Captain John Barrow

Captain John Barrow has had an eventful career both on the Great Lakes, and on shore since retiring from seafaring life. He was born in Cleveland in 1836, his father being Capt. Richard Barrow, and at the age of fourteen he went on the lakes as cook of the schooner Mary, which was commanded by his father, remaining on that vessel for two years. His next employment was as porter on the Telegraph, and later he served as wheelsman on that vessel until 1857. He began the season of 1859 with his father on the schooner Union, but left that boat in July of that year and shipped in the North Star. The following spring he again shipped on the Union, and there remained until she was sold in August, 1864, when he secured a berth on the yacht Octava, Captain Goulder in charge, to New York, arriving there in January, 1865, and returning home by train. He then purchased the schooner Eagle, which he sailed during the seasons of 1865 and 1866, and the following year was mate of the Mountain Maid for a short time, but on August 7, 1867, retired from the lakes to become a member of the Cleveland police force, with which he was connected for the long period of twenty-eight years, resigning in July, 1895. For the last thirteen years he had served as lieutenant, and, as he was always prompt and faithful in the discharge of his duties, he proved a popular officer.

In 1860 Captain Barrow married Miss Katherine Hartman, of Columbus, Ohio, who died in 1889, and five years later he wedded Miss Margaret Mapes, of Detroit, by whom he has a daughter.

Capt. Richard Barrow, father of our subject, was born in 1800, in Kent, England, and sailed on the English Channel for a number of years previous to coming to the United States in 1831. He was married in 1818 to Miss Mary Slatter, of England, by whom he had seven children: George, Richard, Ann, Sarah, Joseph, Thomas, and John. In 1836, with his son Richard, he purchased the sloop Wave, and the following year commenced trading with the fishermen and Indians on Lake Huron. In 1842 he bought the Friendship, sailing a part of the time as a packet boat, and later he purchased the sloop Emma, which he also ran as a packet boat until the fall of 1848, when he built the schooner Mary, running it for several years on the Cleveland-Port Stanley route. Selling the Mary in 1852, he purchased the steamer Telegraph in Detroit, which he sailed until August 2, 1858, when she collided with the schooner Marquette, and sank forty miles off Cleveland. In the spring of 1859 he built the schooner Union, sailing her until his death, in June, 1861.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.