Topic starter
17/02/2007 5:44 pm
The Howard Family's grave site is located in Cave Hill Cemetery here in Louisville. As can be seen in the attachment the main monument is a tall oblisque on each side are engraved panels with the life history of James Howard and the shipyard. I thought maybe some of you might be interested in what the panels have to say (please forgive any typos):
Panel 1:
James Howard (1814-1876)
Founder of the Howard Shipyards, was born in Oldham near Manchester, England to John and Hartha Howard. In 1819 his parents embarked by sailing vessel for America with James and his younger brother Daniel. From Brooklyn they traveled in 1820 by wagon to Wheeling, then by flatboat to Cincinnati where John Howard. a weaver, set up a mill. James Howard was active in three of Cincinnati's flourishing shipyards. First as a jigger boy for William Gordon, carrying water and the ration of spirits to the crews at work, then as an employee of Burton Hazen and last as an apprentice ship's carpenter to William Hartshorn.
Panel 2:
He "learned the river" in 1834 as a mud clerk. Arriving at Louisville he decided to be himself a builder of boats and chose Jeffersonville Indiana as a site with a slope proper for launching. The HYPERION (1834) was his first boat. For the second, the BLACK LOCUST (1835), he was joined by a partner, David S. Barmore. In 1836 the yards were moved to Madison where James Howard married Rebecca Ann Barmore, surviving children were Martha, Edmonds, Lucy and Kate. The partners P. Emerson and James Howard were the first shipwrights at Madison, later, with its marine ways, an important center on the Ohio, here they built two barges and several steamboats.
To be continued.....
Topic starter
17/02/2007 8:32 pm
James Howard's Grave...Continued
Panel 3:
During a perios olf bad times the shipyards were closed and for two years (1844-1845) James Howard ran on the river as ships carpenter and engineer. He returned to building boats in 1846 at a new location, Shippingprot, launching vessels like the cottonboat JAMES HEWITT. A flood in 1847 destroyed two boats under construction and wiped out the shipyards. In 1849, after a brief period at the Point, he returned his operation to Jeffersonville. His brother, Daniel, joined him and the partnership of D and J Howard endured to 1860. Their boats, like the mighty GLENDY BURKE, or the GENERAL BUEIL and the LAUREL HILL of Civil War lore, were highly esteemed. In 1865 Daniel retired and was succeeded by his brother John and James Edmond Thomas Jefferson Howard, youngest of the brothers, was also drawn to the river serving in the New Orleans area.
Panel 4:
From 1865 to 1876 James Howard and Company dominated the steamboat building business on the western waterways. They were makers of craft for the Anchor Line of St. Louis, of the celebrated JAMES HOWARD and of the second ROBERT E. LEE.
In 1876 James Howard drowned when his buggy rolled backward from a ferry into the ruver. But his shipyards continued a vigorous production into the twentieth century with boats like the J.M WHITE and JOHN W. CANNON (1878), the CITY OF LOUISVILLE (1894),
Topic starter
17/02/2007 8:38 pm
James Howard's Grave...Continued
Panel 3:
During a period of bad times the shipyards were closed and for two years (1844-1845) James Howard ran on the river as ships carpenter and engineer. He returned to building boats in 1846 at a new location, Shippingprot, launching vessels like the cottonboat JAMES HEWITT. A flood in 1847 destroyed two boats under construction and wiped out the shipyards. In 1849, after a brief period at the Point, he returned his operation to Jeffersonville. His brother, Daniel, joined him and the partnership of D and J Howard endured to 1860. Their boats, like the mighty GLENDY BURKE, or the GENERAL BUEIL and the LAUREL HILL of Civil War lore, were highly esteemed. In 1865 Daniel retired and was succeeded by his brother John and James Edmond Thomas Jefferson Howard, youngest of the brothers, was also drawn to the river serving in the New Orleans area.
Panel 4:
From 1865 to 1876 James Howard and Company dominated the steamboat building business on the western waterways. They were makers of craft for the Anchor Line of St. Louis, of the celebrated JAMES HOWARD and of the second ROBERT E. LEE.
In 1876 James Howard drowned when his buggy rolled backward from a ferry into the ruver. But his shipyards continued a vigorous production into the twentieth century with boats like the J.M WHITE and JOHN W. CANNON (1878), the CITY OF LOUISVILLE (1894), CITY OF CINCINNATI (1899), and the CAPE GIRARDEAU (1923). James Howard was amasterbuilder of rivercraft noted for their beauty and quality, plying the inland rivers of the country from Pittsburgh to New orleans. They spread his fame and insured his reputation.
18/02/2007 5:25 pm
Thanks Jim for this great info on an Ohio River icon.
19/02/2007 4:46 am
Hey Jim, has any one ever come up with a photo of the "mighty Glendy Burke"? ( with a mighty fine captain too, who stands up thar on the hurricane roof and keeps his eye on the crew)