Everybody Had A Story

 

Nearing the end of our 14-day cruise, the fellow that had been presenting talks on Mississippi River and American History talks, gave a genealogy talk (and he was good). Afterwards, he invited us in the audience to share our genealogy stories. I was stuck by the enormous variety!

I told my Mathew Potter and the Chicken story..... to howls of laughter. 

Mr/Mrs Bodmer told how they hoped to find the connection between them and the famous Western American painter, Carl Bodmer, but hadn’t yet.

One great-great-grandfather came from Germany, landed in New Orleans, and WALKED up to Wisconsin to live out his life.

One Vietnam veteran told how he flew P3s (submarine hunters) during his Navy career.

One lady told of her sailor, born in the Pyrenees,  who jumped ship in New Orleans, went to Texas with his native wife. When he died, she married another Texas rancher.

One man told how his great-grandfather hid his Comanche wife from the census taker. Can only guess what his reasons were.

“We’ve been in American for fourteen generations, since 1636,” one man boasted.

This was, to me, the saddest story:  A Jewish couple told how her Jewish ancestors were living kosher in San Francisco until the 1906 earthquake when they lost everything, business, home and synagogue, everything.  All the Army had to feed people with was pork and beans. "That must have been so very hard for them," she said.

This quite proves that everybody with ancestors (!!!!) has a good story. 

Mississippi River's Worst Disasters

 The New Madrid Earthquake of 1811  --  The area known as New Madrid was, in 1811, a ways upriver and was sparsely populated. After the Revolution, people were flocking west, crossing the Appalachian Mountains, but blessedly there were few settlers in the New Madrid area in 1811.  So what happened?

On 16 December 1811, at 2:15 am, not one but THREE magnitude 8.0 or higher shook the area in that one day. In January 1812, there was another big shake, followed in February by a last 8.8 shock. Church bells rang as far away as Charleston, South Carolina, and Boston. These four big quakes in a three month period happened because “a seam between two plates pulled apart,” explained our presenter. “And the quakes continue to today…. There have been 4000 quakes recorded since 1974! And if and when another big one comes, the entire Midwest will be in big trouble,” he mused.

The Sultana disaster of 1865  --  In the early morning hours of 27 April 1865, mere days after the end of the Civil War, the side-wheeled steamboat Sultana burst into flames, taking 1169 people….mostly Union soldiers (newly freed from Anderson Prison in Georgia) returning home. This was the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history.  So what happened?

The ragged band of paroled Union soldiers was taken by train from Andersonville to Vicksburg, Mississippi. There, the steamboat Sultana was to take them north and home. The Sultana was moored there in Vicksburg needing to replace a faulty/leaking boiler. The captain was offered a bounty (bribe!) for each man he would take upriver so he ordered the ailing boiler to be patched up and loaded up the men. Built to take 375 passengers and crew, the wooden Sultana had regularly ferried cotton between St.Louis and New Orleans; she was only two years old. The greedy captain (sorry, called it what it was) loaded nearly 2130 souls on board and pushed off into the river. (1953 freed prisoners, 22 guards, 70 fare-paying passengers and 85 crew.) The Sultana spent two days pushing upriver against the worst spring floods in the river’s history.  At around 2:00am on 27 April 1865, when the ship was about seven miles north of Memphis, three of its four boilers suddenly exploded. (If you want to read all the grizzly details click to Wikipedia.) All in all, some 1169 people perished that dark night. “Greed killed them all,” our presenter opined. “And no charges were ever filed against anyone.”

The Flood of 1927  --  The third worst disaster was the Flood of 1927.  Aaron taught us: “That year, we learned the hard way that men had to live with the Mississippi River on her terms. The river drains 40% of the American heartland and as many smaller rivers flow into the Mississippi, the river becomes like a great big funnel and that year, 1927, after heavy spring rains, the “funnel” opened flooding 27,000 square miles.” This was the most destructive river flood in U.S. history. All those miles of land were inundated up to 30 FEET deep over the course of several months in early 1927. About 500 people died and over 630,000 were directly affected. Some 200,000 African Americans were hit hardest; they were poor and unable to pick up and leave in contrast with the “richer white folks” many of whom could and did pick up and leave. 

Levees along the Mississippi were recognized as needed by the 1820s and work was begun to construct them. Long story short, in the early years they were not properly constructed and continually were breached or broken by the tremendously rushing flood waters. Floods still happen today despite much better engineering.  

Any of you, dear readers, have an ancestor who was involved or impacted by one of these disasters?  

America's Westward Migration

 The time: during the period between the Revolution and the Civil War.  Cruise-history-presenter, Aaron, shared his insights on this part of American history.

What was the political reality of the world at that time? Only a handful of men ruled the entire of Europe. These kings had the absolute right to claim entire continents in their name…. or explorers would claim it in their name. This is hard to comprehend today.  France claimed and owned the entire Mississippi River basin. England had the entire of New England. Spain claimed and owned most of the southwest and Florida. Men could not just legally settle anywhere they wanted (squatters exempted).

The stage was set for a civil war when Plymouth and Jamestown were first settled, due to the inherent differences in the men. (The book Albion’s Seed explains this beautifully.)  It took the settlers of Jamestown a long while to realize that they needed to focus on staying alive; forget about finding gold; they had to work, and work together, to stay alive even though they were “gentlemen” and this did not come easy for them.  Biggest problem with Williamsburg, was the old monarchial system into which Williamsburg fell, unfortunately. It was way too top heavy with gentlemen and rulers and not enough workers. Finally all settlements realized that survival tops heredity.

After the Revolution, and as the population increased and begin to spread westward, the biggest draw was water; towns began where there was water. Once in a spot, the settlers began clearing the land for crops; this was all important for survival. A place to live was secondary and the earliest of homes were dirt-floored-leaky-roofed-tiny huts. As the men began to cut down trees for land clearing, for homes and fences, they realized that the very biggest trees were nearly impossible for them to handle. So these giants were just girdled and left to die or felled and burned. Trees of most other sizes were used. Of course a number one building was the outhouse. In the beginning, both family and animals lived in one dwelling; soon barns began to spring up.

Eventually the first tiny structure was added onto, and added on to again and again. This is how many of our ancestors did it, started small and worked up to a decent home in fifteen years.  A fireplace was added as soon as possible, followed by a porch where most of the daily activities took place. Many of the historic homes still today show the evidence of this building-step-by-step.

Aaron, the presenter, went into more details and the where-when-why-hows of frontier settlements but overall he emphasized that “America was settled step by step…California became a state in 1850 only due to gold but there was a big empty gap in the middle, just waiting.”

P.S. I 100% recommend Albion's Seed as the best book on understanding English emigration to America that you will ever read. Or listen to. Donna

Weyerhaeuser: Iowa To Washington

 We here in the heavily timbered land of the Pacific Northwest have certainly seen and heard the name of Weyerhaeuser Company and know it has something to do with the timber and lumbering industry. We’d never have guessed that Frederick Weyerhaeuser (1834-1914) began his company in the Mississippi River town of Davenport, Iowa, but he did.

The company was founded in 1900 by Frederick Weyerhaeuser who had emigrated to the U.S. from Germany when he was 18. He worked first as a laborer in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he met and married Elisabeth Bladel. In 1856, the young couple moved to Rock Island, Illinois (across the river from Davenport). Weyerhaeuser found work in a sawmill and lumber yard, eventually becoming foreman and arduously began saving his money. Weyerhaeuser was a workaholic and by the mid-1860s he had purchased the mill and was buying pine tracts in Wisconsin, expanding into Minnesota, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

By 1903, Weyerhaeuser owned more than 1.5 million acres of land in Washington even though he kept his residence in St. Paul. He was survived by seven children; his son, John P. Weyerhaeuser, succeeded him as president of the company. Demands for lumber during World War I led to a substantial increase in the company’s business. The military demand for lumber was so high that the Army sent soldiers to work as lumberjacks in Weyerhaeuser’s forests to increase production. By 1941, industry executives joined John P. Weyerhaeuser and Washington Gov. Arthur Lang in dedicating the nation’s first tree farm near Montesano.

And it all started with a hard-working German immigrant in a small Midwestern town.

(Thanks to www.historylink.org for the information on Weyerhaeuser.)  If you want all the details of his life, click to Google.

Midwest Icons: John Deere & Spam

 

No matter where in the world you live, and certainly in America, you'd recognize the "Nothing Runs Like A Deere" logo. 

John Deere was born in 1804 in Vermont and moved to Illinois in 1836 and began manufacturing tools. He made pitchforks, shovels and plows. In those days, a product was not made until ordered, which was a very slow business model. By 1857, the company was manufacturing a variety of farm equipment; that year their sales reached 1120 implements per month. John Deere as an American business icon was off and running.  

There are three main John Deere museums (Waterloo, Iowa) and a big selling item these days are the John Deere tractor toys.

SPAM is another iconic midwestern product. I always thought the letters stood for "Special Processed American Meat," meat that was portable and sent to the troops in Europe during WWII. Not quite, as it turns out. 

SPAM is a brand of cooked pork introduced by Hormel in 1937. The origin of the name is not fully documented (so maybe I'm right?).  SPAM was a lifesaver to U.S. soldiers in Europe because of the difficulty in having fresh meat for the soldiers on the front lines. Some 150,000,000 pounds of SPAM was purchased by the military before war's end. Nowadays SPAM can be found on grocery shelves in 41 countries.

When was the last time you had fried SPAM? SPAM and eggs? A SPAM sandwich??

Pirates On The Mississippi River?

 When you imagine a pirate, Johnny Depp might come to mind. The Mississippi River pirates were real but they weren't as colorful as Johnny depicted.  Between about 1806 and 1844, there certainly were pirates prowling on the Mississippi River. Any of you remember this Walt Disney movie:

I had no idea there were pirates on the Mississippi and when the ship's education guy told about these fellows, I was really surprised. I never learned about this before! River pirates have operated along rivers all over the world. Quoting from Wikipedia:

 "American river piracy in the late 18th and mid-19th century was primarily concentrated along the Ohio River and Mississippi River valleys. River pirates usually operated in isolated frontier settlements which were sparsely populated areas lacking the protection of civil authority and institutions. These pirates resorted to a variety of tactics depending on the number of pirates and the size of the boat crews involved, including deception, concealment, ambush and assaults in open combat near natural obstacles and curiosities, such as shelter caves, islands, river narrows, rapids, swamps and marshes. River travelers were robbed, captured and murdered, and their livestock, slaves, cargo and flatboats, keelboats and rafts were sunk or sold downriver."

Did your ancestor float down the Ohio or Mississippi Rivers and were they attacked by pirates?

What a story!

Rock Island Arsenal & Chief Blackhawk

 When our cruise ship was near Davenport, Iowa, I learned about the Rock Island Arsenal. I had heard about the Black Hawk War but had no idea that disputes over ownership of this place sparked that conflict. 

Located on an island in the Mississippi, it was established as a government site in 1816 first as a defensive fort and then, in the 1880s, a government-owned weapons manufacturing arsenal in the U.S. Still in use, and even as being designated as a National Historic Landmark, the arsenal still produces ordinance (bullets), artillery, gun mounts, small arms, aircraft weapons sub-systems, grenade launchers and a host of associated components. Some 250 military personnel work there along with 6000 civilian workers. 

Back to the Black Hawk war.  In his autobiography, Black Hawk wrote: "When we arrived (to our tribal summer camp) we found that the troops had come to build a fort on Rock Island...We did not object, however, to their building their fort on the island, but were very sorry, as this was the best one on the Mississippi, and had long been the resort of our young people during the summer. It was our garden, like the white people have near their big villages, which supplied us with strawberries, blackberries, gooseberries, plums, apples and nuts of different kinds." 

Did you know that Abraham Lincoln served in the Illinois Militia in 1832 in this conflict....."he never saw action."

Last but not least, Rock Island holds a Confederate cemetery; nearly 2000 prisoners, including Union Colored Troops who served as guards, are buried there. 

AND, last of all, the Rock Island Arsenal Museum was established on July 4, 1905. It is the second oldest US Army Museum after the West Point Museum. 

Think of all the Jeopardy trivia you just learned!  :-) 

St. Louis Gateway Arch

 

I've been to St. Louis and took the tiny tram to the top of the Gateway Arch several times but it's always a thrill.  From the viewing window at the top, look how teeny the cruise ship looks! (Ship nearest the bridge.)

Arch Trivia:

• The cost to build the Arch in 1967 was the same as the Louisiana Purchase, $15,000,000. 
• The Arch sits on the smallest national park in the U.S., only 98 acres.
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the park in 1935.
• Construction on the Arch was begun in 1965 and was finished in only two years. 
• The Arch is 630-feet high and there is 630-feet between the ends of the Arch legs.
• The purpose of the Arch was to commemorate Thomas Jefferson, the Louisiana Purchase and all the pioneers settling the United States. 
• To go to the top, only 5 people can squeeze into the little tram cars for the 5-minute ride to the top. 
• You get 10-minutes up there and then it's back down. 
• Then they sell you a $20 photo!!

Next trip to the Midwest, you MUST visit the Gateway Arch .... with or without the official photo. 

Mississippi River Buoys: Nuns & Cans

 

Here I stand between a nun buoy and a can buoy. I knew buoys (whether ocean, lake or river) came in red and green and that was about it. The plaque below reads:

"Buoys are floating navigational aids that mark channels, hazards and prohibited areas and also help navigators locate their position. Buoys are coded by color, shape and numbers. They are moored to the bed of a waterway by chain or rope to concrete sinkers. Nun buoys are red with cone-shaped tops. They mark the right side of a waterway when entering a channel from the sea. Nun buoys carry even numbers.  Can buoys are green and are square or shaped like a large can. They mark the left side when entering a channel from seaward. Can buoys carry odd numbers."

Capt. Kelly explained all this to us (a rapt audience) and then with a smile told of how buoys get "whacked" by ships or barges and float loose......... to end up on the sand or even up in the trees during high water. He said at one point there was a program for folks to rescue and return for a bonus these stranded buoys. "But soon that program had to be abandoned," he said, "because the buoys were disappearing from the river." (Think about it. :-)

The Splendor & Captain Kelly

 (Returning to the ship after a bus tour. Capt. Kelly was ALWAYS there to greet us along with several red-shirted helpers to ensure our safety. Remember, the river was 40-feet low so we had to walk downhill a ways on newly-laid gravel.)

The American Cruise Ship Splendor could carry 185 passengers; on my trip there were 164 of us, with a crew of 59, including the captain. The Splendor drew only 7 ½ feet of water (“think of it like a hotel on a flat-bottomed barge”) and only needed 9 feet of water to proceed….. and I understood that many times that was the river’s depth during my cruise. The average ship’s speed was 7 to 8 miles per hour (yes, on the rivers, length is measured in miles) and the average river flow is 3 miles per hour.

The captain explained in a Q&A session that the biggest usage on the ship was potable water but they did carry 28,000 gallons…….. and resupplied with a sometimes very long hose at every port stop. The ship had a MSD, a marine sanitation discharge system, so that any water put back into the river was clean. (“We do hold the solids and pump them out every month,” he quipped.) The Splendor held 30,000 gallons of fuel. The picturesque fluted black smokestacks and red-painted paddle wheel were just for looks; the ship had a twin-screw propulsion system. The crew often had to lay flat those decorative smokestacks when we went under bridges.

Captain  Matthew Kelly explained that a captain needs 360 sea-days (water-days?) every five years to renew his license with the Coast Guard. All the ships of that line winter over in New Orleans for cleaning, upgrading and maintenance. He explained some of the navigational things, and the many, many “river rules” but most were way over my head. He did say that downstream traffic has the right of way as do passenger ships over barges. 

Our very photogenic captain was only 29 years old, newly married (his wife was aboard for part of the trip). He was always roaming about the ship and always willing to stop for questions. He started with the company eight years ago as a deckhand and worked his way up to captain. 

I was struck and very impressed with his humility. In Memphis, at Graceland, we were all ready to get off the bus when he and his wife, in casual clothes, started walking up from the very back of the bus. The driver and guide, not knowing who he was, told him sternly to please sit down “cause we aren’t parked yet.” His reply? “I’m a member of the crew and I need to get off.” He had a rental car waiting.  A “member of the crew indeed!”

Mudlarking On The Mississippi

 Ever heard the term mudlarking? If you’ve talked very much with me, you know that mudlarking, or beach-walking-looking-for-treasures is one of my favorite activities. I’ve been a beachcomber all my life and just recently learned about mudlarking. Nicola White has a YouTube channel showing her walking along the Thames foreshore in London at low tide and finding wonderful and interesting things, some even dating back to Roman times. I’m hooked on her posts.

 So of course on my cruise I looked for opportunities to walk along the Mississippi and see what I might find. The river is at a 40-year low which means lots of beach was exposed that hasn’t been in 40 years. When our ship was moored just below the St. Louis Arch I couldn't wait to get off and go mudlarking! I did pick up some interesting glass and other stuff and did create a window-art piece with it.... here are my finds in the raw (laid out on a daily bulletin on the ship): 

 It was here that I found my biggest find!  The bottom of a ceramic or clay beer bottle dating to the 1850s from a brewery in Wisconsin! I didn’t keep it but gave it to Aaron, our history presenter on the ship, and he documented it for me. But it was such fun to find something that old and hold it in my hand.

What else do beachcombers and mudlarkers find? Anything that’s been tossed into the river or ocean or lost into the same. One can find coins, toys, jewelry, nails, tools, broken glass, pieces of dishes, etc. The best thing about Nicola’s presentations (on YouTube, remember) is that if there is an inscription on her find, she does the history of that piece and perhaps how it came to be in the Thames mud. 

Have you time in your life for a new hobby? Come mudlark with me!

Mississippi River Shores & Barges

 

Nauvoo, Illinois, at 2:00am; I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I did SO want to see Nauvoo and hopefully the Nauvoo Temple. I was blessed to be on the correct side of the ship and to wake up just in time to see the shining lights of the Nauvoo Temple. One of the small "warm fuzzies" that happened on this wonderful trip.

I naively imagined that there would be towns or cities or ports or LIGHTS all along the river. Not so at all. Since Mother Nature is in control of the meandering Mississippi, the channels are like braided ribbons, miles wide. Because of this, nothing permanent is built right on the river’s banks. Made sense. So it was pitch-black-dark at night most of the way. (Except when, above St. Louis, we would enter a lock at night and everything was brightly lighted.)

The Mississippi flows just under 1800 miles from St. Paul to New Orleans, and falls 450’ in elevation from St. Paul to St. Louis; the 28 locks and dams on the upper river (above St. Louis) were constructed to control the river and keep the water where farmers needed and wanted it. Most of the locks are quite shallow, under 11’. Exception is the one at Keokuk at 38’. Some 60% of American exported grain comes down the Mississippi. One barge can carry more than 70 trucks or 16 train cars; by water is the most efficient way to ship grain. In October 2022, we saw barges half empty so as to rise higher above the bottom and not get stuck.

The Mississippi is really many rivers in one. First part is the headwaters above St. Paul; no boats allowed on this part. Next is the St. Paul to St. Louis, with those 28 dams and locks. Third is St. Louis to Cairo (KAY-row); fourth is Cairo to Baton Rouge. Last is the Baton Rouge to New Orleans section of the river.  Our teacher that day characterized the lower Mississippi as a “huge parking lot of ships and barges with a stream running through it.”

Those states having  boundaries along the Mississippi have seen their boundaries changed over the years due to three factors: (1) Mother Nature, ribboning the river all across the miles wide area between the hills; (2) Corps of Engineers working since 1824 to control the river and straighten out crooked or tight bends; (3) Civil War.

More Jeopardy fodder for you, no?

Mississippi River Locks & Dams

 Without dams and locks the Mississippi River would be un-navigable to ships and barges and the states along the river would be continually flooded and their boundaries changed by the meandering river.  Locks and dams are vital to travel and commerce on the Mississippi.

There are 28 locks between St. Paul and St. Louis; there are none below St. Louis. The Mississippi River falls 450-feet between those two cities. Most locks are really shallow, under eleven feet. The largest/deepest lock is at Keokuk, Iowa and is 38-feet deep. (The Mississippi is not a very deep river.) 

The top photo (from Google) shows a dam and lock. As we approached a lock during the night (and this was often the case above St.Louis), the area was flooded with light for navigating into these narrow channels. This maneuver takes knowledge and skill.  The ship enters; the gates behind the ship close; the area fills with river water and when the ship is raised or lowered to the desired level, the front gate is open and the ship proceeds. Not just ships but these HUGE barges too. All us passengers stood on deck (during the day) and watched; it was fascinating. 

The lower photo shows how close we were to the lock walls....that's my hand reaching out. Illegally, as I found out later. 

Eagles On The Mississippi Flyway

 

According to Aaron, our education presenter on the cruise, the Mississippi River valley is a major fly path for many eagles (and other birds). While they can be seen in almost all states, they are predominately in Alaska, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Here is some Upper Mississippi River eagle trivia (compiled by me and I hope I jotted down the facts correctly):

• An eagle's head stays dark until age 5.
• In the early 70s, DDT nearly decimated the eagle population. 
• When only one nest could be found (by boat/survey between St. Paul and St. Louis) a loud alarm was raised and finally in 1973 DDT was banned.  
• Unless you are Native American, it is illegal to own any part of an American Bald Eagle. 
• Eagles mate for life; they lay 1-3 eggs per year with only a 50% survival rate. 
• Eaglets fledge in 8-12 weeks. 
• Nests can be as big and heavy as a VW bug!  And are used year after year.
• Eagles only weigh 7-8 pounds and have a 6-8 foot wingspan. They can turn their heads 180o. 
• Females are 1/3 larger than males.
• The name "bald" comes from an Old English word meaning white.
• Why is this our national bird? And not the turkey (as Benjamin Franklin lobbied for)? It was decided that an eagle symbol was more militant and a turkey was, well.... a turkey. 
• They can live 18-20 years in the wild but twice that long in captivity. 
• Their "eagle eyes" can spot a  hopping rabbit 3 miles away. 
• The Upper Mississippi River is prime habitat for Bald Eagles.... lots of trees to the shore line, lots of islands. 
• Eagles eat mostly fish; their talons are as big as a man's hand. 

One does not need to be a card-carrying bird watcher to appreciate our American Bald Eagle. Out on the top deck of our ship, it was fun to look for and spot eagles with other passengers. We were all appreciative and in awe.

Mark Twain/Samuel Clemons.....A Great American

 (Sign on lamp post in downtown Hannibal; it reads:  “Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” )

It was a really, really windy day when our cruise ship ported at Hannibal, Illinois. I put on every jacket and shirt  I had and out I went………could not miss the opportunity to visit Mark Twain. 

I enjoyed the Mark Twain museums (there were two), touring the Thatcher home and just trying to “feel” being there. 

I shall not go into his biography for I’m guessing that’s pretty well known. One of his favorite homilies was that he was born in 1835 when Halley’s Comet could be seen and held onto life until 1910 so he could go out with it.

His personal life was a rather sad affair.  He married Olivia Langdon, who died six years before him. Their first child, Landon Clemons, died at age one. Their first daughter, Olivia Susan, died at age 23. Next child was Jane who passed the year before her father. Only Clara was left, living to 1962. Her daughter, Nina, never married, so Samuel Clemons has no direct descendants.

I never had read any of his books (yes, where have I been all my life?) so bought a book containing five of his best known stories. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was a revolutionary book that still holds much relevance today. The powerful friendship of young Huck and runaway slave Jim highlighted many of the great racial injustices of the past and has astounded generations of readers the world over. It was a darn good read.

Gotta love some of his quotes:

“Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it.”

“When in doubt‚ tell the truth.”

“If you tell truth you don’t have to remember anything.”