pilfered.

Eight years later,Capt Thomas W Poe took ill aboard the str Fearless on his way to Pittsburgh.  He died at the US Marine Hospital near Louisville.  Eight months later on 26 Aug 1882 that steamer sunk on the lower Missouri.  After five litigious years the legal case regarding the property loss was finally decided by the Supreme Court of Missouri in Oct 1887 ―  not in favor of the Thomas Poe heirs.  Aligned with the other disasters, the verdict feels perfectly appropriate.   The dotted “i” and crossed “t” of misfortune.

 

Capt Thomas Washington Poe was born in 1819 in New Lisbon, Columbiana Co, OH.  He was the fourth son of Thomas Washington Poe Sr and Elizabeth Hephner and the grandson of the famous frontiersman Adam Poe.  He died on 31 Dec 1881.  At that time he lived in St Louis, MO near his daughter Clara Poe Blythe (Bly).  A leading citizen of Georgetown, PA for more than fifty years, Capt Thomas Poe was buried in the Georgetown Cemetery between his wives, Phoebe Kinsey and Martha Jane.  If there is something called a “night shade” hovering over any stone in the Georgetown Cemetery, it would certainly be the spirit of Capt Thomas Washington Poe for good reason.

 

Many Ohio River steamboat captains were easily his equal – but Capt Thomas W Poe has a story, a special story to tell river historians and enthusiasts.  Spanning more than forty years, his career as a steamer captain and owner of numerous packets enjoyed the rise of steamboat commerce and suffered its decline.  During the golden age of steamboats, he steamed on all the inland river systems: the Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, Monongahela, Allegheny, Tennessee, Cumberland, Wabash, Kanawha, Muskingum, Red, and other tributaries.  He traveled far, saw much, and accumulated considerable wealth.  Like his brother Jacob, he was recognized as a generous leader of his community.

 

 

Family Background.  The story of the Georgetown Poe family begins with the emigration of George Jacob Poe from the Palatine Region of the Rhine River to the Maryland countryside near Frederick about 1741.   In the 1760′s, two of his sons, Andrew and Adam, left MD across the newly constructed Cumberland Road to western PA near Georgetown along the

Ohio River.  The two brothers attained fame for their Revolutionary War service and their frontier battles with the Indians. In 1823 Adam’s son Thomas Washington Poe Sr moved his family of six to Georgetown, PA.  There Thomas Washington Poe Sr built a log home on the property where “The Poe House” still stands.

 

His family grew to ten.  With his young sons as deckhands, Thomas entered the profitable river freight business.  The business grew from rafting logs to Wheeling to keelboating coal and grain to ports as far south as Cincinnati.  All of the children of Thomas Washington Sr and Elizabeth Hephner Poe worked the rivers.  Sons, Andrew, Jacob, Adam, Thomas Washington, and George W, became steamboat captains and pilots.  Their daughters’ lives also centered around the river.  Nancy Ann married Capt George W Ebert; Elizabeth married Capt Standish Peppard; and Sarah H married Capt George Groshorn Calhoon.  The Poes were representative of many emigrant families who became wealthy and attained prominence over several generations despite starting with little more than energy and pluck.  In this, they were greatly assisted by the conditions of the day – an expanding country and a tight circle of Georgetown families.  Calhoon, Ebert, Kinsey, Laughlin, Parr, Poe, and Stockdale are Georgetown surnames entwined with the river and each other.

 

Capt Thomas W Poe  married Phoebe Kinsey.  They had four children: Clarissa J for whom the str Clarra Poe was named, John W who became a clerk on various Poe steamboats.  The documentary trail of Thomas  is meager.   Charles F is quite possibly the father of Ebert L (Big Wamp) Poe and the grandfather of Edger Allen (Little Wamp) Poe.  Big and Little Wamp were steamboat men on the upper Mississippi River.

After Phoebe died on 28 Jun 1852, Capt Thomas W remarried a southern belle, Martha Jane Troxell, from Napoleon AK.  Tragically, Martha Jane was killed on the str Nick Wall  which ironically sunk near Napoleon, AK on 20 Dec 1870.  Their marriage produced two daughters, Amelia and Mary E.   Capt Thomas W also named two packets after these daughters.

 

In Georgetown, Capt Thomas W Poe built the house that stands between the homes of Capt Thomas S Calhoon and Capt Jackman Taylor Stockdale.  Like the adjacent Calhoon and Stockdale homes, this house was built on the high river bank with a second story balcony overlooking the Ohio.  All of the homes of the steamboat captains in Georgetown had second story balconies so that they could check the rise or fall the river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Business Ventures after 1848.

                Str Georgetown.  The str Georgetown, a sternwheel packet built in Line Island and Pittsburgh in 1852.  The capacity was rated at 183 tons.  The Georgetown was owned by Thomas W Poe and other partners from Georgetown, PA. On 8 Jun 1852, the arrival of one-thousand German and Irish immigrants was announced in Cincinnati.  Two hundred had come from New Orleans as deck passengers aboard the str Georgetown commanded by Capt Thomas W Poe.  All had escaped sickness, except a woman who had given birth to a son. [i] 

The str Georgetown was snagged on the Missouri on 12 Oct 1853, raised, and returned to service.  On 11 May 1855 the Georgetown was fatally snagged at Bellefontaine Bluffs on the Missouri in route to a military post. [1]

Str Georgetown Cert of Enrollment

 

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6635
Thomas Poe	3/16	Enroll No :	117
Jacob Poe	3/16	Cert Date:	24 Sep 1852
George Poe	1/16	Cert Type::	Enrollment
Joseph Calhoon	3/16	Build Locn:	Line Island, PA
Mrs AB McClure (Elizabeth Poe)	2/16	Build Date:	1852
Andrew Poe	2/16	Master
GW Ebbert	2/16

             

   Str Clifton.  The Clifton was a sternwheeler built in 1855 at the Glasgow boatyard across the river from Georgetown.  It was rated at 183 tons and was off the lists by 1860.  Thomas W Poe a partner in the ownership of the boat.

 

Str Clifton

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6637
George W Ebert	1/8	Enroll No :	115
Jacob Poe	1/4	Cert Date:	7 Aug 1855
Thomas Poe	1/8	Cert Type::	Admeasurement
George Poe	1/8	Build Locn:	Glasgow, PA
Andrew Poe	1/8	Build Date:	1855
Jonathan Kinsey	1/8	Master
James McQuiston	1/8

             

   Str Belmont.  The Belmont was a sternwheel wooden hull packet (153x31x4.5) built in California, PA and finished in Pittsburgh in 1856.  Capt George Washington Ebert was her first master and part owner with others principally from Georgetown, PA.  All members of the Georgetown Poe family shared in the profits as well as the risks of their river family business ventures.  Widowed in 1854, Elizabeth (Poe) McClure married Standish Peppard in 1857.  The original ownership was divided as follows:

 

Str Belmont

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6638
GW Ebert	3/16	Enroll No :	139
Jacob Poe	3/16	Cert Date:	23 Aug 1856
Thomas Poe	1/4	Cert Type::	Admeasurement 70
Andrew Poe	1/4	Build Locn:	California. PA
George Poe	1/8	Build Date:	1856
Elizabeth McClure	1/8	Master	GW Ebert

The Belmont was used in the Pittsburgh to Cincinnati to St Louis commerce.[2]

 

In the spring of 1859, Capt SC Trimble bought control. After serving as the second clerk under Capt George W Ebert Capt Thomas S Calhoon, 26 years became the master of the Belmont under its new ownership.  On May 7, 1859 while moored at the Pittsburgh wharf, a spectacular fire burned a number of boats.  The Belmont moved to safety in mid river unscathed, but the wind blew her alongside the burning JH Conn and the two packets burned together.[3]

 

                Str Neptune.  The Neptune was a sternwheel wooden hull packet (150×39.5×4) built in California, PA and finished in Pittsburgh in 1856.  Capt Adam Poe was her first master and part owner with others principally from Georgetown, PA.  The original ownership was divided as follows:

Str Neptune

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6640
Adam Poe	3/8	Enroll No :	287
Thomas Poe	1/4	Cert Date:	24 Oct 1857
Jacob Poe	3/16	Cert Type::	Admeasurement 179
George Poe	1/16	Build Locn:	California, PA
Jacob Diehl & Co	1/8	Build Date:	1856
		Master

John Diehl, a family friend, was the owner of one of the general stores in Georgetown.  After the Civil War, he opened a grocery in Pittsburgh.

 

The Neptune was used in the Pittsburgh to St Louis commerce.[4]

 

 

                Str Clara Poe.  The Clara Poe was a trim sternwheel packet built in California, PA in 1859 (149x32x4’9”) and rated at 208 tons.  Her first master was Capt Thomas W Poe.  Brother George W Poe was the pilot.  Ownership was divided as follows:

 

Str Clara Poe

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6642
Jacob Poe	1/4	Enroll No :	182
Thomas Poe	1/8	Cert Date:	26 Nov 1859
Martin L Poe	1/8	Cert Type::	Admeasurement  11
George Poe	1/8	Build Locn:	California, PA
		Build Date:	1859
Jonathan Kinsey	1/8	Master	Thomas Poe
George W Ebbert	1/8

 

The str Clara Poe was used in the Pittsburgh to Cincinnati trade until impressed into US service in 1862 according to Fredrick Way’s Packet Directory.[5]   Few details of the early commercial work have been uncovered.  In those days cabin passage on a packet was luxurious.  Cut glass chandeliers in the parlor, oil paintings in every stateroom, gilded mirrors and marble tables, thick carpets, and steaming foods piled high.  Life on the rivers was at its best.  Neither homes nor hotels of the 1850’s could provide such comfort.  Everyone whose life centered on the river was prosperous.  Even the crew walked with a swagger jingling their plentiful silver.

 

The 78^th PA Infantry boarded “on Captain Thomas Poe’s Clara Poe…  At 6:00 PM ropes were released, whistles sounded, anchors weighed, and the Clara Poe… sailed quickly from the Monongahela River into the Ohio River enroute to their jump-off point of Louisville, Kentucky, some three days away.”  This sendoff was vividly recorded on Oct 18, 1861.  The Clara Poe was one of six steamboats chartered by Commodore WJ Kountz, who has charge of the transportation by river of troops and Government supplies.[6]  The other five steamers at the Monongahela Wharf that Oct day were the Moderator, Sir William Wallace, JW Hallman, Argonaut, and the Silver Wave.  The Moderator in May 1863collided at night with the Horizon owned by Capt Jackman T Stockdale of Georgetown, PA.  Many soldier lives were lost.

 

In Apr 1862, the Clara Poe was a member of the expedition to Pittsburg Landing.  Whether the Clara Poe was chartered or impressed to service is unclear. [7]

 

On May 13, 1863 the Clara Poe transported the 14^th Illinois infantry from Memphis to Vicksburg.[8]

 

The Clara Poe was chartered from 24 Jun 1863 for an unknown period, from 4 Dec 1863 to 4 Jan 1864, and again from 8 Jul to 15 Aug 1864. [9]  A report in the New York Times on Aug 15, 1864  stated “On Saturday noon of the last week the Clara Poe, bound for the Tennessee River with two heavy barges loaded with government stores, having on her own deck a load of fat cattle was attacked by a rebel force estimated at 700.  The rebel commander Johnson ordered the Clara Poe to bring to, and upon her Captain refusing to comply. a fire of musketry was poured upon her.”  The article goes on to state that the Clara Poe had been pierced with approximately 500 musket bullets.  It goes into great detail about the escape – discarding the barges, running the cattle off the deck into the river, etc.  A good read. [10]

 

The last entry for the Clara Poe was on Apr 17, 1865.  The Clara Poe was burned by the Confederates at Eddyville on the Cumberland River while transporting supplies and barges of hay to Nashville.  [11]

 

 

 

                Str Amelia Poe.  The steamer Amelia Poe was named in honor of the daughter of Thomas Washington Poe and Martha Jane born in Georgetown, PA in 1852.  The trim sternwheel packet built in Georgetown, PA and finished in Pittsburgh in 1865 (1659x27x4’5”) was designed for Missouri River commerce.  Her capacity was rated at 200 tons.  Capt Thomas W Poe was her first master and principle owner.  [12]    George W Poe was also a partner and pilot.  The Amelia Poe’sr maiden voyage in 1865 was a trip to Nashville, TN for a cargo of pig iron for John Kyle in Cincinnati.  It main trade routes were From Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, Louisville, St Louis, and Ft Benton.

 

 

Str Amelia Poe

 

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6649
Adam Poe	1/8	Enroll No :	131
Thomas Poe	7/16	Cert Date:	11 May 1865
Cornelius Todd	1/16	Cert Type::	Admeasurement 126
Jacob Poe	1/8	Build Locn:	Pittsburgh, PA
Jacob Ewing	1/8	Build Date:	1865
GW Hughes	1/8	Master	Adam Poe

 

 

 

In the spring of 1866, some 51 boats, including the Amelia Poe, started from St Louis for the upper Missouri.  Only 32 docked at Ft Benton.  On Jun 11, 1866, the Amelia Poe arrived at Ft Benton with 200 tons of freight and 40 passengers. [13] Downward freight and passengers was unrecorded.  That season the average fare per passenger was $150 and freight landed a prize of 10-12.5 cents per lb.  Considering the upward cargo only, Thomas W Poe’s gross earnings were approximately $56,000.  In 2007 dollars that amount would be equal to $1,120,000.  The lure of huge profits was as great as the risks of the upper Missouri.  Compensation for the steamboat officers was also very rewarding.  In 1866 on the Ohio a river boat pilot could earn $175 per month, a captain $150, and a first clerk $150; on the Missouri, their counterparts received $725, $400, and $250.[14] The clerk on that first mountain trip was Thomas S Calhoon from Georgetown, PA.

 

An advertising card in 1867 stated:

 

                Ho for the Gold Mines

                The Montana and Idaho transportation Lines

                will give through bills of lading for

                Ft Benton, Helena, Virginia City,

                and all points in the mining districts.

 

Even with the boom of the gold rush wearing off, the year of 1867 was another busy season in the Montana trade.  More boats arrived than in 1866.  The Amelia Poe was the tenth packet to dock with 183 tons of cargo and 50 passengers.  The down trip carried 25 passengers.  The rates for passengers and cargo are unrecorded.  No doubt the trip was deemed a success even if the rates were lower due to the increased traffic.  [15]  The officers were Georgetown men:

 

Name	Position
Thos Poe	Captain
JQA Parr	Clerk
TS  Calhoon	Clerk
Jacob Ewing	Engineer
George Calhoon	Steward
Thomas Conkle	Cook

 

 

In 1868, the Amelia Poe again steamed to Ft Benton.  On May 20, 1868 Amelia Poe passed Ft Buford without stopping.  Loaded down with a quartz mill for the Montana mines and a cargo of whiskey and other liquors, she snagged near Oswego, MT on May 24 attracting 1,500 swarming Indians in a riotous salvage operation.  The location where the packet snagged and sunk is now known as Amelia Poe Bend.  Part of the cargo was saved by the steamer Cora and taken to Helena.  The Poe passengers were carried to Ft Benton by the Bertha.  The quartz mill was stowed ashore, and as late as 1927 was still visible. [16]  Although the owner of the Amelia Poe was Thomas W Poe, her captain was Thomas Townsend at the time of the wreck.  There is no recorded evidence that Thomas W Poe was aboard.  It is more likely that he was captain or pilot of the Ida Stockdale that season.

 

 

                Str Nick Wall.  The Nick Wall was a sternwheel wooden hull packet built in Pittsburgh in 1869.  It was 180x33x5 and rated at 338 tons.  It was named to honor a Missouri River captain and Montana businessman.  Capt Thomas W Poe owned ½ interest with probably other family members.

 

 

The Nick Wall ran to Ft Benton in 1869-70.  On Jun 14 1970, Capt Thomas W Poe was the first to dock at Ft Benton landing with 200 tons of freight and 36 passengers.  [17]  On the down river run with Gen Philip Sheridan and his staff aboard, the Nick Wall beached at Spread Eagle on 20 Jun 1870 for a period of time– A serious event due to the danger of Indian attack.

 

The Nick Wall met a tragic end when it struck a snag and sunk near Napoleon, AR on Dec 18, 1870 with 15 cabin passengers and 135 on deck.  Here a grisly incident occurred that Mark Twain retold in “Life on the Mississippi”.  Capt Thomas W Poe attempting to save his wife trapped in a stateroom chopped a hole in the roof with an ax striking the unfortunate Martha Jane Poe in the head.[18]  Her body was returned to Georgetown for burial.  Thirty-nine lives were lost including Capt Poe’s young nephew, Charles McClure.  According to the clerk of the Nick Wall, the steamer was a total loss.  The boat was valued at $22,000 and insured for $15,000.  She was laden with 3,000 barrels of flour and a large lot of assorted freight for the Red River. [19]

 

                Str Fearless.  No data.

 

                _{Str Mary E Poe}.

Named in honor of his youngest daughter, the Mary E Poe was a sternwheeler built in 1871 in Cincinnati, OH.  Her dimensions were 180x33x5 and her capacity was rated at 296 tons.  Capt Thomas W Poe was the principal owner with, as usual, other family members.  The MEP was charted by the Carter Line for the St Louis Red River trade.

 

On 17 Oct 1873 her boiler caused a fire and she was intentionally run aground near Island 26 above Osceola, AK.  The str City of Helena picked up the passengers and crew.  John Blythe, the mate and Thomas W Poe’s son-in-law, remained aboard to guard the wreck..  A swarm of Tennessee natives arrived at the wreck with the intent to plunder.  They drove the mate away at gunpoint.  When the TF Eckert arrived to salvage the cargo, most had been pilfered.. [20]

 

 

Personal Wealth.  According to 1860 census data, Thomas W Poe had a net worth greater than $1.2 M converted to 2013 dollars.  His brother Jacob Poe was second in the borough of Georgetown with approximately $1.0M.  In 1870, the order was the same, but the amounts were reduced by 30%.  The war years had not been good for river commerce.  At the outbreak of the war, all Mississippi River commerce stopped.  During the war whether impressed or contracted to service by the US Army Quartermaster, packet business was unprofitable.  Wage scales controlled by the Quartermaster were less than pre-war rates.  Even the high profit of the Missouri River commerce during the Montana gold rush was not enough to recover from the financial setback caused by the Civil War.  Still by any measure, the Georgetown captains and pilots in 1870, especially Thomas W Poe, were wealthy men for their time.

 

Summary.  Ringed in romance and smoke, the American inland river steamboat is one of our most colorful and precious heritages.  The light draft vessel was the technological wonder of its day providing access to the western territories decades before the arrival of the railroads.   That many Americans continue to be fascinated by the historical exploits and romantic spirit of steamboats is completely understandable.  However, no captain or pilot from Georgetown, PA earned much renown either during his lifetime or the years after his death.  During the Civil War, they like many other steamboat men sacrificed, suffered, and learned to live with their losses.  They served from start to finish, fought summer and winter, but their history has been essentially silent.

 

For those who only remember the Poe family of pioneer days because of their celebrated fight with Big Foot, the Wyandot Indian chief, they are missing the astonishing record of their work as steamboat captains and pilots.  That record was mostly achieved in a single generation.   History touched the Poe brothers, especially Thomas W.  It is my hope that this biography of Capt Thomas Washington Poe will inform and entertain.  It is a bit of American history too important to be left untold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary of Packet Ownership 

 

(The summary information for Thomas W Poe in the following table was gleaned from a personal review of the Certificates of Enrollment for the Port of Pittsburgh stored in The National Archives.)

 

 

 

Packet Name	Build Date (Way’s Directory)	Build Location (Way’s Directory)	Primary Owner (Cert of Enroll)	Master (Cert of Enroll)
Amelia Poe	1865	Pittsburgh	Thomas Poe	Adam Poe
Belfast	1843	Freedom	Jacob Poe	GW Ebert
Belfast  No 2	1857	Freedom	Jacob Poe	GW Ebert
Belmont	1842	Pittsburgh	Jacob Poe	Jacob Poe
Belmont  No 2	1856	California	Thomas W Poe	GW Ebert
Caledonia	1854	Pittsburgh	Richard Calhoon
Clara Poe	1859	California	Jacob Poe	Thomas W Poe
Clifton	1855	Glasgow	Jacob Poe
Ella	1854	Elizabeth	Adam Poe
Fairmont	1837	Fallston	Jacob Poe	Jacob Poe
Fallston	1837	Fallston	Jacob Poe	Jacob Poe
Financier	1845	Pittsburgh	Jacob Poe	Adam Poe
Financier No 2	1850	Freedom	Jacob Poe	Adam Poe
Georgetown	1852	Line Island	Jacob Poe
Hudson	1846	Glasgow	Jacob Poe	GW Ebert
Neptune	1856	California	Adam Poe	Adam Poe
New England	1844	Pittsburgh	Jacob Poe	GW Ebert
Peru	1848	Freedom	TS Calhoon	TS Calhoon
Pioneer	1846	Elizabeth	Jacob Poe	Adam Poe
Tuscarora	1848	Glasgow	Jacob Poe	Jacob Poe
Royal Arch	1852	Elizabeth
Washington City	1852	Freedom	Jacob Poe	GW Ebert
Yorktown	1853	Pittsburgh	Jacob Poe
Yorktown  No 2	1864	Freedom	Jacob Poe	Jacob Poe

 

 

 

 

Georgetown Cemetery Markers.

 

 

References.

Capt Jacob Poe was a riverman, first and last,  and his river exploits personify an Ohio River steamboat man.  The grandson of the famous frontier Indian fighter Adam Poe, Jacob Poe carried well the mystique that goes with the name.  Capt Jacob Poe’s career as a steamboat pilot and owner of numerous packets spanned more than fifty years and enjoyed the rise of steamboat commerce and suffered its decline.  During the golden age of steamboats, he steamed on all the inland rivers and tributaries of the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri river systems.  He traveled far, saw much, and accumulated considerable wealth.   In 1855, a packet built in Freedom, PA was named in honor of Jacob Poe.  To be sure that tribute was fitting and proper. 

Perhaps most important of all, he was recognized as a generous leader of his community.   Capt Jacob Poe was known to all as “Uncle Jake” in Georgetown, PA.  According to Harriet Calhoon Ewing in an interview conducted by river historian Capt Frederick Way in Dec 1965,   “Uncle Jake was strong-minded, level-headed, progressive, and generous to a fault.”. [1]   That community respect and high regard was what he counted as real wealth.  

Jacob Poe, the second son of Thomas Washington Poe Sr and Elizabeth Hephner, was born on Thursday, 13 May 1813, in New Lisbon, Columbiana Co, OH.  He died on Friday, 13 Mar 1891 in Georgetown, Beaver Co, PA and was interred in Georgetown Cemetery.  The best way for my great great granduncle to be remembered is to tell his story.

 

Family Background.  The story of the Georgetown Poe family begins with the emigration of George Jacob Poe from the Palatine Region of the Rhine River to the Maryland countryside near Frederick about 1741.  He bought land on the Antietam River where he built flour mills.  In the 1760′s, two of his sons, Andrew and Adam, left MD across the newly constructed Cumberland Road to western PA near Georgetown along the Ohio River.  The two brothers attained fame for their Revolutionary War service and their frontier battles with the Indians. In 1823 Adam’s son Thomas Washington Poe Sr moved his family of five to Georgetown, PA. 

There Thomas Washington Poe Sr built a log home on the property where “The Poe House” still stands. 

 

The Poe family grew to ten.  With his young sons as deckhands, Thomas entered the profitable river freight business.  The business grew from rafting logs to Wheeling to keelboating coal and grain to ports as far south as Cincinnati.  All of the children of Thomas Washington Sr and Elizabeth Hephner Poe worked the rivers.  Sons, Andrew, Jacob, Adam, Thomas Washington, and George W, became steamboat captains and pilots.  Their daughters’ lives also centered around the river.  Nancy Ann married Capt George W Ebert; Elizabeth married Capt Standish Peppard; and Sarah H married Capt George Groshorn Calhoon.  The Poes were representative of many emigrant families who became wealthy and attained prominence over several generations despite starting with little more than energy and pluck.  In this, they were greatly assisted by the conditions of the day – an expanding country and a tight circle of Georgetown families.  Poe, Ebert, Calhoon, Kinsey, Laughlin, Parr, and Stockdale are Georgetown surnames entwined with the river and each other.

 

 

On 27 Dec 1838, Jacob Poe married Mary Ann Ebert the daughter of Frederick Ebert and Mary Ann Hague.  The marriage of Mary Ann and Jacob lasted 52 years and produced six sons.  Only two of the sons followed in their father’s footsteps: George WE as a pilot and Theodore Cochran (Dory) as a clerk and wharf boat manager.  Charles Edgar was the proprietor of the Riverside livery,feed, and sale stable.  Two sons, Adam H and Albert G, died within one year, and little is known about Carson.  Mary Ann Ebert was the sister of Capt George Washington Ebert who was a business partner in many Poe family packets.  GW Ebert married Nancy Ann Poe, the sister of Jacob Poe.   Brother and sister married brother and sister.  Families connections do not get much tighter than that.

 

Early River Business Ventures.  Relatively little of the early Capt Jacob Poe river story remains.   According to Capt Adam Poe’s Account of Adam Poe, Sr River Experiences written in Georgetown, Penna May 3,1887 and published in 1891, Capt Adam started working with his father at age nine in 1825. [2]  It is most probable that Capt Jacob worked for his father when the family returned to Georgetown, PA in 1823, as Jacob would have been age ten.  For the next fourteen years, Jacob worked on rafts, flatboats, and keel boats with his father and brothers.  Like his brother Capt Adam, Jacob probably worked as a roustabout on early designed steamboats.  Through this experience, he was schooled in river navigation and steamboat design and operation.  Like all pilots, he learned the name of every town, tavern, island, sand bar, bend, snag, wreck, and ripple on the river.  Adam wrote about going “up through Merriman’s Ripple where the channel runs close to shore”.  This navigational knowledge was stored in the pilot’s mind.  A pilot was a flesh and blood GPS.  Although the first evidence of Jacob’s work on a steamboat was in 1837, it should be recognized that Jacob, and many other Georgetown men, continued to build and operate keel boats into the 1850′s.  These mid-century keel boats were quite large, more than 20 tons because they were registered in the Certificates of Enrollment for the Port of Pittsburgh.  These vessels operated in low water and usually hitched a ride on a steamboat when returning up river.  (The Certificates of Enrollment information is maintained in Washington, DC by the National Archives and Records Administration (Record Group 41) Records of the Bureau of Marine inspection and Navigation Customhouse copies of Vessel Documentation Pittsburgh, PA.)

 

According to Capt Adam Poe, the owners of the Beaver No 2 hired his brother Jacob Poe as their captain and first pilot in 1837.  The Beaver No 2 was in the Allegheny River trade transporting passengers and feight between Pittsburgh and various canal stops.  At that time Jacob Poe was one of two steamboat pilots on the Allegheny River. [3]  That same year Jacob Poe was the pilot on the New Castle that went up the Allegheny River to Olean, NY.  [4]    This trip was an incredible feat for the time.  No boat had steamed  farther up the Allegheny River.  According to Gladys L Hoover, president of the Mill Creek Historical Society, only two steamboats ever made the run to Olean – the str Allegheny and the str New Castle.  At the age of 24 years, Jacob Poe’s reputation on the water was well recognized.  This historic feat occurred 15 years before Jacob Poe had 15 or more years of fresh water experience before he posted his first certified steamboat pilot’s license.   His last US Inspection Certificate was dated 1 Dec 1890.  It was his fifteenth masters license and thirty-second pilots license for the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers.  Fifty-three years as a Ohio River steamboat pilot ― think about that for a few moments. 

 

 

 

 

According to the Certificate of Enrollment records for the Port of Pittsburgh, Jacob Poe was the principle owner of the str Beaver in 1837.   The hand-written book by Capt BM Laughlin identifying all packets built in Pittsburgh between 1811 and 1904, lists two packets named Beaver.  The str Beaver rated at 31 tons was built in Pittsburgh and registered on 27 Nov 1832.  Another str Beaver, also built in Pittsburgh was registered on 16 Apr 1837.   The second vessel was undoubtedly the packet owned by Jacob Poe that Capt Adam Poe called the str Beaver No 2 in his account of his river experiences.

 

 

Str Beaver  Certificate of Enrollment

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6627
Jacob Poe		Enroll No :	30
Robert Beer		Cert Date:	28 Mar 1837
TS Clarke		Cert Type::	Enrollment
		Build Locn:	Pittsburgh, PA
		Build Date:	1837
		Master	Jacob Poe

 

 

According to family lore, the Poe brothers, Adam and Jacob, bought the str Fallston in 1841 for low water work between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. The str Fallston was a “go as you can” tramp steamboat that purportedly would run on dew. The first found Certificate of Enrollment was dated 10 Jun 1842.  (It is not improbable that I missed an earlier record because the older Certificate of Enrollment books are in fragile condition.)  The certificate confirmed that four Poe brothers were shareholders in the vessel in 1842.  The shared ownership of the str Fallston was the first example of many Poe family packets.  Risks and profits were shared within the family.  The str Fallston was too small to accommodate passengers so two keelboats fitted with bunks were towed alongside.  [5]

 

 

Str Fallston   Certificate of Enrollment

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6627
Jacob Poe		Enroll No :	57
Adam Poe		Cert Date:	6/10/1842
Andrew Poe		Cert Type::	Enrollment
Thomas Poe		Build Locn:	Fallston, PA
		Build Date:	1837
		Master	Jacob Poe

 

In 1843 Jacob Poe purchased the Belmont which was built in Pittsburgh in 1842.  The Belmont was larger than the Fallston and was used on the upper Ohio River system.  From the owners list, it too was a Poe family packet.

 

 

Str Belmont   Certificate of Enrollment

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6627
Jacob Poe		Enroll No :	26
Adam Poe		Cert Date:	10/26/1843
Thomas Poe		Cert Type::
Andrew Poe		Build Locn:
		Build Date:

 

The documentary trail of the first few steamboats operated by Capt Jacob Poe is meager.  In general, early steamboat facts are hard to come by.  The definitive source of inland river packet information, “Ways Packet Directory, 1848-1994”, does not include boats built before 1848 as its title indicates.  Unfortunately,  much of Capt Jacob Poe’s career occurred before 1848. 

   

 

The early steamboat days were also full of hardships and life shortening dangers.  Floods, ice jams, fog, steamer wrecks, snags, sand bars, boiler explosions, and fire were dangers that confronted the officers of a packet.  Mississippi diarrhea, cholera, jaundice, injury, consumption, and drowning were the constant companions of all of the crew and passengers.  Steamboat passage was scarce, sometimes dangerous, in those days. 

 

 

As proof of the dangers it should also be noted that Capt John Calhoon drowned in Marietta, OH in 1846 while in command of one of Jacob Poe’s steamboats.  Capt John Calhoon was the father of Capt Thomas Stevenson Calhoon who arguably was the most renowned steamboat captain from Georgetown.  Capt Joseph MC Calhoon died of “Cholera Morbus ” in Alton, IL in 21 Apr 1855.  John and Joseph MC, brothers who were related to Jacob Poe by marriage and lived within foot distance, paid the river’s ultimate price.

 

 

River Commerce after 1848.  By the mid-19th century, the technological wonder of the inland rivers had matured.  Some packets were faster, but not so reliable; some were larger but also slower; some were more luxurious but carried less freight.  Dangers had not been eliminated.  The frontier rivers abounded in snags, sand bars, and other problems.  Frontier, by definition, was the western territory unsettled and often lawless.  With their boats Capt Jacob Poe and other steamboat men, often at great risk, supported the development and expansion of our frontiers.  The following steamboat biographies highlight the work of Capt Jacob Poe.   

 

                John B Gordon.  Capt Jacob Poe had a share in the sidewheel packet named John B Gordon built in Brownsville, PA in 1848.  Its capacity was 57 tons.  Capt Jacob Poe had the distinction of making a trip to Chillicothe, Oh via the Scioto River on Jan 31, 1848.  The John B Gordon was snagged and sunk on the Arkansas River on 8 Jun 1851.  I do not know whether Jacob Poe was aboard at the time of the wreck. [6]]

 

                John B Gordon No 2.  Then Jacob Poe built the John B Gordon No 2.  Rated at 48 tons, it was a low water packet with a sternwheel design built in Brownsville, PA in 1849.  It purportedly could run on heavy dew! [7]  From an old journal of 1853, the steamboat arrivals and departures at Keosauqua, IA listed the strJohn B Gordon No 2 several times.  An old diary similarly listed the arrivals at Fort Des Moines.  The strJohn B Gordon No 2 had the distinction to ascend the Des Moines River to Fort Des Moines arriving on Sunday during church services.  The congregation was dismissed to watch the unusual and historic event. [8]  A similar celebration occurred when the first train reached Des Moines in Aug 1866. [9]  In 1855 the John B Gordon No 2 was working on the Minnesota River, and later that same year was dismantled.[10] 

 

The strJohn B Gordon No 2 was the first example of a typical Poe family packet. The Poe brothers favored the sternwheel design for their packets.   These Poe family boats were not the nodding deep water boats of the lower Mississippi River.   The Poe brothers believed that moderately sized packets yielded a better return on their investment.  Costing less and shallow enough in draft because of their size, Poe boats could run on the upper Ohio and Missouri Rivers when the river level was too low for larger craft to operate.  They could make more paying trips per season than owners of larger boats.   This business philosophy made sense and proved its worth by returning good profits over the years.

 

                Georgetown.  The str Georgetown, a sternwheel packet built in Line Island and Pittsburgh in 1852, was a typical Poe family boat.  The capacity was rated at 183 tons. 

 

Str Georgetown  Cert ofEnrollment

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6635
Thomas Poe	3/16	Enroll No :	117
Jacob Poe	3/16	Cert Date:	24 Sep 1852
George Poe	1/16	Cert Type::	Enrollment
Joseph Calhoon	3/16	Build Locn:	Line Island, PA
Mrs AB McClure (Elizabeth Poe)	2/16	Build Date:	1852
Andrew Poe	2/16	Master
GW Ebbert	2/16

 

The Georgetown was snagged on the Missouri on 12 Oct 1853, raised, and returned to service.  On 11 May 1855 the Georgetown was fatally snagged at Bellefontaine Bluffs on the Missouri in route to a military post. [11]  Curiously, there is a record of the arrival in Des Moines, IA in 1855 of the str New Georgetown along with a number of other steamboats. [12]  Neither Way’s directory nor The Lytle-Holdcamper List include a packet name New Georgetown so this entry must be the Poe boat which was working in the region.

 

                Clara Poe.  The Clara Poe was a trim sternwheel packet built in California, PA in 1859 (149x32x4’9”) and rated at 208 tons.  Her first master was Capt Thomas W Poe.  Ownership was shared as follows:

 

Str Clara Poe   Certificate of Enrollment

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6642
Jacob Poe	1/4	Enroll No :	182
Thomas Poe	1/8	Cert Date:	26 Nov 1859
Martin L Poe	1/8	Cert Type::	Admeasurement  11
George Poe	1/8	Build Locn:	California, PA
Andrew Poe	1/8	Build Date:	1859
Jonathan Kinsey	1/8	Master	Thomas Poe
George W Ebbert	1/8

 

The str Clara Poe was used in the Pittsburgh to Cincinnati trade until impressed into US service in 1862, according to Capt Frederick Way.  [13]   Capt Way erred on the date of service when  he missed this troop departure vividly recorded on 18 Oct 1861.

 

The 78^th PA Infantry boarded  “on Captain Thomas Poe’s Clara Poe…  At 6:00 PM ropes were released, whistles sounded, anchors weighed, and the Clara Poe… sailed quickly from the Monongahela River into the Ohio River enroute to their jump-off point of Louisville, Kentucky, some three days away.”  The Clara Poe was one of six steamboats chartered by Commodore WJ Kountz, who had charge of the transportation by river of troops and Government supplies. [14]  The other five steamers at the Monongahela Wharf that Oct day were the Moderator, Sir William Wallace, JW Hallman, Argonaut, and the Silver Ware.  The Moderator in May 1863collided at night with the Horizon owned by Capt Thomas S Calhoon of Georgetown, PA.  Many soldier lives were lost. 

 

In Apr 1862, the str Clara Poe was a member of the expedition to Pittsburg Landing.  Whether the str Clara Poe was chartered or impressed to service is unclear. [15]   On May 13, 1863 the Clara Poe transported the 14^th Illinois infantry from Memphis to Vicksburg. [16]

The str Clara Poe was chartered from 24 Jun 1863 for an unknown period, from 4 Dec 1863 to 4 Jan 1864, and again from 8 Jul to 15 Aug 1864. [17]   A report in the New York Times on Aug 15, 1864  stated “On Saturday noon of the last week the Clara Poe, bound for the Tennessee River with two heavy barges loaded with government stores, having on her own deck a load of fat cattle was attacked by a rebel force estimated at 700.  The rebel commander Johnson ordered the Clara Poe to bring to, and upon her Captain refusing to comply. a fire of musketry was poured upon her.”  The article goes on to state that the str Clara Poe had been pierced with approximately 500 musket bullets.  It goes into great detail about the escape – discarding the barges, running the cattle off the deck into the river, etc. [18]   

 

 

 

The str Clara Poe went up in flames – burned by rebels on 17 Apr 1865 at Eddyville on the Cumberland River while transporting supplies and barges of hay to Nashville. [19]  The owners of the str Clara Poe formally requested indemnity from the US Army Quartermaster.  Correspondence between the principal owners and the US government is available at the National Archives in the military “Vessel File” Record Group 92 Entry 1403 Box 81.   The battle for compensation was waged by Capt Jacob Poe for twenty-five years through six presidencies, in vain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

                Yorktown.  The str Yorktown was a sternwheel packet built in Freedom, PA in 1864 with a rated capacity of 426 tons.  Capt Jacob Poe, the initial owner, brought her out in Oct 1864 for a Pittsburgh to Louisville trip.  From the files of the Pittsburgh “Commercial” dated 28 Oct 1864: 

 

                The new and pretty Yorktown, Capt Poe, leaves for Louisville Saturday. 

 

In Jan 1865, Capt George W Ebert bought control of the packet with Standish Peppard serving in the office.  Her main route was Pittsburgh to Cincinnati with an occasional trip to Nashville. [20]  

 

 

Str Yorktown   Certificate of Enrollment

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6647
Jacob Poe	1/4	Enroll No :	212
Thomas Poe	1/4	Cert Date:	29 Oct 1864
GW Ebbert	1/8	Cert Type::	Admeasurement 23
S Morrow	1/8	Build Locn:	Freedom, PA
A Hartuper	1/8	Build Date:	1864
WJ Parr	1/8	Master	Jacob Poe

 

 

 

In 1867 and again in 1868, the str Yorktown steamed to Ft Benton in the Montana Territory.  In 1867, the str Yorktown docked at Ft Benton on 14 Jun with 210 tons of freight and 15 passengers.  Like clockwork, the str Yorktown docked at Ft Benton on 14 Jun 1868 with 125 tons of cargo and 50 passengers. [21]   It is unclear whether Jacob Poe was aboard as a pilot during these trips.  The str Yorktown was off the books in 1869. [22]

 

    Amelia Poe.   The steamer Amelia Poe was named in honor of the daughter of Capt Thomas Washington and Martha Jane Poe born in Georgetown, PA in 1852.  The trim sternwheel packet built in Georgetown, PA and finished in Pittsburgh in 1865 (165′x27′x4’5”) was designed specifically for Missouri River commerce.  Her capacity was rated at 328 tons.  Capt Thomas Washington was her first master and principle owner. [23]

 

Str Amelia Poe   Certificate of Enrollment

Owners and Partners	Share	Vol:	6649
Adam Poe	1/8	Enroll No :	131
Thomas Poe	7/16	Cert Date:	11 May 1865
Cornelius Todd	1/16	Cert Type::	Admeasurement 126
Jacob Poe	1/8	Build Locn:	Pittsburgh, PA
Jacob Ewing	1/8	Build Date:	1865
GW Hughes	1/8	Master	Adam Poe

 

 

In the spring of 1866, some 51 boats, including the str Amelia Poe, started from St Louis for the upper Missouri.  Only 32 docked at Ft Benton.  On Jun 11, 1866, the str Amelia Poe arrived at Ft Benton with 200 tons of freight and 40 passengers. [24] Downward freight and passengers were unrecorded.  The str Amelia Poe departed from Georgetown landing on 13 Mar 1866, departed from Cincinnati on 20 Mar arriving in St Louis on 25 Mar.   The date of departure from St Louis was 30 Mar arriving in Ft Benton at 3:30 PM on 11 Jun.  Seventy-three (73) grueling, watery days!

 

In 1868, the str Amelia Poe again steamed to Ft Benton.  On May 20, 1868 the str Amelia Poe passed Ft Buford without stopping.  Loaded down with a quartz mill for the Montana mines and a cargo of whiskey and other liquors, she snagged near Oswego, MT on May 24 attracting 1,500 swarming Indians in a riotous salvage operation.  The location where the packet snagged and sunk is now known as Amelia Poe Bend.  Part of the cargo was saved by the str Cora and taken to Helena MT.  Some machinery, the quartz mill equipment, was put ashore where it remains to this day.  The loss was reported to be $72,000.  [25]   The Poe passengers were carried to Ft Benton by the steamer Bertha.  The quartz mill was stowed ashore, and as late as 1927 was still visible.[26]

 

 

 

 

 

 

                Mollie Ebert.  The str Mollie Ebert was a sternwheel wooden hull packet built in Pittsburgh in 1869.  Built under the watchful eye of Capt Jacob Poe, the packet became famous instantly for her size and freight capacity.  Although Way’s Directory indicates that the packet was a modest sized boat, in an interview of Theodore C Poe in the Sunday Pittsburgh Press dated 8 Nov 1925 the size was described differently.  The packet was 180x38x5 with a calculated capacity of 313 tons.  But according to Theodore C Poe the str Mollie Ebert was capable of transporting 600 tons of cargo.  Launched by Jacob Poe, the steamer Mollie Ebert was named for his niece Mary Ann (Mollie Ebert) Trimble.  This steamer was his masterpiece.  It cost $35,000.  It was luxurious – bound to be noticed.  Its boilers and cylinders were exceptionally powerful.  By design, it was perfect for the profitable “mountain trade” on the upper Missouri River. [27]

 

 

 

Mollie Ebert Trimble and her Aunt Elizabeth Poe Mathews helped christen the steamer with a high-profile launch.  As the hull slid into the Monongahela River, Mollie Ebert Trimble smashed a bottle of wine on the prow and said, “I christen thee Mollie Ebert.”  Then with Capt George W Ebert in command, they went on her maiden voyage to New Orleans.   Theodore C Poe, son of Jacob Poe, only eight years when the Mollie Ebert was built, was a passenger on her maiden voyage to New Orleans. [28]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                Barranquilla.  The str Barranquilla was a trim sternwheel wooden hull packet built in Pittsburgh, PA in 1869 under the supervision of Capt Jackman Taylor Stockdale of Georgetown, PA.  She was contracted for work on the Magdalena River in Columbia, South America.  Her first master was Capt Thomas S Calhoon; Jacob Poe and Andrew J Parr served as pilots.  No doubt other Georgetown men including Poes helped deliver the steamer to Columbia. [29]  

 

The route from Pittsburgh to the Magdalena River was long and dangerous. Capt Jacob Poe and Capt Andrew J Parr piloted to New Orleans or Baton Rouge.  From there a “Bar Pilot” was hired to steer the steamboat from New Orleans or Baton Rouge through the ever-changing channel to the mouth of the Mississippi.  (Today every seafaring tanker and ship, inbound and outbound, is required to use three different certified and well paid bar pilots to navigate the river from its mouth to Pilottown to the upstream anchorage and finally to the wharves.) 

 

Sternwheel packets with their low draught were not designed for ocean adventures.  One playful slap from the ocean and a river steamboat would provide kindling on the beach for years.  From the mouth of the Mississippi, the packet sailed along the coast to Key West.  From there she island hopped via Jamaica to reach her destination; badly battered but operative. 

 

 

                Glencoe.  The str Glencoe was a sidewheel wooden hull packet built in Shousetown, PA in 1870 and completed in Pittsburgh in 1871.  It was a big sidewheeler (275x43x7) built for deep water and operation in the Louisville to New Orleans trade.  The original owners were Capt Thomas S Calhoon and Capt Jackman T Stockdale.  The pilots who took her out for her maiden voyage were Jacob Poe and his son George WE Poe.  The first clerk was John QA Parr.  All lived within foot distance of Georgetown landing. [30]

 

 

                General Chas H Tompkins.  In 1878,  the str General Chas H Tompkins, a sternwheel packet was built in Pittsburgh for William J Kountz.  Piloted by Jacob Poe, she left Pittsburgh on May 12, 1878 for the Missouri River.  She was lost on the Arkansas River after 1881.  This packet was the last known command in Capt Jacob Poe’s career.

 

 

 Personal Wealth.  According to 1860 census data, Jacob Poe had a net worth greater than $1M converted to 2013 dollars.  His declaration was second to his brother Thomas Washington Poe in the borough of Georgetown, PA.  In 1870, the order was the same, but the amounts were reduced by 30%.  The war years had not been good for river commerce.  At the outbreak of the war, the secessionists blocked all Mississippi River commerce.  During the war whether contracted of forced to service by the US Army Quartermaster, packet business was unprofitable.  Wage scales controlled by the Quartermaster were less than pre-war rates.  After the Civil War, even the high profit of the Missouri River commerce during the Montana gold rush was not enough for many packet owners to recover from the swerves of fortune caused by the war.  Still by any measure, the Georgetown captains and pilots in 1870, especially Jacob Poe, were wealthy men for their time.

 

  

 

Capt Jacob Poe also owned a number of properties in Georgetown.  By 1850 he owned the three lots which combined today are known as The Poe House.  The lot where his sister Nancy Ann and her husband Capt George Washington Ebert built their home in the late 1840′s was sold to them by him.  To his sons he gave property near the end of his life.  He also bought the property known as Poe Wood, near Georgetown, from the heirs of his granduncle, Revolutionary War Capt Andrew Poe’s.  His grandfather Adam’s patent had been named Poesville.  Poesville was lost to the family when Adam moved his family to Ohio in 1804.  

 

 

Summary. 

Ringed in romance and smoke, the American inland river steamboat is one of our most colorful and precious heritages.  The light draft vessel was the technological wonder of its day providing access to the western territories decades before the arrival of the railroads.   That many Americans continue to be fascinated by the historical exploits and romantic spirit of steamboats is completely understandable.  However, no captain or pilot from Georgetown, PA earned much renown either during his lifetime or the years after his death.  During the Civil War, they like many other steamboat men sacrificed, suffered, and learned to live with their losses.  They served from start to finish, fought summer and winter, but their history has been essentially silent.

 

 

 

 

Few river men traveled farther or as wider-ranging as Capt Jacob Poe.  In 1837, Capt Jacob steamed to Olean, NY on the Allegheny River; in 1848 Chillicothe, OH on the Scioto River; in 1849 Ft Des Moines on the Des Moines River; in 1851 Warsaw MO on the Osage River; in 1854 Ft Riley on the Kansas River.  During the Civil War, Capt Jacob Poe was transporting troops and supplies on the Red River, White River, Yazoo River, and of course the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. After the Civil War he was on the furious upper Missouri River making several trips to Ft Benton in the Montana Territory.  He spent his life steaming on the sharp edge of a constantly moving American frontier, making history.  

From the details available, Capt Jacob Poe was often mentioned as the pilot.  He seemed to favor work in the pilot house more than the packet  management position of the master or captain.  He preferred to read the waters rather than count the money.  He not only drove the boats and shared their ownership with his brothers, he often watched over the construction of family boats.  No doubt his ideas were the foundation of the Poe favored mid-sized sternwheel design.  

 

For those who only remember the Poe family of pioneer days because of their celebrated fight with Big Foot, the Wyandot Indian chief, they are missing the astonishing record of their work as steamboat captains and pilots.  That astonishing record was achieved in a single generation.   The Poe brothers, especially Jacob, were all touched by history.

 

 

Capt Jacob Poe achieved an undying reputation as a steamboat man.   Today it seems being a steamboat pilot was a far-fetched job, like an astronaut or lion tamer; things worthy of song or verse, but something that real people do not do.  But Jacob Poe was the real deal.  His life was important and fascinating.

 

 

Georgetown Cemetery Markers and Death Notifications .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary of Packets and Keel Boats Ownership

(The summary information for Jacob Poe in the following table was gleaned from a personal review of the Certificates of Enrollment for the Port of Pittsburgh stored in The National Archives.  According to Theodore C Poe in the newspaper article dated 1 Sep 1925, his father had an interest in more than fifty boats.  From my research, I have information on thirty-two packets and two keelboats. The day is not done.)

 

Packet Name	Date	Location	Owner	Master
Amelia Poe	1865	Pittsburgh	Thomas Poe	Adam Poe
Argyle	1853	Freedom	James Hutchinson	GW Ebert
Barranquilla	1869	Pittsburgh	Jackman Stockdale	Thomas S Calhoon
Beaver	1837	Pittsburgh	Jacob Poe	Jacob Poe
Belfast	1843	Freedom	Jacob Poe	GW Ebert
Belfast  No 2	1857	Freedom	Jacob Poe	GW Ebert
Belmont	1842	Pittsburgh	Jacob Poe	Jacob Poe
Belmont  No 2	1856	California	Thomas W Poe	GW Ebert
Caledonia	1854	Pittsburgh	Richard Calhoon
Clara Poe	1859	California	Jacob Poe	Thomas W Poe
Clifton	1855	Glasgow	Jacob Poe
Columbiana	1843	Elizabeth	Jacob Poe	Samuel Smith
Fairmont	1837	Fallston	Jacob Poe	Jacob Poe
Fallston	1837	Fallston	Jacob Poe	Jacob Poe
Financier	1845	Pittsburgh	Jacob Poe	Adam Poe
Financier No 2	1850	Freedom	Jacob Poe	Adam Poe
Gen Chas H Tompkins	1878	Pittsburgh	William J Kountz
Georgetown	1852	Line Island	Jacob Poe
Glencoe	1870	Shousetown	Jackman Stockdale	Thomas S Calhoon
Grand Turk	1854	McKeesport	Jacob Poe
Hudson	1846	Glasgow	Jacob Poe	GW Ebert
John B Gordon	1848	Brownsville	Jacob Poe	Jacob Poe
John B Gordon No 2	1849	Brownsville	Jacob Poe	Jacob Poe
Mollie Ebert	1869	Pittsburgh	GW Ebert	GW Ebert
Neptune	1856	California	Adam Poe	Adam Poe
New Castle	1834	Pittsburgh	Joshua Leech	Joshua Leech
New England	1844	Pittsburgh	Jacob Poe	GW Ebert
Pioneer	1846	Elizabeth	Jacob Poe	Adam Poe
Tuscarora	1848	Glasgow	Jacob Poe	Jacob Poe
Washington City	1852	Freedom	Jacob Poe	GW Ebert
Yorktown	1853	Pittsburgh	Jacob Poe
Yorktown  No 2	1864	Freedom	Jacob Poe	Jacob Poe
Keel Boat Name	Date	Location	Owner
Big Foot	1850	Glasgow	Jacob Poe
Monsoon	1849	Georgetown	Jacob Poe

 

 

 

 References.