Captain T. Lemey

Captain T. Lemey is well-known in Detroit and vicinity as a vesselmaster who has a thorough knowledge of marine work, at which he has been occupied all his active life since his sixteenth year. He is the youngest son of sixteen children born to Alexander and Mary (Campau) Lemey, the former of whom was a native of France, but spent nearly all his life in America. He settled in Detroit at an early day and there built a sawmill on the site now occupied by the "Biddle House." Mr. Lemey died in 1847 at Amherstburg, Ont., and his wife survived him many years, dying in the same place in August, 1885. Captain Lemey was born September 1, 1845, at Amherstburg, and there spent the first seventeen years of his life. While in his sixteenth year he sailed out of that place on the Dispatch with Capt. S. Grummond, remaining two months in the capacity of deckhand. He then went with Capt. John Edwards in the tug George B. McClellan, spent the following season with Captain Dustin on the side-wheel steamer Dart, and the next season acted as wheelsman of the L. L. Lyon, with Captain Raymeau. After leaving this boat he remained on shore one season, but he returned to the water the following year as man before the mast on the Hemisphere, afterwards sailing the same capacity on the Margaret R. Goff and James F. Joy. After acting as mate on the schooner Dakota, he was given command of the schooner Liberty, and sailed her two seasons, transferring from her to the Maid of the Mist, which he commanded for a year and a half. He then bought an interest in the Mary Amelia, and sailed her during 1874-75, after which he brought out the schooner Adventure. When his connection with this vessel was ended he entered the employ of A. A. Parker & Bro., and sailed the Eagle Wing two seasons; the Columbian and Reuben Dowd one year each; the James C. King five years; and the Anna Smith, which was lost in a storm November 28, 1889, on Lake Huron. For the next two years he took the Minneapolis, and he has since been in command of the John Oades, having now been on her for several seasons.

On May 19, 1868, Captain Lemey was married to Miss Henrietta Miller, who died March 1, 1887. They had two children; Rosetta, who died in September, 1895, and Della, who is married to William H. Lehman, of Syracuse, New York.

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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.