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MOSSMAN
 
Minnie May (Mossman) & Charles Hill
Minnie (Mossman) & Charles Hill
Photo taken In 1894
 
Minnie was born in Albany, Linn County, Oregon in 1863 and was the daughter of Isaac and Nellie (Jackson). In 1883, she married Charles Hill in Portland, Oregon. After her marriage, she received a master's license to operate steamboats on the first of December 1886 and became the first woman captain on the Columbia River. She retired in 1900, the same year that the census lists her husband as the steamboat captain.

Charles was born in New York City in 1853 and was the son of Ralph and Nancy Maria (Tinker). According to the 1850 and 1870 census records, both were born in Connecticut. Notes of Minnie stated that Ralph was a hatter and had owned a large hat factory and store on Nassau Street called "New Hat Shop." In the 1850 Brooklyn, Kings Co., NY census he was listed as a hatter.

At the age of twelve, Charles was "farmed out" to his dad's Uncle Platt in Orange, New Jersey. He later moved to Newark, Ohio and worked on a farm and after living in Illinois, Kansas, Colorado, and eventually in Washington, he embarked on a steamer bound for the Cassian mining country in Alaska and spent the next two years there. After owning and operating a steamboat he piloted on the Columbia and Willamette rivers for ten years between 1880 and 1900. Charles O. Hill then became interested in lumbering and became the founder of Hill Logging Co in Lewis Co., Washington.

Two 1900 census pages list the men aboard various steamers of which they resided. The first page, first household, lists Charles as steamboat captain of the Governor Newell. This census lists his place of birth as Maryland though he is believed to have been born in New York City. It also lists his birth year as 1859, and indicates he was married fifteen years. Also included is his partner William James Redmond who was married to Minnie's sister Aimee. Edward Tackleberry, a pilot from Oregon; Lewis Weatheford, an engineer from Iowa; William A. Wylie, a fireman from Kansas; Robert Burke, a fireman from Minnesota; and Ah Kag a cook and servant from China were also listed aboard the steamer.

The 1900 census records which shows Charles with his wife and son, appears to be somewhat more accurate, listing his birth place in New York while correctly indicating he had been married 17 years. It does however, list his birth year as 1855 whereas family papers indicate he was born in 1853. His wife Minnie is listed as having had two children, one living. Herbert Wells Hill, their surviving child, was born 19 Sep 1894. He married Edna Frances Wilcox, daughter of Nathan and Josephine Alice (Caul), and died 22 Jul 1969 in Walnut Creek, Contra Costa Co., California. His wife Edna died in Castro Valley, Alameda Co., California on 07 Jan 1975. Charles died in Portland on 12 Jun 1942 and Minnie in San Francisco on 09 Jan 1946 and his father in Portland, Oregon in 1942.

Note: Photo Contributed by Barbara Troen - 2nd Great Granddaughter of Isaac V. Mossman & Martha Nellie (Jackson).
 
Next > Annie (Mossman) & William Redmond
Brief Sketch & Photo of Minnie Mossman (c1880s)
Mossman Photo Index
Photo Index
Mossman Ancestry
Timeline of Isaac V. Mossman
Hill Logging Company researched by Rich Detering (Outside Link at Lewis Co., WA GenWeb)
 
 


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