Alexander Erwin (1829 - abt. 1856)

Born 18 Feb 1829 in Townland of New buildings, County Antrim, Ireland

Ancestors

Died about 1856 at about age 26 in Mississippi River, USA

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Biography

I suspect Alexander gave up farming and began working on steamboats sometime after he attended his sister’s marriage to Hugh McCaughan on Oct. 11, 1852. It is my belief that Daniel left the March Township property he had leased from Thomas Bolton Read, to help on Alexander’s farm, possibly as early as 1848 but certainly no later than the spring of 1852. I also believe Hugh McCaughan went with Daniel to help with the work of running the Onslow farm. McCaughan was living in Onslow at the time of his marriage to Mary Erwin. Daniel, his mother, Semai, his sisters, Mary and Semai, and possibly his youngest brother Archibald, (about 15 or 16 years old) may have moved to Alexander’s farm, in Onslow, since they have not been found in any of the Ontario census returns. The Onslow census returns for 1852 have been lost and cannot be used to confirm these assumptions. This may have been the point at which Daniel’s future brother-in-law, Alexander (Sandy) Glenny, took over the lease on the March Township property. If this scenario is correct, Semai and her family might have lived in Canada West from 1847 until just prior to the 1852 census. Very little is known of Daniel’s brother, Alexander. He was four months short of his 24th birthday when he attended the marriage of his sister, Mary, to Hugh McCaughan, on October 11, 1852. Most of what we know about Alexander is derived from the foregoing instruments #5261 and #5262 that were drawn up January 28, 1857, after his premature death. The precise circumstances of Alexander’s death are not known but it had to have occurred between the two dates recorded above. No grave has been discovered. Perhaps no body was ever found. One has to wonder if Alexander died from natural causes or the result of some terrible accident. Over the years, there have been several steamboats bearing the name ‘Uncle Sam’ that sailed on the Mississippi. There was also one that was called the ‘New Uncle Sam’ as listed in ‘Way’s Packet Directory, 1848—1994’, a volume that had been recommended to me by Jack E. Custer of Steamboat Masters & Associates, Inc. and which I located at the Robart’s Library, at the University of Toronto. Fate has a way of confusing and delaying research and the discovery of this latter steamboat was no exception; by coincidence, the ‘New Uncle Sam’ was commanded, for several years, by Capt. A. R. Irwin. However, this vessel was not built until 1857 and consequently the captain could not have been Daniel’s brother, although he might have been related and the reason for Alexander having gone to the Mississippi River in search of employment in the first place. The steamboat ‘Uncle Sam’ most likely to be the one, on which Alexander sailed, is listed as #5498 in ‘Way’s’. This 741-ton boat was built in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1848. It was primarily a freight carrier but it had room for a limited number of passengers. In December 1855, opposite Natchez, Mississippi, it collided with, and sank the steamboat, ‘Switzerland’, according to information in ‘Way’s Packet Directory 1848—1994’. Learning this, I wondered if perhaps Alexander had been drowned because of this accident. I obtained copies of the New Orleans newspaper, ‘The Daily Picayune’ on microfilm and scanned the pages hoping to find an account of the sinking of the ‘Switzerland’. The Saturday, Oct. 20, 1855, edition of the ‘Picayune’ contained a regular column titled, ‘Steam¬boat Departures This Day’, in which it was stated that the ‘Uncle Sam’, commanded by Capt. Miller, would be departing for St. Louis, MO at 4 PM. The ‘Uncle Sam’ was not mentioned again until the edition of Thursday, Nov 22, 1855, when, in the same column, the public was informed that the ‘Uncle Sam’ would be departing for St. Louis, at 5 PM, that day. From these two announcements it can be seen that a trip from New Orleans to St. Louis and back, including the numerous stops along the way, required about one month. On Dec. 19, the paper reported information it had received from Vicksburg, MS, by telegraph. The ‘Uncle Sam’ en route to New Orleans, had passed Vicksburg the previous afternoon, at 3 PM. Appearing to be on schedule, the ‘Uncle Sam’ should have arrived at New Orleans and been ready to depart that city about Dec. 22, 1855 but there was no announcement to that effect up to, and including, the edition of Jan. 5, 1856. Much worse, there was no report of the ‘Uncle Sam’ having rammed and sunk the ‘Switzerland’ which, by the way, was raised, in due course, and taken over by the Northern forces in the Civil War. I sent for, and received copies of the ‘Natchez Daily Courier’, on microfilm and checked all editions between Dec. 19 and Dec. 28, 1855, expecting to find a detailed account of the accident between the two steamboats but strangely, there was nothing, even though the accident was reported to have occurred opposite that city. What I believe may have prevented the ‘Uncle Sam’ from arriving at New Orleans on schedule was that severe damage to the vessel require it to lay over at Natchez for several weeks for repairs, before continuing on to New Orleans. A typical packet boat employed forty to seventy individuals , depending upon the size of the vessel. The crew, except for the most senior officers, was probably laid off. Alexander, only 26, was unlikely to have had sufficient seniority to have been a senior officer. He probably found himself unemployed in Natchez where he might have gotten into all sorts of trouble. The area known as ‘Natchez Under-The-Hill’ has endured a checkered past. Once a busy port where everything from luxurious steamboats, to lowly flatboats docked, Under-The-Hill and its once infamous Silver Street is today a popular tourist attraction. During the late 1700’s, and into the 1900’s, Under-The-Hill was comprised of a wide flat area that extended several hundred yards from the Mississippi River to beneath a high bluff on which Fort Rosalie once stood, and on which, the city of Natchez was later built. The reputation of Under-The-Hill was certainly less than desirable. Arriving with shipments of cotton, mail, coal, and molasses were drunks, bandits, murderers, and other rabble-rousers who, each evening, frequented the brothels, bars, and taverns that dotted Silver Street. Fist and knife fights were considered the norm, and muggings, shootings, and murders were a regular occurrence. One or more murders per evening were not unusual. Alexander might never have left Natchez. He might be buried there in the local cemetery. For more information see my book "Footprints on the Water" published by Lulu.com.

Alexander was born in 1829. He is the son of Alexander Erwin and Semai McMullen. He passed away about 1856. ^[1]

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Sources

• Laurie Erwin, firsthand knowledge. Click the Changes tab for the details of edits by Laurie and others.

1. ↑ Entered by Laurie Erwin, Sep 1, 2012