Steamboat Disaster!

Currier & Ives print titled “Wooding up on the Mississippi."

159 years ago this month...   On February 27, 1859 the sister ship of the famous steamboat "Natchez" spectacularly exploded as she was southbound 6 miles out of Baton Rouge.  She was the "Princess" and there are a number of excellent articles written about the tragedy.  Here is an online source with nice images...

https://64parishes.org/entry/steamboat-princess-disaster


History is interesting, but more so when you had people there.  Third great grandfather Eugene Amedee Sherburne had 7 siblings.  A younger brother, Henry William Sherburne was killed on the Princess that day.  He was 54 years old.  The legislative session had just ended and many folks were headed down for Mardi Gras.  The elegant boat was crowded with passengers and cargo.

Henry was born "Henri Guillaume Sherburne" in 1805 at L'Orient, France to a French mother and American Diplomat father.  It appears all the siblings were born there.  The family left France and moved to the Baton Rouge area some time between 1811 and 1818.  Their father, Samuel, passed away in October of 1819.  Henry married Mary Adine Guesnon in 1832 and adopted a baby girl, Anna Lennon Sherburne, in 1852.  Henry was practicing law in Baton Rouge and travelling the river frequently between there and New Orleans.  Unfortunately, he was standing too near the boilers on that tragic day and became one of the 70 or more that perished.  One account suggests that Henry certainly must have died instantly and did not suffer the terrible lingering burns that others endured.

The Sunday Delta - 20 March 1859

In October of 1859, an estate sale was advertised in which 80 acres of land in East Baton Rouge Parish acquired by Henry W Sherburne and also the Library of the deceased consisting of "valuable Law and other books" were offered for public sale.

Henry's wife, Mary died 6 years after the Princess disaster.  Their adoptive daughter, Anna, who was 7 at the time of Henry's death, lived 35 years, married twice and left 6 children.  One of Anna's children, a daughter also named Anna, lived until 1975.

Our Eugene Amedee Sherburme would have been sadly aware of the loss of his brother on the Princess.  Eugene passed away a couple years later (1860) on his plantation in East Baton Rouge Parish.  Eugene, in addition to his primary Planting operation had been a public school administrator, Sheriff of Iberville Parish, and in 1842 was a vice president of the state Whig Party.

Disaster Eyewitness account HERE.

The Daily Picayune newspaper reports on the disaster