ROSWELL KILBOURNE,
WONDERLUST, RIVER RAT
By Teresa Martin Klaiber, 2020
Growing
up in Ashland, Kentucky, my parents and I would follow the ribbon of the Ohio
River to Portsmouth, where we were born.
Sometimes we followed the river on the Kentucky side from Boyd County
through Greenup County, crossing the bridge at Portsmouth. For variety we
crossed the Ashland Bridge and drove through Lawrence County to Scioto
County. Mother would reminiscence about
her friend, Betty Bryant, that lived on a showboat and how she loved to swim in
the Ohio River. She would say she could
easily be a “river rat.”
Taking
day trips with my paternal grandmother, often lead us back to Burlington in
Lawrence County, Ohio where her mother, Clara “Callie” Kilbourne was born in
1870. My great grandmother lived long
enough to hold me and see me learn to sit up before her death in Portsmouth in
April 1950. Grandmother would often
point out where the Kilbourne’s resided, in Burlington, in a two-story house,
along the river bank. She told me
stories about how the river played such an intricate role in the Kilbourne
family life. When I asked if they were
“river rats” she would smile and say, yes, she guessed they really were.
Four
generations of Roswell Kilbourne’s fill my genealogical chart. Roswell (s/o Roswell; Roswell; Roswell;
James; Joseph; John; Thomas) was born in Castleton, Rutland County, Vermont
about 1800. The farmers were known for
sheep and the first industries in the town included mills. By the age of 18, according to family,
Roswell was working as fuller. But It
appears he had dreams and wonder lust.
When interviewed for a Kilbourne history, Roswell’s brother, Alanson
told Payne Kenyon Kilbourne that he had not heard from his brother for more
than thirty years, that he had gone to Indiana and talked about going to South
America.[i]
By
the time Roswell was 19 years old he met Rhoda Snapp, from Hampshire County,
Virginia.[ii]
This researcher still struggles to find out how they met or where they
married. Roswell and Rhoda purchased
land in Vincennes, Indiana where it was paid off by 24 April 1820.[iii]
The land lays on the Wabash River in what is northern Vincennes.[iv] Between 1820 and 1826 Roswell and Rhoda had
four children: Joseph, Maria, Roswell and Almira. About the time Almira was born, in 1826, is
apparently the last time Roswell’s brother Alanson had contact from him in
Indiana.
The
terminus of the Wabash River is the Ohio River west of Evansville. The Ohio flows into the Mississippi at Cairo,
Illinois where it flows pass Memphis, Tennessee. According to the history of Vigo County the
first steamboat arrived in Terre Haute, Vigo County about 1824/25, named the Florence.
[v]
with Captain Donne.[vi] The
2nd was the Ploughboy.[vii] The article on the Ploughboy states it
had traveled over five thousand miles up and down the Wabash, Ohio, and
Mississippi River. “By 1829 steamboats
including the Victory, William Tell, Criterion, WASP, Virginian, Highlander, Talisman, Monongahela, were
all reported as stopping in Vincennes…”[viii]
In 1832 the steamboat named Vincennes launched from the town. The list of more and more steamboats stopping
at Vincennes were reported in newspapers that year.
By
1832/1833 Rhoda was pregnant with her fifth child Rollin. Family lore states that Roswell Kilbourne was
killed in a steamboat accident and buried in Memphis, Tennessee in 1833. Steamboat boiler explosions and fires were
common place.[ix] 1833 was also the year of raging Cholera
among the river men in and around Memphis.[x] Newspapers reported accidents but only in a
few cases do articles include a full list of victims. Roswell Kilbourne never
made it to South America.
During
the Civil War Roswell’s son Rollin stated on his enlistment that he was born in
Wayne County, Virginia. Wayne was not formed until 1842 thus his place of birth
would have been Cabell, Virginia where the Guyandotte River meets the Ohio,
just across from Lawrence County, Ohio.
Further research is needed to ascertain if Rhoda and the children left
Vincennes before or after the death of Roswell Kilbourne in 1833 near Memphis.
Rhoda
remarried John Cunningham, 29 May 1845 in Lawrence County, Ohio. He had four children by a previous marriage,
all born in (W.) Virginia. In 1847 the
Cunningham’s had one more son Henry born in Lawrence County. Both families were residing in Fayette
township in various households in 1850.
Roswell
Kilbourne, son of Roswell 1800-1833 was residing with his sister Almira
Kilbourne Carter. Almira had married
John H. Carter the same year her mother remarried. Almira and John were married 16 December 1845
in Lawrence County. John Carter, while
listed as a farmer in 1850 listed his occupation as “pilot of boat” in
1860. Almira’s half-brother Henry
Cunningham, now 13, was living with them in Fayette Township, Lawrence, Ohio.
The township is bordered by the Ohio River.
John and Almira Carter sold ½ acre of land
adjacent the town of Burlington “whereas the county road leaves Washington
Street…to the bank of the Ohio River”[xi]
to Roswell Kilbourne. The Carter’s along with Henry Cunningham migrated to Linn
County, Missouri. Roswell Kilbourne, born 18 March 1822, beside the Wabash
River in Vincennes, Indiana, was now the owner of property on the Ohio
River. This certainly qualifies him for
the urban term “river rat.”[xii]
Roswell
Kilbourne was a carpenter, building and repairing boats along the river, as
needed. He married 10 October 1854 Sarah
Jane Adams in Lawrence County, Ohio.[xiii] Their first-born son, Ira born October 1855 died
7 December 1857. He was buried in
Greenlawn Cemetery, at Burlington, on Burlington-Macedonia Road that runs
parallel to the Ohio River. Five of
their eleven children were born prior to the Civil War. Besides, Ira, Almira, Sarah, Emma and Ida May
were all born in Burlington township.
Sarah died 14 May 1864 and was also buried in Greenlawn Cemetery.
My
great grandmother Clara told the family that during the Civil War he was held
in New Orleans on suspicion of being a northern spy.[xiv] This compiler is the owner of a letter
written the 24th day of (month unreadable) 1865 from Roswell
Kilbourne to wife Sarah Jane. I have
transcribed it complete with mis-spellings.
"Dear Wife, I recive your letter of eight and was glad to here from you but was sorry you was so --- about your money. it did not have time you will get before you get this. It found me well Capt. Warner is hear and has chartered out the boat again an will leave hear for home to morn i will send you more money by him i could not make out all of your letter tell the children i wold like to be with them on Chrismy and see wat the(y) get you must get them something for me and tell me wat the(y) get thenn as maney apples the can eat you never said whether you got more coal or corn. if you have not you will pay for it we will sill sum up red river. Warner is not on the Bostone he said nothing doing up thar so is will fight it out as long as i can and then com home to stay i want you to take good care of yourself an children. So I will close but remain your loving husband. R. Kilbourn. To S. Kilbourn. I will send you seventy dollars by Cap Warner doe not kep nor move money by you than you want still get all you can of --- but doe not be to hard on him so he will not get mad or he will not pay you.”
While Kilbourne may have been detained
at some point, the letter indicates that he is not in prison but earning money
along the rivers.
Captain Warner, listed in Roswell
Kilbourne’s letter to his wife, was Charles P. Warner who helped build and was
the first Captain of the Mollie Able. The Mollie Able was built in 1864 with
five boilers. She was launched at Jeffersonville, Indiana. She was in Cincinnati in January 1864 getting
her final touches along with Captain Warner. [xv] The usual
run was from New Orleans to St. Louis. The
Mollie Able was severely damaged in the Great St. Louis Tornado in 1871 when
the boilers exploded,[xvi] [xvii] rebuilt
and late in her career ran the Red River.
The Mollie Able is mentioned in
The Rebellion Records: A Diary of American Events Volume 8, edited by
Frank Moore, page 79….”April…1864…Just then a steamer…we supposed at first that
she was the Mollie Able which the captain of our boat said was due at
Fort Pillow …she was one of the boats the rebels had captured, …When we saw her
coming we noticed that she was loaded with troops,; whether Union or Rebel we
could not tell…The general said to our captain: “Can you run that boat down? He
said: If it is the Mollie Able I can run right over her…got nearer,
however we found she had Union troops on board…”
The Memphis Bulletin, 6 January 1865 reported that Captain Warner and the
“swift Mollie Able” were leaving for Vicksburg and New Orleans. This places Warner in or near New Orleans and
the subject of the Kilbourne letter.
Edna Ferber mentions a Mollie Able along
with a showboat she names the Cotton Blossom in her novel Showboat
(page 97). The Herman T. Pott National
Inland Waterways Library contains a picture of the Mollie Able pushing the Cotton Palace. The
actual picture was taken in 1929 for the movie version shot on the Sacramento
River. According to one article Ferber’s named boat Cotton Blossom was
changed to Cotton Palace because the actual owner of the showboat
demanded extravagant fees for the name use in the movie.[xviii]
The Bostone mentioned in
Kilbourne’s letter may be the second Bostona. The first one of that name
ran from Cincinnati to Portsmouth, was dismantled in 1860 and the machinery
used in building the 2nd Bostona. A third Bostona was built in
Cincinnati in 1879 according to Marshall University’s digital library. The 2nd
Bostona was on her maiden voyage and was the first on the scene in Memphis when
the Sultana exploded 27 April 1865.
Riverboat historian James A. Wallen, a
descendent of Captain Julian F. Davey of Ironton, Ohio of the second Bonanza,
said that he was aware of at least four steamboats that were launched at
Burlington, Ohio: Daniel Webster later known as Oliver H. Perry 1829; Irene 1844; The Billow 1846; and the
Red Chief 1857.[xix]
Of these, The Red Chief was owned by
James Schute and Jesse Dillon of Lawrence County, Ohio and was said to be registered
with the Confederate government[xx] It was often in Alabama and New Orleans during
the Civil War. By January 1865 she is listed as belonging to the US
Quartermaster Department.[xxi] The
Irene was a passenger packet that appears to have operated out of Opelousas,
Louisiana during the Civil War.
Roswell Kilbourne was old enough to
have possibly been a carpenter on any of the last three when they were built in
Lawrence County, Ohio. It is believed that he was home on 12 May 1866 when his
three year old daughter, Ida May” died and was buried along with her siblings
in Greenlawn Cemetery at Burlington, Ohio.
Rhoda was pregnant, at the time, and gave birth to Mattie B. Kilbourn,
their 6th child, on the 24th
at Burlington.
Roswell continued his carpentry trade
at their home in Burlington in the 1870’s and 1880’s. My great grandmother, Clara “Callie”
Kilbourne (Geer) was born in the house 19 January 1870. Almira married William Loyal Hardy 17 May
1874 and their first child Fred Hardy Sr. was born in the house 23 June 1875.
It certainly was a full house. Rhoda and Roswell had three sons between 1872
and March 1875: Frank, Fred and Edgar.
Edgar died of “brain fever” when he was one and was buried in Greenlawn.[xxii]
Photograph donated by Fred Hardy Jr.
descendent of Almira “Myra” Kilbourne Hardy. If you look closely you can see
the river to the left in background.
The Kilbourne’s moved to Ashland, Boyd
County, Kentucky between 1886 and 1887.
But they never left the river.
Their home was as close to the river as possible; 810 West Front Avenue. At the age of 72, the city directory still
states that Roswell Kilbourne is a carpenter.
Sarah Jane died the 3rd of July 1898 of Brights Disease[xxiii] On the 6th of July she was laid to
rest in the cemetery at Burlington.
Clara graduated from Ashland High
School in 1889. She went on to
Barboursville Normal School which was later absorbed by Marshall College now
University. She cared for her father
while teaching in the Ashland school system.
Roswell Kilbourn died 30 March 1902.
He was buried in his daughter Almira’s family plot near the Weeping Lady
in Ashland Cemetery. The Hardy’s and Clara
had Sarah Jane re-interred beside him in the same family plot.
Three months after her father’s death,
Clara “Callie” married George Page Geer in the Presbyterian Church at
Ashland. When her husband died in 1913
in Clarksburg, West Virginia he was brought back to Ashland to be buried next
to her parents. My great grandmother
continued teaching after the death of her husband, moving to Portsmouth, Ohio.
When she died in 1950 she was brought to Ashland and buried beside her husband
in the same plot as her parents and sister.
My grandmother, Clara Page Geer
Martin, also a teacher in the Portsmouth, Ohio system, died 10 June 1998, and
at her request was buried with her parents and grandparents. At the age of 70 I often visit my grandmother,
great grandparents and great great grandparents place of rest. My father died a year after his mother and
while not in the same plot, is also in Ashland Cemetery, as is my mother who
loved the river. May they rest in
peace. May the history of the river and
my families love of the river along with the stories continue to be handed down
generation after generation.
Ol'
man river
That ol' man river
He don't say nothing
But he must know something
Cause he just keeps rolling
He keeps rolling along
Rollin' along
He don't plant tators
He don't plant cotton
Them that plants 'em is soon forgotten
But ol' man river
He keeps rolling along
You and me
We sweat and strain
Body all aching
And wracked with pain
Tote that barge
Lift that bale
Get a little drunk
And you land in jail
I gets weary
Sick of trying
I'm tired of living
Feared of dying
But ol' man river
He's rolling along
That ol' man river
He don't say nothing
But he must know something
Cause he just keeps rolling
He keeps rolling along
Rollin' along
He don't plant tators
He don't plant cotton
Them that plants 'em is soon forgotten
But ol' man river
He keeps rolling along
You and me
We sweat and strain
Body all aching
And wracked with pain
Tote that barge
Lift that bale
Get a little drunk
And you land in jail
I gets weary
Sick of trying
I'm tired of living
Feared of dying
But ol' man river
He's rolling along
Songwriters: Jerome Kern / Oscar Ii Hammerstein
[i]
Kilbourne, Payne Kenyon, The History and Antiquities of the Name and Family of
Kilbourn. 1856. P. 188; 280
[ii]
Daughter of Joseph Snapp and Margaret Craven
[iii] Bureau of
Land Management, BLM Serial #: IN NO S/N,
www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch (: , ), Accession/Serial: IN0030_.500
Roswell Kilbourn.
[iv] Terre
Haute Tribune 2 Apr 1955. Legal Notice Vigo Superior Ct. to clear title of
property known as lot #550 block 35 in Highland Place same being subdivision of
S 10 T 12 N Range 9 w on recorded plat.
Both Roswell and Rhoda cited as deft. With address unknown.
[vi]
Snow, John Fletcher. History of Adams County, Indiana. Page 31
[vii]
Gilmore, Parker sketch of steamboat 1872 page 20 Dorothy Clark’s Terre
Haute: Wabash River City.
[viii]
Lawrence Lore. Blog. Illinois Historical Society Blog. 23 Jan. 2013
[ix] NOTE: History of Memphis Tn by Judge JP Young 1912
p 375...steam boat disasters at or near Memphis...The Helen McGregor a
Louisville New Orleans packet Feb 24 1830 exploded boilers at landing killing
50 many citizens of Memphis injured; Ap 9 1832 The Brandywine burned just above
the city 175 lives lost...May 15 1835 Majestic blew up at Memphis landing 56
killed or seriously injured...
[x]
Bruesch, S.R., The Disasters and Epidemics of a River Town: Memphis, TN
1819-1879
[xi]
Ohio, Lawrence db, 26-282
[xii]
Urban Dictionary:
A community of people that live
along a river. Known as tight knit community
that always sticks together and looks out for its children. Also, spend a lot
of leisure time along the river, fishing, boating, ect. People
that live along a river are proud to be called "river rats!"
[xiii]
Daughter of Solomon and Rhoda Bagley Adams
[xiv]
Martin, Clara Page. Kilbourne Family 1550-1980. Unpublished manuscript
[xv]
Cincinnati Inquirer, 7 Jan 1864
[xvi]
LSU Digital Library. Louisiana State University Digital Library.
[xix]
Wallen, James, Huntington, WV. Correspondence,
to Clara P. Geer Martin. 26 Jul 1978
[xx]
Way, Frdk, Way’s Packet Directory, 389.
[xxi]
New Orleans Times-Picayune, 21 Jan. 1865
[xxii]
Ohio, Lawrence, death register 1-2 entry 515
[xxiii]
Kentucky, Boyd deaths 1806-1909; Courthouse attic, sheet 1898 line #2
