James Henry Vail was born in
London, England on 31 May 1811. Just
under three months later, his parents James and Ann Thoms-Vail had him
christened in the catholic St. Botolph Aldgate church (christening record of JH
Vail). His earliest home was on George
Street in east London near west Middlesex (christening record of JH Vail). JH Vail’s father was associated with an
American diplomat (uncle Aaron Vail) and his mother was a British subject (daughter
of John Thoms of London). There may have
been a feel in his home that their time in England was to be temporary. According to tradition, father James Vail was
not permitted to leave the country because of the War of 1812 (story told in
the Edmond biography). As the first born
child to his parents, James Henry was a toddler when his sisters Margaret and
Eliza were born in 1812 and 1814, respectively (birth records from the James
Vail bible).
Young JH probably spent time at
the Thames River, living for the first few years of his life just blocks north
of the famous waterway. He certainly
watched ships both small and large sailing through London. He may have even caught a glimpse of
steamboats as they had begun passenger transportation as early as 1807,
becoming more common by 1816. So, it
seems plausible that he was excited when his family boarded a boat and set sail
west or America. He was upon the seas. The two month journey was probably on a
merchant vessel (the family does not appear on passenger ship manifests and
they had connections to merchants through uncle Aaron Vail and other Vail family). Between 1814 and 1818 the Vail family arrived
in America and by 1818, they were in Rensselaer County, New York (deposition of
James Vail, 1818). JH Vail eventually
would recall little of his time in Europe (because he was so young when they
left, no older than six years old). However,
recollections of his voyage from London back to his family home in New York,
USA may have shaped his early adult life.
Because of the sea-faring dangers caused by the War of 1812,
young JH Vail had never met his Vail family.
Therefore, he was excited to meet, for the first time, the successful
family members his father told him about.
His grandfather had been a New York state senator and most of his uncles
were prosperous merchants (grandfather Moses Vail and uncle Thomas Vail died in
1815, possibly before JH met them). His
father James Vail became a merchant in Lansingburgh where JH would grow to an
adult. Like in London, he lived within a
stone’s throw of a major river trade route - the Hudson River. Along the river he saw the steamboat advance
since that type of vessel was developed on the Hudson River around 1810. Living in Lansingburgh, a northern suburb of
Troy, now kept him connected to his Vail cousins. As was normal, the James Vail children were
well-educated during their adolescence.
Lansingburgh on the Hudson River
JH Vail became a sailor, though no
records exist to substantiate it. He was
certainly connected to importing and exporting of supplies up and down the
Hudson River (father and uncles). As his
experience progressed, he may have expanded his reach, venturing to locations
along the New England shores and probably south along the American east
coast. Father James Vail died in 1833
and JH Vail may have worked for his uncles whose merchant business had become
quite large. By the late 1830s and not
yet 30 years of age, he was captain of a trade vessel (captain according to
records in 1840 and 1842).
About 1832, JH Vail’s youngest
sister had Eliza married William Edmond, the son of a popular and politically
connected Vermont lawyer named David Edmond.
The Edmond family called Vergennes their home, located in Addison
County, Vermont bordering Rensselaer County, New York to the northeast. David Edmond connected his son William with Judge
Henry Hitchcock, a Vermont native, who operated a major cotton brokerage
business in Mobile, Alabama. William traveled between Vermont, New York,
and Alabama beginning in 1826 and continuing through the 1830s and 1840s. In 1838, William and Eliza Edmond took their
young children to Mobile, Alabama where they lived on and off for many years.
The steamboat Troy frequented the
Hudson River around Lansingburgh near 1840
James
Henry Vail likely traveled to Mobile from Lansingburgh in just over two
weeks. After arriving in New York via
the Hudson River, he traveled to Philadelphia and then Pittsburg over a land
route. He then boarded a steamboat and
journeyed down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River and from there to New
Orleans. Once in New Orleans, a short
water voyage east along the Gulf Coast landed him in Mobile Bay.
In about 1838 or before, JH Vail arrived
in Mobile Bay (an immigration record states he arrived prior to 1840 and was age 37, which was
probably a transcription or recording error and should have stated 27?). He was accompanied by a John Vail. Their method of transportation is currently
unknown. Possible methods of travel
include travel as a passengers, sailors, or even captains of sailing vessel(s),
possibly owned by JH Vail. Their route
of travel is more certain as they would have taken the Ohio River-Mississippi
River route through New Orleans. The
connection between JH and John is also unclear (there is an unknown male Vail
living with the James Vail family in 1830 Rensselaer County, New York). The immigration record was from a section of
the Mobile County Court Minute Books and may have been a part of their naturalization
records (the original source has not been seen).
A Vail family legend states that
the Mississippi Vail immigrant (which was JH Vail) was the captain of a boat in
Mobile, Alabama (story related to me by my grandmother Virginia Vail-Finnie who
did her own research in the late 1960s).
This Captain Vail, according to the legend, had come to Mobile with two
brothers from England. During this
migration and presumably at or near Mobile, these Vail brothers encountered a
storm of considerable ferocity. Two of
the brothers, our Captain Vail and another, were separated from the other, who
was never heard from again. The two
remaining brothers remained together for some time but eventually one moved
north and may have settled in Little Rock, Arkansas. In reality, Captain JH Vail had no known
brothers. Researchers know he was in
Mobile with a John Vail (from the Mobile Co record). He did have two brother-in-laws, one of whom
(William Edmond) was often in Mobile and would return north to stay after some
time in Mobile. The other (Harvey
Townsend) died in 1836 at an unknown location.
This article was in The Daily Selma Reporter dated 11 January 1840. The same article ran in this paper between 31 October 1839 to 29 February 1840.
JH Vail was possibly living in Cahawba, Dallas County, Alabama in 1838 and 1839. The Cahawba Democrat newspaper reported letters held at the Post Office in Cahawba for JH Vail. One had arrived before 1 October 1838 and another had arrived between then and 1 January 1839. Cahawba was a major port on the Alabama River about 150 miles north-northeast of Mobile. It is interesting that JH Vail was also the Steamboat Captain of vessel that held the name "Cahawba." The newspaper in Selma consistently announced the arrivals of the Steamer Cahawba - Selma was on the Alabama River in Dallas County, near Cahawba. Note: The Cahawba newspaper only has 3 years that have been indexed 1838-1840.
The 1840 Mobile County census revealed
JH Vail as the head of a household in Mobile but the descriptions of those in
his household disclose that they were connected with a boat:
About 10 other households
adjoining or nearby (as per the census) were also large groups of men that were
water navigators and merchants with slaves.
At least eight of the men in Vail’s “household” were sailors, or navigators. The likely explanation – these groups of men were hands on steamboats
in Mobile Bay, or the Port City as it was known for steamboats in 1840. His business was certainly related to cotton
transportation since his brother-in-law William Edmonds had been traveling to
Mobile from Vermont since his early adulthood to work with the first Alabama
millionaire, the cotton barren Judge Henry Hitchcock. We must consider that JH Vail was a captain
in 1840 as he was the head of the “household” (boat) in 1840 and would be
considered a “captain” in 1842 (from the 1842 Eliza Vail-Edmond letter). Captain Vail was also a “navigator of canals,
lakes, and rivers” and not the seas or oceans, as found in the 1840 Mobile County
census.
The 22 men listed in the census made
up the officers and hands on a steamboat.
The officers were those men considered in command. They were the captain, first clerk, pilot,
engineers, and mate or first officer (these were the “navigators of canals,
lakes, and rivers” in the 1840 census).
On larger steamboats, there was a second and third mate, a second clerk,
cub pilots, and strikers. The hands
included firemen, deckhands, rousters, and cabin personnel. By 1843, the average steamboat used a crew of
21 men. Captains either owned their own
steamboat or were hired by an owner for one year at a time. Lesser positions, such as the clerk, were
hired by the trip or month. In 1843,
captains were paid about $900 per year while a clerk made about $50 per
month. In most cases, the captain was
responsible for hiring his officers and hands, including the clerk. In addition to working high labor jobs
unloading and loading cotton, Negroes played in organized bands and sang
plantation melodies and spiritual songs for passengers and crew.
An
example of a 1830s steamboat in west waters
Steamboats first arrived in
Mobile Bay about 1818 and became immediately popular on rivers north of Mobile
Bay. Steamboats provided travel up and
down the river, impossible prior to this time.
This drastically stimulated the cotton economy for merchants in Mobile
and cotton producing communities in Alabama and Mississippi. The Tombigbee, Alabama, and Black Warrior
Rivers all saw high steamboat traffic.
Steamboat companies such as the Mobile Steamboat Company and the
Steamboat Company of Alabama purchased steamboats, hired captains, merchants,
and sailors, and placed slaves on steamboats to work as deckhands.
Steamboats on the Alabama Rivers
were not glamorous as they are remembered today. They were designed to quickly and cheaply
transport maximum cotton quantities from cotton plantations to Mobile Bay for
further distribution along the Gulf Coast by merchants. Approximately 300 landings for loading cotton
bales were on the Tombigbee River alone.
Landings were often located along high bluffs where cotton warehouses
were positioned for loading cotton. The
cotton was sent sliding down wooden slides by rolladores who were normally
slaves. Stevedores received the cotton
bales as they were loaded onto the steamboats.
Steamboat landings could either be cotton landings or firewood
landings. Steamboats had to stop
frequently to take on firewood to stoke their boilers and maintain an
appropriate head of steam. Upstream
journeys brought supplies like sugar, coffee, food, clothing, household goods,
farm supplies, and other products such as furniture to the cotton plantations.
The
location of Warsaw, Sumter, Alabama on the Tombigbee River
The steamboats of the 1840s were
side-wheelers and about 200 feet in length and 40 feet in width. The main deck was large and open for
cotton. Though originally designed for
cotton exportation, as time progressed, more attention was given to public
transportation. Above the main deck, the
merchant companies sold tickets to those seeking travel accommodations. The above decks could accommodate passengers at
varied comfort levels, depending upon the ticket price. These accommodations improved as time passed
and, rates increased.
The Tombigbee River flowed from north
Mississippi to the south and southeast through Pickens and Sumter Counties
before ending up in Mobile Bay. It was
certainly during a voyage up or down river that Captain Vail found himself in
Warsaw, Sumter County, Alabama where he met Harriet Johnson. Warsaw was a steamboat landing on the
Tombigbee River during the 1830s and 1840s and was located 328 miles upriver
from Mobile between the Gainesville and Vienna landings. During early courting activities, Captain
Vail would likely visit Harriet as he passed north and south working on the
river and while headquartered in Mobile (location of Captain Vail in Mobile
1840 and 1842 and the location of Harriet Johnson with her parents in 1840 Sumter
County along with the marriage record recorded in both Pickens County and
Mobile County). On 12 April 1842, JH
Vail and Harriet Johnson were reportedly married in Mobile by the Reverend John
C. Hicks (Pickens County AL History Book, the Robert Vail website has their
marriage date as March 1842 but unknown source). Another source reports the marriage as taking
place in Sumter County, Alabama on 16 April 1842 (Alabama Select Marriages,
1816-1957).
After the Vail-Johnson marriage
in 1842, Captain JH Vail remained a steamboat captain. Since JH Vail received his mail at Mobile in
September 1842, it would seem the new Vail family was living in Mobile (1842
letter). His sister wrote him in
September from Vermont and warned him her husband was heading for Mobile
looking for work. She informed JH Vail,
or Jim as she called him, that “I hope you will lend [William Edmond] a helping
hand with regard to a clerkship on board your boat.” Brother-in-law William Edmond included his
own comments in the letter that James
Henry Vail should “keep the situation open until I come…[as] you know it is at
all times easy to get a clerk.”
Mobile Bay in 1842
In September 1842, JH Vail’s
sister Eliza Vail-Edmond was living in Vergennes, Vermont with her
mother-in-law Edmond. She had actually
moved there after living in Mobile, Alabama for a time. She, her husband, and their two children were
in Mobile in 1840 (census) and may have arrived in late fall 1838 (Edmond
Biography). This date may actually align
with the arrival of James Henry Vail if they had all traveled to Mobile
together. William Edmond made the trip
to Alabama in late 1842 but returned to Vermont about 1844 unable to shake a
lingering illness. He would never fully
recover, passing on 18 June 1848 in Vermont.
In 1842, James Henry Vail’s
mother was presumably living in Troy, New York (1840 census and 1841 silhouette
record). By 1850 she had moved to
Vergennes, Vermont to live with her daughter the widow Eliza Vail-Edmond. Sister Harriet Vail-Townsend became a widow in
1836 after only five years of marriage.
She remarried Ebenezer Learned 9 April 1842 and moved to Norwich,
Connecticut where she helped raise her new husband’s children.
An
1849 Montgomery Journal advertisement for steamboat transportation
JH and Harriet Vail remained in
Alabama after their marriage for an unknown length of time. They may have lived in Sumter County on the
Tombigbee River or in Mobile over the next years. By 1843, they had their first child who they
named William Henry Vail. He was born in
Alabama. Very little is known of the
Vail family over the next six years. However
by 1849, they had moved west just over the Alabama state border to Newton
County, Mississippi. And, JH Vail had
may have turned in his captain’s hat for a hoe (1850 census lists his
occupation as farmer). The interesting
question to ponder – why did Captain Vail become farmer Vail? Several possibilities are worth
considering. The most probable answer
regards the perilous steamboats of the period.
Of the first seven steamboats that plied the Tombigbee River waters
after 1822, five exploded by 1828. The insert
below reveals just a few of the many Alabama steamboats that met with tragic
ends between 1842 and 1849. Among many possible
incidents, Captain Vail (as owner or contracted captain) could have met with a
disaster or near disaster, lost friends or acquaintance in a disaster, or
feared he may leave his family destitute with his own demise.
Just
a few of the steamboats that met with a disastrous fate during the 1840s in
Alabama
At any rate, JH Vail became a
farmer (1850, 1860, & 1870 census occupation of JH Vail). Those living in close proximity to the Vail
family were also farmers. Vail owned
$800 in real estate which he must have purchased from an individual (no state
land sale records exist for JH Vail). While in Mississippi, the Vails welcomed the second child Robert Vail to their home. There was about
six years between the first and second known child. Either JH and Harriet Vail had children and
lost them as youngsters or, Captain Vail’s work on the river had kept them from
conceiving children. Newton County
records have been lost in two fires that damaged or destroyed the court house -
the first in 1877 followed by another in 1910.
Therefore, very little is known of the Vail’s during their time in
Newton County.
Newton
County, Mississippi was only about 50 miles west southwest from Warsaw, Sumter
County, Alabama. County boundaries are
presented as they appeared in 1850.
In 1850 or 1851, JH Vail was the
owner of a United States military warrant for 160 acres. He bought the warrant from John C. B. Ward, a
21 year old Mexican War veteran who lived in Warsaw, Sumter County, Alabama in
1850. Prior to January 1851, JH Vail
sold the warrant to Samuel Robertson. On
20 January 1851, Robertson was granted 160 acres in Newton County, Mississippi
using the military warrant at township 7N, range 12E, SW quarter of section 15.
The Vail’s time in Newton County
was short. By 1860, their family was in
Oktibbeha County, Mississippi. In
Oktibbeha County, they lived near Starkville and set up their farm on land
owned by James Henry Vail (1860 census listed $400 real estate and Starkville
was the nearest Post Office, James Henry Vail was also listed in the 1860
Mississippi state census as living in the Starkville township). The Vail family had grown. In 1860 and after 18 years of marriage, James
and Harriet had four living children (there may have been others that died
young). Also living with the family was
a young girl name Collittie Tubs who was 10 years old and born in Mississippi
(no other information is known about her).
The Vails owned no slaves but within
the Vail dwelling in 1860 was a young man named John E. Davis. Davis was 22 years old, born in Alabama, and
listed as a clerk by occupation. Among
Davis’ assets was $15,500 as a part of his father A. S. Davis’ estate. A. S. Davis died in 1860 and was buried at
Greenwood Cemetery in West Point, a smaller town near Starkville (nothing else
is known of A. S. Davis or any related Davis family). This may place the Vail family in the
Oktibbeha County area northeast of Starkville near West Point (which later
became Clay County).
Oktibbeha County was north of
Newton County and adjoined the Tombigbee River.
This Mississippi map shows the county boundaries in 1860.
JH Vail was 49 in 1860, still a
young man. Though he was listed as a
farmer by profession, farming may have only been part of his employment. During certain times of the year, rivers in
Alabama and Mississippi ran low and were often unable to be navigated by a
large steamboat. At other times, cotton
was out of season and there was less demand for steamboat navigation. JH Vail may have retained his earlier
occupation and worked at times as a steamboat captain, yet while at home with
his family operating a small farm. The
John E. Davis residing with the Vails was a clerk and since there was really no
need for a clerk on a small farm, he may have been Vail’s steamboat clerk. Additionally, the Tombigbee River was only
about five to ten miles east of West Point, a possible more precise location of
the Vail family in 1860 (as they were in the Starkville area from the census
and the location of A. S. Davis grave in West Point).
While JH Vail was not a
participant in the Civil War due to his age, the activities revolving around
the Civil War certainly affected his life.
The area around Starkville was the scene of many skirmishes and
battles. A Union force came through
Starkville in 1863 and ransacked the small town and surrounding farms. The following year, General Nathaniel Bedford
Forrest and his outmanned Confederate soldiers turned back Union troops just
south of West Point. JH Vail’s son
Robert Vail was found to have served in the Confederate army from 1861 to 1865
though no official records record his service (his obituary stated he served
for the CSA during the duration of the war).
His service could have been in militia units. Another son appears to have fought in the
Civil War. W. H. Vail (William Henry
Vail) was a private in the Company G, 35th Regiment, Mississippi
Infantry. This regiment was recruited at
West Point and was organized in spring 1862.
The troops fought at Corinth, Vicksburg (captured), New Hope Church,
Kennesaw Mountain, Chattahoochee River, and the Battle of Atlanta.
Between 1860 and 1870, JH Vail
moved his family a short distance north into Chickasaw County. Records appear to place the family location
in the Montpelier area which was near the Oktibbeha-Chickasaw County line
(which later became Clay County). In
1870, daughter Ella Vail was either living elsewhere or was dead. JH Vail’s mother passed away during the 1860s
in Norwich, Connecticut. The three sons
between 15 and 27 were all farm laborers.
JH Vail was then 59 years old and was listed as a farmer. He owned $700 real estate and his personal
estate had surprisingly diminished significantly, down to $550 from $2500 ten
years before. Many Mississippi farmers
experienced a drastic attenuation of their personal estate during this
decade. The losses could usually be
attributed to the Civil War.
Chickasaw
County adjoined Oktibbeha County to the north.
This map displays the county boundaries in 1870.
JH Vail died after 1870 and
before 1880 in the Chickasaw County, Mississippi area. In 1871 the land on which JH Vail and family
lived became Colfax County but was renamed Clay County in 1876. Descendants believe JH Vail was buried at
Pine Bluff Cemetery near Montpelier, Clay County, Mississippi. Others believe he may have been buried at
Amity Cemetery though this location near Sparta, Chickasaw County does not
coincide with his last known home (location of son Robert Vail’s wife in 1882
burial).
Harriet
Johnson-Vail, a scan of a picture of a picture that hung at the home of her
granddaughter Mary Emma Vail-Betts, daughter of Robert Vail.
The widow Harriet Johnson-Vail
was alive in 1880 and living in likely the same location as she and her husband
had lived in 1870. The home was located
in 1880 in Clay County (district 5 or the Pheba District) and she was living
with her then single youngest son, 24 year old Richard Vail. His occupation was farmer. Also in the home was 22 year old black
laborer Allen Washington and a young black widow laborer Anne Henry with her
two young boys, 12 and 1 year old. Another
son William Henry Vail was living nearby in the same district 5, Clay County
location. By 1900, Harriet had
disappeared from the census records. Her
sons Robert and Richard were both living in Pheba, Clay County, Mississippi
with their families (William Henry Vail’s children were all living in Webster
County without parents). Harriet’s
burial location is unknown like her husbands.
It is presumed that she was either buried with her husband (Pine Bluff
Cemetery at Montpelier) or at Hebron Cemetery in Pheba. Vail family headstones are found there from
the 1890s and burials began before 1880.
Though the records of Newton
County, Mississippi were lost and virtually nothing remains, we may still be
able to find more about JH Vail and his family.
Oktibbeha County unfortunately also had a courthouse fire in 1880 which
severely limits records of the Vail era at that location. Chickasaw County had records lost by fire in
1863 but afterwards should be intact.
Clay County records should also be fully intact. Future recommendations for research would
also include finding a source for Alabama steamboat history. This may lead to further details about
Tombigbee River steam travel and maybe more specifically, about Captain JH
Vail.
By 1900, JH and Harriet Vail’s
children Robert and Richard Vail were each raising their families in Clay County,
Mississippi. Richard and Robert were
living near Pheba which was where their father and mother had lived since at
least 1880 and probably before. Richard
Vail is reported to have purchased a house and land from a Mr. Powell in 1899
(built circa 1850). The home would later
become known as the Powell-Vail house and is currently on the National Register
of Historical Places. It is located on
Vail Road just northeast of Pheba.
Robert Vail may have lived in that same vicinity (they were both in
Pheba – Beat 5 in 1900 but not listed next to each other). They both owned their own farm and house free
and clear (1900 census).
JH Vail's sister Eliza died in 1891 at Vergennes, VT and was buried at Prospect Cemetery
JH Vail's sister Harriet died in 1898 at Norwich, CT and was buried at Yantic Cemetery
Clay
County, Mississippi in 1900 – A) Richard Vail home, B) Hebron Cemetery, C) Pine
Bluff Cemetery
The
Richard Vail home on Vail Road near Pheba, purportedly purchased from a Mr.
Powell in 1899