George Washington Edgington
George Washington Edgington was born December 23, 1849, on Donalson Creek, in Monroe Township, Adams County, Ohio. His father, Morris Edgington, was born in Adams County, near Manchester, in 1825. His mother's maiden name was Nancy Bradford, a daughter of Jacob Bradford, of Kentucky. His father and mother were born in 1845, and his grandfather, Absalom Edgington, born in Pennsylvania in 1776, located in Adams County early in 1800, and died in 1853.
Our subject was reared in Manchester, and went to school there until 1863, when his parents removed to Portsmouth and he attended school there a short time. His father returned to Manchester in 1864, and in 1866, George W. Edgington left school to begin work. He learned the stoneware business with Pettit & Burbage and afterwards with John Parks. Pettit & Burbage were succeeded in business by Arch Means, and in 1870, our subject bought out Arch Means, and conducted the business until 1876, when he sold out to Mark Pennywit, and from that time to the present, has been a steamboatman. His first venture was with the Handy No. 1 in the Maysville trade. He ran her a year and then she was destroyed in the ice. This discouraged him somewhat and he sold the wreck of the Handy No. 1 and went to farming for two years in Kentucky, at the end of which he sold his farm for thirty acres of land in the west end of Manchester and lived on it. However, the career of farming was too slow for him, and in 1878, he went on the Fleetwood as watchman and second mate. He remained on her for two years, when he bought a third interest of the steamboat John Kyle and put her in the Vanceburg and Portsmouth trade for one season. He sold his interest in her in the Fall and went on the New Handy No. 1 as pilot. He was on her and along the side of the Phaeton when it blew up in June, 1881, in which explosion eight persons were killed and he was one of the injured. Afterwards, he went on the steamboat Return, in the Manchester and Portsmouth trade, as pilot, in 1881. He also piloted the Maysville ferry-boat for a few months, and then went as pilot of the Clipper, and ran her from Ripley to New Richmond for a short time. He then bought the Katy Prather from James Foster, and made her a packet, and ran her from Maysville to Manchester from 1883 to 1888. In 1888, he built the Silver Wave. That was a prosperous year for him. He sold the Silver Wave to Captain Webb for seven thousand dollars, having made four thousand dollars in fourteen months. In 1890, he bought the M. P. Wells for $8,300, and rebuilt her in 1897, and now runs her from Portsmouth to Cincinnati, leaving Portsmouth every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 10:30 A. M., and leaving Cincinnati every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5 P. M. In 1894, he bought the Reliance of Captain A. W. Williamson, and ran her in the Portsmouth and Rome trade. She was sunk at Higginsport on the twenty-fifth of July, 1895. In 1892, he bought the Bellevue, and made her a tow-boat between Buena Vista and Cincinnati until 1895. He sold her for the Silver Wave, rebuilt her and kept her in the Vanceburg and Maysville trade until July, 1897, when she was burned up, lying at the bank for repairs. The M. P. Wells ran from Augusta to Maysville and connected with the Silver Wave. From the wreck of the Silver Wave he built the William Duffie, and sold her to Michael Duffie, at Marietta, for the Rob Roy. He bought the Charles B. Pearce in 1899 and rebuilt her. She is now engaged in the Portsmouth and Cincinnati trade, leaving Portsmouth at 10:30 A. M. on each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and Cincinnati each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 5 P.M.
Our subject is master of the Charles B. Pearce. He was married December 20, i869, to Nannie E. Scott, daughter of Andrew Scott. His eldest son, John Emery, is the master of the steamboat M. P. Wells; his son, Arch D., is pilot of the M. P. Wells and his son. Robert W., is clerk. His son, Andrew Morris, is pilot on the Charles B. Pearce; his daughter, Edna Mary, is the wife of Edwin Smith, of Augusta, Kentucky, who is clerk on the steamer Pearce; his daughter, Estella, is the wife of Robert Hedges, clerk on the M. P. Wells. His two youngest sons. Earnest, aged nine years, and Roy, aged six, are at the family home in Augusta, Kentucky.
In politics, Captain Edgington is a Republican. He is one of the most energetic, industrious men. anywhere in the river trade. He has operated independent lines of boats between Portsmouth and Cincinnati since 1876. He has been able to obtain the good will of all the people along the river and make money, in face of the great opposition of the White Collar Line. As a steamboatman, he has been very successful and his career will compare favorably with that of Captain William McClain, who, in his day, was designated as the prince of all steamboatmen of his time, or any other time, since the first steamboat went down the Ohio in 1811. Captain Edgington will not, however, be content with the title given Captain McClain. or with a reputation equal to his. If he lives and has even fair luck, he will go down to posterity as the most famous steamboatman of his time, or any other time, and he will have his whole family and his posterity in the same business.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900