The biography of Capt Jacob Poe has been updated. Data acquired from the Certificates of Enrollment for the port of Pittsburgh at the National Archives has been included for some of the early Poe family steamboats. By “early” I mean before 1848 when Capt Way’s Packet Directory starts its history of steamboats.
Capt Jacob Poe was also in command of several keel boats. I intend to add data on these Georgetown keel boats in the near future.
Copyright © 2012 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
I have reviewed eight volumes of Certificates of Enrollment record group 41 from the Customhouse at the port of Pittsburgh. The volumes 6633-6640 contain enrollment records from 4 Jan 1850 to 31 Dec 1857. The enrollment records include documentation for all vessels greater than twenty tons. In these volumes the vessels types have included steamboats both side and stern wheel, keel boats, canal boats, flatboats, and barges.
My Georgetown men built and operated steamboats and keel boats. I have not found any evidence that they operated canal boats even though the Sandy and Beaver Canal connecting the Ohio River to Lake Erie followed the Little Beaver Creek which emptied into the Ohio opposite Georgetown. The canal ceased operations in 1852.
No flatboats have been registered to Georgetown men. Although I was again surprised to find an entry for a keel boat in 1857. That boat, SR Smith, was built by George and Henry Laughlin. It was rated at 68 85/95 tons and its dimensions were: 118′x22′x2’10″. As I review earlier volumes, I will no doubt find more keel boats registered by Georgetown men.
A page listing the Georgetown Keel Boats has been loaded for your review.
Copyright © 2012 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
As I was reviewing the Certificates of Enrollments for vessels more than twenty tons from the Customhouse in Pittsburgh, I was surprised by the number of keelboats registered. My surprise was in part due to the build dates of the keelboats. I thought that the steamboat marked the end of the keelboat’s useful life years earlier. I was also impressed by the size, length and breadth, of the vessels. With little scientific or technological control of the vessel descending the Ohio River, I can only imagine the physical struggle to maneuver heavy cargo downstream in a keelboat.
I have only reviewed the volumes 6633-6636 of the National Archives Record Type 41. Those volumes contain the enrollment data from 4 Jan 1850 to 30 Dec 1854. Within that timeframe I found eleven keel boats built by Georgetown men. The old family names, Poe, Laughlin, Dawson, and Calhoon, are all represented. Like steamboats, keelboats were family owned with three or four partners – family members and friends.
The size of this sample of keel boats, from smallest to largest, follows:
Length: 100ft 114 ft
Breadth: 17ft 17ft10in
Depth: 1ft 5in 2ft1in
Capacity: 27 39/95 tons 40 25/95 tons
Georgetown Keel Boats
Date: 31 Mar 2012
| Name | Original Primary Owner | Locn Build | Date Build |
| Big Foot | Jacob Poe | Glasgow, PA | 1850 |
| Cinderella 2 | James Haslett | Philis’s Island, PA | 1850 |
| Commerce | Thomas Laughlin | Georgetown, PA | 1850 |
| Hero | G Dawson | Glasgow, PA | 1850 |
| JS Porter | Samuel Calhoon | Industry, PA | 1848 |
| Key Stone | B Dawson | Christlow’s Landing, PA | 1850 |
| Martha Anderson | George Laughlin | Industry, PA | 1854 |
| Ocean Wave | George Laughlin | Georgetown, PA | 1850 |
| Osceola | HW Laughlin | Christlow’s Landing, PA | 1853 |
| Swan | A Reed | Glasgow, PA | 1850 |
| Wm Rodgers | Benjamin Laughlin | Industry, PA | 1854 |
I spent a couple of fun days in DC. BTW, the cherry blossoms are over. Sherron spent her time visiting museums and art galleries, and of course shopping in Georgetown. Together we did make time to observe the art display, “Suprasentorial”, on the Hirshorn Museum. And I do mean on the museum. The work was projected on the exterior walls of the museum – the entire surface – accompanied by many versions of the song “I only have eyes for you”. It shows dusk to midnight till the May 13. Quite impressive with Jupiter, Venus, and the moon aligned just above the museum from the sculpture garden.
While Sherron was touring, I was playing at the National Archives. I wanted to seriously review the Certificates of Enrollment from the Navigation Customhouse of Pittsburgh, PA (National Archive Records Administration Record Group 41). There are forty-nine (49) volumes covering the period between 5 Jan 1831 and 28 Jun 1901. I reviewed four volumes in two days. Do the math. It will takes a serious commitment of time to review all the records. Who is next the William M Lytle or Forrest R Holdcamper or Frederick Way, Jr character willing to dedicate a lifetime to compile this data from all the Customhouses into a modern data base application? Till that person is discovered I intend to put the Pittsburgh Customhouse data related to my Georgetown guys online so it will be available in at least two places.
At the National Archives, I learned some amazing stuff. For example, Georgetown river men continued to build keel boats through 1854. Jacob Poe built a keel boat named Big Foot in 1850. As you probably know, his brother Adam built the str Big Foot in 1875. The dimensions of the keel boat Big Foot were biblical. On the Certificate of Enrollment the length was 114 ft, breadth 17 feet 3 inches, and depth 1 foot 7 inches. Most of the Georgetown keel boats were rated between 25 and 50 tons. I intend to add keel boat data to my Xcel spreadsheet of steamboats and tugs.
In addition to the newly learned keel boat information, I discovered new Georgetown names associated with the river business. The Certs of Enrollment list the original owners which I intend to add to my steamer biographies. That process too will take some time.
In sum, two days of vacation has introduced an assortment of new information and generated the energy to develop the new topics.
Copyright © 2012 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved