| Sources |
- [S266] Find A Grave, Find A Grave, Capt James Allen Capps, Memorial# 72076791, John Coffey, Jun 27, 2011.
Birth: Oct. 13, 1825 Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA
Death: Nov. 16, 1870 Washington, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, USA
James Allen Capps was the son of Benjamin Capps and his wife Nancy M. Scurlock Capps. After the death of his father, James and his younger brother Joseph lived with his widowed mother in Nashville, Davidson Co., TN. At an early age James worked on riverboats, plying the Mississippi and its tributary rivers. His travels brought him to St. Landry Parish in the Louisiana bayou where he met Mary Esther Gardner (1830-1869), daughter of Thomas Gardner (1787-1844), a prosperous tanner and dealer in animal hides. James and Mary were married in Washington, LA on June 20, 1852. The couple made their home in Washingto, where they raised nine children: Mary Ann Page (b. 1853), John Davis (b. 1855), Lucy (b. 1856), Aline Emily (b. 1858), Oramel Hinckley (b. 1860), James Allen, Jr. (b. ca. 1863), Thomas Gardner (b. ca. 1864), Charles (b. ca. 1866), and Mattie (b. 1867).
Capps was one of five riverboat captains who married the daughters of Thomas Gardner. In the 1850s he entered into business with his brother-in-law Orramel Hinckley and other partners in a boat building and shipping business linking Washington to New Orleans and as far north as Indiana. For several years before the outbreak of the Civil War, Capps captained the steamboat "Anna Perret."
"The Anna Perret, A.J. [sic] Capps Master, will leave Washington every Wednesday at 9 a.m. and leave New Orleans every Saturday at 6 p.m....Passengers and shippers may rely on the punctual time for departure of the steamers....
[Opelousas Courier (St. Landry, LA), Dec. 17, 1859.]
During the Civil War the "Anna Perret" was outfitted with guns to aid in the supply and the defense of Southern forces along the Mississippi River. Her captain apparently joined the Confederate forces engaged along the Mississippi. In a letter dated Sept. 15, 1863 from Lt. Col. A. L. Rives, Chief of the Engineer Bureaur, C.S.A. War Department, a Capt. James Capps of St. Landry was named in the "list of men who, by the wish of the honorable Secretary of the War, are to be employed in your department on the special service of destroying the enemy's property by torpedoes and similar inventions." The letter fell into Union hands and in a letter of March 21, 1864 U.S. Rear Admiral David O. Porter ordered the listed men arrested as "rebels, engaged as agents for the Confederate Government, employed for the purpose of furthering the views of said Government in destroying Union vessels by torpedoes and other inventions." [Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Ser.1, Vol.26 (Washington, 1914), 192-193.]
Following the War Capps resumed piloting steamboats between Washington and New Orleans. Mary Gardner Capps died in the winter of 1869 and Capt. Capps survived her by less than two years, dying at the age of forty-five.
Died
November 16th A.D. 1870
Mr. James Allen Capps
The Burial will take place this Afternoon (17th) at three oclock at the family
grave yard of Mr. O. Hinckley where he will be buried with Masonic Honors.
The friends and acquaintances are respectfully invited to attend without further notice on the part of the family.
[Handwritten funeral notice]
Family links:
Parents:
Nancy M. Scurlock Capps (____ - 1870)
Spouse:
Mary Esther Gardner Capps (1830 - 1869)*
Children:
Mary Ann Page Capps McCullough (1853 - 1933)*
John Davis Capps (1855 - 1855)*
Lucy Capps Mills (1856 - 1933)*
Aline Emily Capps Dezauche (1858 - 1908)*
Orramel Hinckley Capps (1860 - 1878)*
Allen Capps (1861 - 1944)*
Thomas Gardner Capps (1863 - 1935)*
Mattie Simpson Capps Hamilton (1878 - 1956)
- [S279] Southwest Louisiana Records (1750-1900), CD-ROM database, Donald J. Hebert, (Name: Hebert Publications; Location: Rayne, Louisiana;) (Reliability: 2).
CAPPS, James Allen m. 19 June 1852 Mary GARDINER (Opel. Ct. Hse.: Mar. # 968)
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Hollier & Dufilho Family History
Father | Male
Mother | Female
Child 1 | Female
Child 2 | Male
Child 5 | Male
