| 4. | Captain Peter Dennis Stockholm was born on 13 Jul 1815 in Brooklyn, Kings Co, New York/Sweden; died on 26 Sep 1901 in Beaumont, Jefferson Co, Texas; was buried in Magnolia Cem, Beaumont, Jefferson Co, Texas. Other Events and Attributes:
- Census: 24 Oct 1850, Sabine Pass, Jefferson Co, Texas
- Census: 11 Jul 1860, Sabine Pass (Precinct 5), Jefferson Co, Texas
- Census: 20 Jun 1870, Sabine Pass, Jefferson Co, Texas
- Census: 15 Jun 1880, Beaumont (District 40), Jefferson Co, Texas
- Census: 15 Jun 1900, Beaumont (District 33), Jefferson Co, Texas; Buford St
Notes:
26 Sep 1901 , Beaumont, Jefferson, Texas, USA
CAPTAIN PETER D. STOCKHOLM: A PIONEER SABINE RIVER STEAMBOATMAN By W. T. Block Reprinted from Beaumont Enterprise. Sources: Enterprise and Journal, Sept. 26, 1901; and "Capt. Wiess Tells of 48 Years Ago," Enterprise, Jan. 12, 1912; Texas Custom House Records; and other sources. If one can envision an East Texas crisscrossed only by cattle tracks and wagon trails, then he or she can appreciate the value of the rivers as avenues for faster transportation and commerce. And the usual instrument for such travel was the sternwheel or sidewheel steamboat, which dominated the inland carrying trade during most of the last century. The shrill blast of an approaching steamer was the most welcomed sound that many pioneer East Texans ever knew. Its arrival meant mail and newspapers from Galveston, city "drummers" and other faces in the settlement; new merchandise in the stores, and perhaps a year's cotton crop returning from Galveston in the form of gold coins. Inversely, its sailing signaled the dispatch of mails, the departure of friends; a load of cotton, hides, and other commodities bound for market, and, oftentimes, young lovers en route to a Galveston honeymoon. Steamboating was a seasonal activity, wholly dependent upon the early winter rains to raise the water levels of the rivers. Between December and June, that occupation paid from $15 to $30 weekly, making it the highest-paid craft in the state. During the off-season, most river men doubled as ship carpenters in a shipyard somewhere, also at $15 a week. With the first rise in the rivers, steamer captains raced inland, fully believing that the "early bird gets the worm." Obviously, cotton carried from the nearest landings to the coast was the most profitable, and as the season advanced, packets invariably probed deeper and deeper inland in search of cargoes. At any time after 1840, the pilot of the first steamer entering the Sabine River was likely to be Captain Peter D. Stockholm, a veteran boatman whose 35 years of experience gave him an unequalled knowledge of the bars, shoals and pitfalls of Sabine and Neches navigation. Born in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1815, Stockholm's early apprenticeship included boat-building and seamanship. His boyhood chum in Brooklyn was Charles Fowler, long the port captain of Galveston for the Morgan Steamship Lines, and, during the Civil War, the Confederate commandant of Sabine Lake gunboats. In 1839, Stockholm settled at Sabine Pass, Texas, where he was to reside until he moved to Beaumont around 1878. His early years were divided between piloting during the cotton-shipping season and employment in the off-season as deputy collector or cargo inspector for the Republic of Texas customhouse. His earliest years afloat on two Sabine River steamboats are best retold in his own words from the Galveston "Daily News" of April 12, 1888, as follows: ". . . In 1840 the steamer "Washington" came in at Sabine Pass .... Capt. Reid headed his boat for the upper river, Capt. Stockholm as pilot, and with much hard labor, fought his way through the treetops, sunken logs, sand bars, and shoals, and finally, when the water fell, he tied up at Fullerton's Wharf, just below Sabinetown, where she remained during the summer of 1841." "The boat was neglected, her seams opened, and when the water came up the following fall, she sank. Years afterward, the ribs of the old "Washington" marked the final resting place of that fourth attempt at steam navigation on the Sabine River." "In 1844, the "Scioto Belle" put her prow into those waters, Stockholm again at the wheel, and after many days landed at (East) Hamilton, much to the surprise of the inhabitants .... This venture was fraught with less danger, and the "Scioto Belle" lived to come downriver, and was taken to Galveston, from which port she made frequent trips up the Trinity. . . ." Despite his long absences from home, the steamboatman managed to court a winsome girl, Mary Keith, whose parents were the pioneer settlers of the Keith Lake region, north of Sabine Pass. They were married on Jan. 11, 1847, but the young bride was to know many moments of loneliness whenever her husband steamed north in search of cotton. Also in 1847, Stockholm bought a shipyard at Sabine Pass in partnership with Dexter B. Jones, but he sold his interest in June, 1849. During the same month, he bought a half-interest in Charles Baxter's shipyard at Orange, Texas, and one of the surviving archives at the Jefferson County courthouse is Baxter and Stockholm's contract with Capt. Moses L. Patton to rebuild the superstructure of the first Neches River steam packet, the "Angelina," in 1849. Stockholm's principal business partner during the 1850s was Captain John Clements, who brought six new steamboats, the "Mary Falvey," "Bertha Roebuck," "Juanita," Pearl Plant," "Doctor Massie," and "Sunflower," to Sabine Lake during that decade. At various times, Stockholm was master of both the "Juanita" and the "Roebuck." His command of the latter was to continue throughout the Civil War. Although Northern-born and reared and opposed to slavery, the captain took the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy in 1861, and he spent the next two years ferrying troops and supplies aboard the Rebel tender "Roebuck" between Beaumont and Niblett's Bluff, La., a Confederate quartermaster depot north of Orange. In 1862, Stockholm was particularly elated when command of Sabine Lake's Rebel fleet was given to his lifelong friend, Captain Fowler. During an interview, Capt. Stockholm once related the details of his most triumphant moment of the Civil War. It came on Jan. 21, 1863, when the Confederate gunboats "Uncle Ben" and "Josiah H. Bell" attacked the Sabine Pass blockading fleet in a two hour battle fought 30 miles at sea. When the Federals saw pine knot smoke rising with the early dawn, they hurriedly hoisted canvas on the "Morning Light" and "Velocity," hoping to escape, but there was insufficient breeze to fill their sails. On that day, Stockholm was the pilot aboard the "Bell," but cotton bales strewn over the deck of the steamer so obscured his vision that he had to steer with the aid of a lookout. Confederate Major O.M. Watkins technically had charge of the expedition, but he remained so intoxicated throughout the battle that the burden of command fell solely to Fowler. Stockholm often related a part of the dialogue that transpired between Fowler and himself as the chase continued, and the slow steamers gradually overtook their victims. "How's the steam holding out?" Fowler would ask. "Fine, Charlie," was the pilot's response. "I got a full head up, but it's hotter than Hades here in the wheel house!" "Good, Pete. Pour on them pine knots, keep a-sweatin', and cut 'er a mite to starboard." In this first battle at Sabine Pass in which he was a participant, Lt. R. W. "Dick" Dowling commanded the gun crew aboard the "Bell," and he and his men would soon exhibit the same brand of gunnery skills that would win for the Davis Guards so much acclaim nine months later. The "Morning Light" was a square-rigged ship, mounting nine 32-pound smoothbore guns, and at a range of 2 1/2 miles, Dowling's crew opened fire with their single 64-pound rifled cannon. The Rebels' rifled cannon enabled them to strike the enemy ships long before the latters' smoothbore weapons were in range. They soon struck the Federal ship "Morning Light" with four shell bursts, one of which wiped out a gun and its crew. Capt. John Dillingham, the Union commander, quickly capitulated, and the steam cottonclads towed or sailed both of their prizes back to Sabine Pass. Stockholm's only memento of that battle was a prize Union cutlass, taken from the "Morning Light," which he cherished until his death. Because the captured ship drew 16 feet of water, she was deemed too large to enter port, but both Stockholm and Capt. K. D. Keith, both of whom were licensed bar pilots, knew that she could be towed successfully through the soft silt of the Sabine outer bar. However, the drunken major refused them permission to try, ordering the vessel anchored offshore instead. When they asked the major for permission to place artillerymen aboard who could man the nine guns and perhaps fight off an attack, the inebriated officer refused again, allowing only cavalrymen to come aboard. Later, the "Morning Light" had to burned when two Federal gunboats appeared, thus the major's blunder cost the Confederacy a fine ship, nine large guns, 200 tons of munitions, and 400 tons of badly-needed pig iron ballast. Despite his long career afloat, Stockholm found time to assume some civic responsibilities and public offices. In 1847 he was elected justice of the peace at Sabine Pass. In 1871 he was appointed county inspector of hides and cattle, and the next year, he was elected again as justice of the peace. In 1882, after his removal to Beaumont, he served one term as county commissioner. As their children grew to adulthood, many of them resettled in Beaumont, which was the primary cause for Peter and Mary Stockholm to abandon the home of their youthful years and to resettle in Beaumont as well. Their family included three sons, William, Peter, Jr., and George, and five daughters, Lydia (Mrs. C. A.) McKinley, Elizabeth (Mrs. Tom) Cuniff, Mary Ellen (Mrs. John) Will, Sarah (Mrs. Cyrus) Patridge, and Mrs. Jessie Jones. Certainly a secondary cause for their departure were the half-dozen gulf hurricanes which struck Sabine Pass during the 1870s. Stockholm invested wisely and heavily in Beaumont real estate, which kept his old age there free of financial woes. At the time of his death on Sept. 25, 1901, the 86-year-old pioneer was the sole-surviving Jefferson Countian who had voted here under the Texas Republic. According to his long obituary, the old Rebel warrior, although enfeebled in mind and body during his last illness, grabbed his souvenir cutlass a week before he died and threatened bloody vengeance against the anarchist assassin who had just murdered President William McKinley. His widow Mary survived until age 95 and is buried beside her husband, only a few feet from the Magnolia Cemetery office in Beaumont. While the biography of Peter Stockholm remains one of those romantic sagas so characteristic of the Sabine River's frontier history, his personal life was considerably less romantic, knowing only those stark realities of pioneer life, short life spans, and primitive modes of transportation. Hence, his life story is another thread in that fabric of frontier folklore concerning the trail-blazers who sought a better way of life for themselves and their successors.
W. T. Block. Copyright © 1998-2008 by W. T. Block. All rights reserved.
Census:
24 Oct 1850 Sabine Pass
residence 215:
Milton H Bloodworth 25 1825 Louisiana
Nancy (Holt) Bloodworth 18 1832 Texas
Benjamin P Bloodworth 2 1848 Louisiana
William Bloodworth 1 1849 Louisiana
Benjamin Holt 55 1795 Mississippi
Thomas C Holt 50 1800 Mississippi
Thomas D Holt 4 1846 Louisiana
William Holt 53 1797 Mississippi
Mary Ann Holt 17 1833 Texas
Thomas R Holt 26 1824 Louisiana
Charles Holt 28 1822 Louisiana
William C Holt 15 1835 Louisiana
Richard Holt 13 1837 Louisiana
Residence 216
Stockholm, Peter D. 31 1819 New York carpenter
Mary 17 1833 Louisiana
William 2 1848 Texas
Elizabeth 0 1850 Texas
Residence 217
Brewer, William 23 1827 Louisiana
Brewer, Caroline 22 1828 Louisiana
Residence 218
Solomon Sparks 30 1820 Tennessee
Martha C Sparks 30 1829 South Carolina
Lucy Ann Sparks 8 1842 Tennessee
John L Sparks 6 1844 Tennessee
James E Sparks 3 1847 Louisiana
Mary Susan Sparks 1 1849 Texas
Jacob Sparks 22 1828 Tennessee
Residence 219
John S. Sparks 39 1811 North Carolina
Melinda Sparks 29 1821 Tennessee
Albert Sparks 9 1841 Texas
Eliza J. Sparks 7 1843 Texas
John F. Sparks 4 1846 Texas
Sarah C. Sparks 1 1849 Texas
James Court 22 1828 Louisiana
Julia Ann (Sparks) Courts 14 1836 Tennessee
Census:
11 Jul 1860 Sabine Pass (Precinct 5) page 60
Residence 355
Heminway Edward P 1808 Massachusetts engineer
Heminway Mary N 43 1817 Massachusetts
Heminway Sarah L 15 1845 South Carolina
Heminway William H 10 1850 Texas
Heminway Franklin T 7 1853 Texas
Heminway Charles A 4 1856 Texas
Heminway Eustace 1 1859 Texas
Residence 356
Stockholmn Peter D 45 1815 New York pilot steamboat 2500, 300
Stockholmn Mary 27 1833 Louisiana
Stockholmn William 12 1848 Texas
Stockholmn Elisabeth 10 1850 Texas
Stockholmn Peter D 8 1852 Texas
Stockholmn George W 5 1855 Texas
Stockholmn Mary E 6/12 1859 Texas
Miller Wm 25 1835 New York carpenter
Keith Ellen 15 1845 Texas student
Residence 357
Mass William 40 1820 Germany farmer 1,000; 2,000
Mass Charlottie 27 1833 Germany
Mass Sellenah 13 1847 Louisiana
Mass Almina 11 1849 F Texas
Mass Charles 8 1852 Texas
Mass Henry 6 1854 Me Texas
Mass Roadolph 4 1856 Texas
Mass Martha 2 1858 Texas
Mass Jessee 11/12 1859 Texas } twins
Mass Sarah 11/12 1859 Texas }
Cha Patrick 18 1842 Ireland laborer
Residence 358
Mccall James 29 1831 Illinois laborer 400; 1,000
Mccall Anny 20 1840 Texas
Mccall Theresah 3 1857 Texas
Mccall Jacob 1 1859 Texas
Hayes Nancy 8 1852 Texas <
Johnson John 17 1843 Louisiana laborer
Residence 359
Garner Jacob 46 1814 Louisiana farmer 3,000; 4,000
Garner Matilda 43 1817 Louisiana
Garner Mary A 15 1845 Texas
Garner Leonard 13 1847 Texas
Garner Sally A 10 1850 Texas
Garner Millon 7 1853 Texas
Garner Alliee 5 1855 Texas
next page, Page 61
residence 359 cont.
Garner, Bradley 10/12 1859 Texas
Hayes, Matilda* 10 1850 Texas <
residence 361
McCall John 27 1833 Illinois laborer 200; 1,000
Hayes, Alzina 12 1848 Texas <
Hayes, Mary 6 1854 Texas <
Gallier, Mary* 64 1796 Louisiana midwife
residence 362
Robert Gibson 30 steam boating England 200
Ann 18 Louisiana
Jesse E. 8/12 Texas
residence: 363
Morgan, Alvin 21 1839 Louisiana stock minder
Eliza 17 1843 Texas
Almond 2 1858
Leonard 3/12 1860
Myers, Malissa 15 1845 Texas spinster
Gallier, Frances 65 1795 Louisiana laborer
residence 364
Johnson, Benjamin 1815 Louisiana farmer 200
Bradley 20 1840 Texas laborer 600; 6,000
John 17 1843 Texas
Uriah 14 1846 Texas
Joseph 13 1847 Texas
Benjamin 11 1849 Texas
Isaac 9 1851 Texas
Elizabeth 7 1853 Texas
Rachel 5 1855 Texas
Myers, Matilda 28 1832 Louisiana
White, George 25 1835 Louisiana laborer
residence 365
McGaffey, Neal Jr. 22 farmer 5690; 1,000
Rachel J. 17
John W. 1/12
Sarah McGaffey 57 "lady of Leashure" 2,000; 5,400 Louisiana
Census:
Residence 66
P D Stockolm 54 1816 NY farmer
Mary Stockolm 37 1833 TX
Elizabeth Stockolm 20 1850
Peter D Stockolm 18 1852 TX
George Stockolm 14 1856 TX
Mary E Stockolm 10 1860 TX
Sarah E Stockolm 8 1862 TX
Lyda Stockolm 6 1864 TX
Larena Stockolm 3 1867 TX
Residence 67
Stockholm W. 22 1848 TX
Sarah 24 1846 TX
Mary 18/12 1869 TX
Census:
Peter L. Stockholm 64 1816 NY
Mary Stockholm 47 1833 TX NY TX
Lydia Stockholm 15 1865 TX
Lavina Stockholm 13 1867 TX
Jessie Stockholm 1 1879 TX
Census:
one block from Buford Street, Beaumont
Stockholm, P.D. head Jul 1814 85 m 53 yea NY NY NY Denwe
Mary Oct 1828 53 11 children, nine living Louisiana NY MS
Holt, Loula May 1867 33 TX LA LA
Keith, Livina mother-in-law Feb 1812 wid 7 births 1 living Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee
Buried:
Magnolia Cemetery, Beaumont, Jefferson, Texas Burial Record:
# 58 Section A
Bought 26 Sep 1901 for $50
Also Permit #1181 - Mrs. Mary Stockholm
and #3783 - William Stockholm
Section left of the flagpole
Peter married Mary Ellen Keith about 1847 in Sabine Pass, Jefferson Co, Texas. Mary (daughter of George Keith and Mrs. Lavina (Myers?) Keith) was born in 1833 in Louisiana; died on 26 Jul 1923 in Orange Co, Texas; was buried in Magnolia Cem, Beaumont, Jefferson Co, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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1891 - 1978 (86 years)