Genealogy Research

Genealogy Research

Leslie:

Take a look at the following 2 links (both to google books);

Fifty Years on the Mississippi; Or ... - Google Books

Everybody's Magazine - Google Books

Both relate a story about a boat called Metamora captained by a John Pierce. Maybe this is the boat you mentioned?

A few other things;

1. The reference to German immigrants would likely place the voyage at the late 1840's. My mother's family was of German origin (mainly Schleswig-Holsteiners) who lived in Davenport, IA. IN the 1840's-1850's a common immigration route to Missouri, Iowa and other parts of the midwest was via New Orleans and then up the Mississippi. Some of my people immigrated via that route.

2. What was the name of your ancestor. You might want to post more details about him in the event anyone else is searching the same person or can provide more details.

3. You might want to also check out the Ohio Genweb site for information. The county links page is:

OHGenWeb

Click on the Gallia and Washington County links to be taken to those counties. There may be information that could be of use to you at these sites.

4. You might want to also consider posting the story of the trip on one of these sites. Such a story sounds like a fascinating history.

Best of luck in your search

Paul

Kahlkes came to Illinois via New Orleans

You mentioned your relatives came to Davenport via New Orleans from Schleswig-Holstein. The Kahlke brothers who had the famous boatyard in Rock Island also arrived here via New Orleans. In fact they had a dry dock in NOLA for a while before two of the brothers headed north, I believe.

Kahlkes

Judy: Thanks for the information. I grew up in Rock Island and do recall hearing the name Kahlke. According to the 1900 US census, John and Peter Kahlke immigrated to the US in 1851. I also found a site on the internet that mentioned the Rock Island boatyard was started in 1863. It also looks like at least John Kahlke was in Rock Island by 1860 (per the 1860 US Census).

Best regards

Paul

Thanks Paul

I've exhausted Ohio and Ancestry on this but I check back now and then to be sure. The best material came on a road trip from Texas to Portsmouth, OH.

I am trying to confirm a bit of the two sets of written recollections I have. Then were written at the turn of the last century by people in thier 70s. I have verified the link to Marietta even locating the exact place in the fort that the family called home for their first year in Ohio and found another settler's account the corroborates the trip.

It looks like the Metamora had a short run even for Mississippi steamboats so if I can find a date for its sinking I can really narrow down the time line. I know the pilots kept extensive records of the changes in the river. This would have been before the pilots association. Would any records survive? Is there any archive?

Genealogy research

Leslie:

Glad to help. I have used Ancestry a lot and do periodically check back on the things I am searching since they frequently add new records.

I happened to run across a reference to a Metamora at St. Louis in November 1832 at the following site: http://www.umsl.edu/pott/assets/rtf/ves%20date.rtf

If the Metamora I found before only lasted 2 years and you think the trip your people took was closer to 1847, this evidently isn't the same Metamora since this reference is to 1832.

Paul

That address you posted is the Pott Inland Waterways Library at U of Missouri St. Louis - so if that isn't the correct boat, you can contact them to look for others. That and the Inland Rivers Library at the Cincinnati Public Library are two of the main steamboat history resources.

Metamora

I found a reference to a Metamora docking in St. Louis in 1845. (The tonnage listed for her was 297. In comparison to the other steamboats that year she carried a lot so I suppose she was one of the larger or busier craft.) That would make the trip somewhere between 1844 and 1846 which seems to make sense. I need to look for climate data for those years now to confirm an unusually cold and dry winter. The trip that was scheduled for 12 days took seven weeks! My family member sought and received damages for the delay in shipping his goods.

The family moved to Gallia County, OH in April 1836. I don't think they traded along the river while they were in Marietta. The Marietta farm was inland and the Gallia farm was on the river.

There was a Metamora on the Missouri later and one on the Hudson River also. There was a famous play by that name in the 1830's about an Indian chief and it also became the name of several towns in the Northwest Territories. That's a bit of trivia I will probably not soon forget.

Thanks too for the google books idea. It has helped confirm a lot. I was also able to download a pdf of one of the reference books I had found while researching in Ohio.

Leslie

According to captain E W. Gould in his book Fifty years on the Mississippi. Capt. John Pierce built a Metamore in 1845 and lost her early in her life sunk near Choctaw Island. Lytle has her built at Cincinnati, Ohio in 1845 with first home port Cincinnati. and Abandoned in 1848.She was a side wheel boat of 297 ton. Gould also has John Pierce of Newport, Ky buying the 1st Natchez from T. P. Leathers in 1848. I am guessing this Methamora is your boat.

I did find a John W. Pierce in the 1860 Census for Cincinnati 16th ward Hamilton Co. Ohio. married to a Ruth likely Ruth Stoyden. John is listed as a pilot. He must have fallen on hard times as his wife and daughter Anna age 20 and son William age 16 were all working. There were three other younger children Hardy, Catharine, and Francis.
Carl

Thanks Carl

This confirms that the trip I have reference to must have been in 1845 or 1846. The memoir I have has the father perishing in February of 1847 as he was preparing for that year's trip south with produce. All I need to find is which of these years had ice on the Mississippi as far south as Memphis. I would think that would be a rather rare occurrence.