As an
industrial archaeologist often times I get caught up in the when
and the how of an artifact, while leaving the who to the
subtle recesses of theory and imagination. After all, when studying industrial
places, the nameless working-class are just that, nameless. Records
get destroyed, people moved about the landscape from job to job
leaving little of their personal identities behind. As an
anthropologist, the who takes center stage. The missing
records are a challenge, the endemic community becomes an untapped
resource while searching for those individual workers who struggled
like you and I for our jobs, our families, and our existence. They
held and loved their children as we do, and had many of the same
concerns as we have today. They worried about the next paycheck, the
next meal, and their job security. It is these people whose story
brings the archaeology to life and gives it meaning. It is here where
I will begin my story of steamboat captain, and how my crew is giving
him a life after death.
James
Gormley resided in a wood frame house build on the mid-slope of a
hill overlooking the town of Brownsville, Pennsylvania. From his
front yard he could look out over the Monongahela River and see the
wharf where his steamboat would make many landings over the course of
several decades. His house was built and owned by his possible
brother, uncle, or cousin, John A. Gormly in the 1830s. At this point
in the research we are not sure of his familial ties with John. John
A. Gormly was born in 1804, Captain James Gormley was born in 1817,
so they could possibly be brothers.
James'
early aspirations and influences for a life on the river are unknown.
He is listed as a steamboat captain in the 1850 census at the age of
33. Brownsville during this time was an active hub for shipping and
emigration as people sought their fortunes westward. The town had a
diverse industrial and mercantile business based on the frontier
economy that existed at the time. Roads were poorly built, poorly
mapped, and often dangerous as they headed toward the Mississippi
Valley. The Monongahela provided a convenient, fast, and relatively
safe way for transporting goods and people. James probably spent his
boyhood down at the wharf or swimming in the river as the colossal
white steamboats plied their way into a boy's imagination.
Captain
Gormley can be compared to a modern-day truck driver. He probably
owned a share of his steamboat along with other investors, or owned
it outright and worked to pay it off. His home life was sporadic,
with long intervals of life on the river, his steamboat probably felt
more like home than his physical house. In the 1850 census, James,
age 33, was living with his wife Sarah, age 31. Their children were
listed as follows: Frances (18yrs, female), John (10yrs, male), Henry
(7yrs, male), Neal (5yrs, male), and Charles (2yrs, male). There
were, however, other people also living in the Gormley household.
These people deepen the mystery of the captain's life outside of his
work.
There
were 10 non relatives living in the Gormley home. Jane Rhredes
(22yrs, female) and Olive Fullen (23yrs, female) who were not listed
as having an occupation. The other eight people were recorded as
African-Americans. Their names were as follows: Margarett Fairfan
(53yrs, female), Emily Fairfan (23yrs, female), Owen Fairfan (17yrs,
male), Caroline Fairfan (16yrs, female), James Fairfan (14yrs, male)
of New York. Mary Plummer (9yrs, female), John Plummer (7yrs, male),
and Fenten Plummer (38yrs, male) of Fayette County, Pennsylvania.
Owen Fairfan and Fenten Plummer were registered as “Laborers” on
the 1850 census. The question is, who were these African-Americans
living in the Gormley household?
Brownsville
had a long history of anti-slavery in the 19th century.
Due to its location on the National Road and the Monongahela River,
Brownsville became an important center for the Underground Railroad.
The prominent Bowman family of the town often provided a safe haven
for the blacks who escaped the shackles of slavery in the South. The
Bowmans were merchants, steamboat builders, and political figures in
western Pennsylvania. James Gormley as a steamboat captain, would
have had contact with them.
James
Gormley, in his travels to Southern ports, could have easily ferried
escaped slaves to start a new life in the North. Although listed on
the census as from “New York” or “Fayette County”, these
African-Americans could have covered up their real origins. Could
these people have been just boarders, perhaps working for the Gormley
family while James was working on the river? These are just some of
the questions that I am trying to answer archaeologically.
The
bigger picture is tying James Gormley to John A. Gormly the prominent
banker from Bucyrus, Ohio. I don't feel that it's a coincidence that
James is living on John's property. The very transient nature of the
steamboat industry may explain why James never bought the home.
By the
time the 1860 census comes around we find a few changes in the
composition of the Gormley household. Captain James (43yrs, male) and
Sarah (41yrs, female), Francis (21yrs, male), John (19yrs, male),
Henry (17yrs, male), Neil (15yrs, male), Charles (12yrs, male), and
the new additions to the family; Sallie (10yrs, female), William
(7yrs, male), James (3yrs, male), and Nellie (3yrs, female). A single
African-American girl is living with the family at this time, May
Galatin (15yrs, female).
In the
decade since the 1850 census, the Gormley children are pursuing their
father in the business of steamboating. Francis, James' oldest son
was documented in 1860 as a Boat Laborer, while John was a Pilot
Apprentice, and Henry was working as an Engineer's Apprentice. The
river life was influencing factor in the Gormley family, and their
history along with their future in the mid-19th century
are inescapably linked.
As a captain, James Gormley's piloting record in Brownsville is
scarce. We know that he piloted two boats, the Statesman in
1851, and the Jesse R. Bell in 1859. By 1862, James Gormley
has left Brownsville, and we find him performing his duty as a
steamboat captain for the Union at the start of the Civil War.
Captain Gormley finds himself the master of the steamboat Empress. This places Captain Gormley at the Battle for Pittsburgh Landing in what would be known as the Battle of Shiloh. Taken from the Daily Missouri
Republican on March 25, 1862:
On Tuesday, the 4th instant, the steamer Empress left St.
Louis, having on board some 700 tons Commissary stores for Cairo and
Paducah, 150 head of cattle for Fort Henry and Col. Bissell's
Engineer Regiment, destined for Gen. Pope's Division at Commerce,
Mo.,; Wednesday landed the troops at Commerce and Commissary stores
at Cairo, coaled and arrived at Paducah on Thursday morning, received
on board the Forty-eighth Ohio Infantry, Col. Sullivan commanding,
coaled and arrived at Fort Henry Friday morning, being the first
arrival for the new expedition; the water had almost completely
inundated the Fort; no landing there; proceeded up the river about
seven miles; landed in the brush, alongside the Gladiator,
Gen. McClennand's headquarters, received a present from Lieut. Col.
Parker, of the Forty-eighth, of a splendid American eagle, whose
perch is now on the pilot house of the Empress. Here, on
Saturday, the 8th, commenced a new phase in steamboating--the Empress
is converted into a slaughter house to supply the much needed beef to
the army, but "some things can be done as well as others,"
and there is room on the Empress to do almost anything, and
Captain Jas. Gormley and his crew are the men to put things through (http://www.48ovvi.org/oh48pitts.html).
 |
Carl Maurer Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology
Mon/Yough Chapter #3 Vice President
examining an excavation unit. |
This is the last piece of information written that has been
discovered so far in our research. Through the archaeology we can
supplement the documentary research and perhaps gain insight into the
captain's daily life that the historians left out. We might even be
able to find insight on the other non family members who were
boarding with the Gormley family.
Artifact analysis is just commencing on our finds, but some of the
materials may tell us about the gender of those living in the house,
the class status of those people, and even the race. The artifacts
may reveal the struggle of everyday life in the mid 1800's for a
person living in Brownsville, and it may shed light on the daily
hardships of those working on the river. Click on the video below as I give a brief tour of Captain Gormley's home!
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