Caspar Titchworth born in Michigan; tugboat captain in California



Hey everyone, here's the information I promised you about Caspar Titchworth.  A little late but what can you expect when it's summer in Canada. Enjoying the sun is more important than genealogy. But there isn't much else that is.

Caspar Titchworth was born in 1843 or 1844 according to the census records.When he  was he was living with the Peter Doolittle household in Nankin, Wayne, Michigan. It is thought his parents could be Alexander and Sally Titchworth and that the Doolittle’s took over raising him when Sally died in 1847. In 1860 he is working on the Peter Doolittle farm but he either didn’t like farming or felt the need for adventure because on August 8, 1861 he enlisted in Company F the 16th Infantry in Plymouth, Michigan to fight in the American Civil War. He fought for less than a year; was wounded and missing in action on the June 27, 1862. On November 28, 1862 he was discharged.  It's not mentioned what kind of wound he suffered or if it affected him later in life.

Caspar Titchworth, photo taken about 1879
 Some time before 1867 he moved to Sonoma, California where he married Mrs. Julia Bowles (nee Canfield) on June 2, 1868. Almost a year later their son, Charles C. was born on the May 27, 1869. In 1871 the family was living in Solona, California then moved to Inyo, California. From about 1875 – 1877 he was the captain of a steam boat, the Bessie Brady that hauled silver bullion from the Swansea (California) furnaces of the Owens Lake Silver -Lead Company to the other side of the lake. This picture was taken then of him then. 

Casper and Julia moved to San Francisco by 1880 where their second child, a daughter, Laura Louise, was born on March 21, 1887. For 40 years Casper was the captain of the steam tug Annie.  Shipping is part of life in the San Francisco Bay area and numerous newspaper reports list his work. His obituary mentions how he saved marriages because he would leave San Francisco for Oakland at 3:30 a.m. each morning with newspapers and return with men who had missed the last ferry and “availed himself of the Annie in order to reach home that night”.
                               
About 1897 Casper married Caroline (last name unknown).  Caroline died on April 6, 1919 and 3 months later on the  June 21 Caspar died.  He is buried in the San Francisco National Cemetery, Plot A1269B.
 "Pioneer Mariner who Saves Homes Claimed by Death
Captain Caspar Titchworth, pioneer mariner of San Francisco Bay, whose name is revered by many  old-timers who say they owe to him the fact that they are still happily married, is dead at the age of 75.  He passed away yesterday at his house.
It was as the owner and master of the steam tug Annie, more than forty years ago, that Captain Titchworth proved the live-saver for threatened wrecks of happy homes. His tug left the Washington street wharf, San Francisco, at 2:30 each morning with newspapers for Oakland, and many a late-faring husband, having missed the last ferry, availed himself of the Annie in order to reach home that night.
Captain Titchworth was born in Michigan. He was a member of the Masters' and Pilots' Association, Lincoln Post Number 1 of the Grand Army of the Masons. He leaves a son, Captain Charles C. Titchworth, master of the ocean-going tug Hercules, and a daughter, Mrs Laura Brown, of Oakland. Funeral services will be tomorrow at 11 o'clock from the Masonic Temple on Van Ness avenue in San Francisco. Burial will be at Cypress Lawn."
 from the Oakland Tribune, June 23, 1919
  
So that’s what I know about Caspar Titchworth.  If you are reading this blog and have more information please contact me.

Next week I’ll tell you about their children Charles and Laura.


Bibliography of Sources

 _1850 United States Federal Census; Nankin, Wayne, Michigan; Roll M432_366; p 340; image 181;  viewed on Ancestry.com; National Archives and Records Association; Washington, DC
_1860 United States Federal Census; Nankin, Wayne, Michigan; Roll M653_564; p 789; image 606; viewed on Ancestry.com; National Archives and Records Association; Washington, DC
_1870 United States Federal Census; Bodega, Sonoma, California; Roll M593_91; p 263A; image 95; viewed on Ancestry.com; National Archives and Records Association; Washington, DC
_1880 United States Federal Census; Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Roll 66; p 147B; Enumeration District 21; viewed on Ancestry.com; National Archives and Records Association; Washington, DC
_1910 United States Federal Census; Images and index. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2013. Citing NARA microfilm publication (T624). Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.
_California, Death Index, 1940-1997, index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VPDM-Q3N : accessed 21 May 2013), Charles C Titchworth, 1945; citing California Department of Health Services, Vital Statistics Section, Sacramento, California
_California, Death Index, 1905-1939, images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org: accessed 8 July 2013), 1930-1939 > Rounsfell, Charles-Z > Image 403 of 748, Titchworth,Caspar; 21 June 1919; citing -California State Registrar, Sacramento, and the Butte County Courthouse, Oroville
_California, Marriages, 1850-1945, index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V2Z7-445 : accessed 21 May 2013), Casper Twitchworth and Julia M. Bowles, 1868.
_Civil War and Later Veterans Pension Index, Michigan Light Artillary, Regiment 1, Company E; www.fold3.com; viewed August 21, 2013
_findagrave.com; http://www.findagrave.com; viewed 8 July 2013.
_Ligenfelter, Richard E., The Desert Steamers; viewed at www.owensvalleyhistory.com ; viewed on 10 July 2013
_Great Registers, 1866-1898; Collection Number 4: 4-2A; CSL Roll Number: 131; FHL Roll Number 978587; State Library, California History Section; www.Ancestry.com; California Voters Registers, 1866-1898 [database on-line]; Provo, Utah, USA; Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
_Marriage records, 1843-1889; Statement of Responsibility: Louise P. McConnell ; Helen Brown ; Margaret Stevenson;  Authors: Stevenson, Margaret (Main Author), Brown, Helen (Added Author), Stevenson, Margaret (Added Author); Format:                Manuscript/Manuscript with Film; Subject Class: 979.418 V25; Compiled from the records of Sonoma County, State of California; Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah
_Oakland Tribune Newspaper; June 23, 1919;http://newpaperarchive.com/Oakland-tribune/1919-06
_Old Wayne Cemetery, Wayne County, Michigan; item created by Patti D; Record added June 23, 2009; -Find a Grave Memorial # 38656323; findagrave.com; http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-in/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=38656323 ; viewed on 10 July 2013
­_Record of Service of Michigan Volunteers 1861-1865; American Civil War Research Database; [database online]; /Alexander Street Press; Historical Data Systems, Inc; viewed at LDS Family History Centre, 21 August 2013.
_San Francisco Chronicle Newspaper; 27 March 1887; page 5; [database on-line]; viewed on Fold3, www.fold3.com; Vol 45, #71; Allen County Library.
_US City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line];  Ancestry.com. Provo, Utah, USA: www.Ancestry.com;  Operations, Inc., 2011. Viewed August 21, 2013

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