CAPT. WASHINGTON HONSHELL IS DEAD. – He Was One of the Great Steamboat Men of the Ohio Valley.
Ironton Weekly Register, May 30, 1896
Capt. Washington Honshell, the veteran steamboatman and one of the best-known citizens of Catlettsburg, Ky., died at his home in that city at 9 o’clock Wednesday evening.
He has been ill for several weeks, suffering from stomach and kidney trouble, and for the last few days, was unable to take any nourishment.
Capt. Honshell was one of the pioneer steamboatmen of the Ohio valley, and it is probable that during his long life, he was interested in more steamboats than any other man on the Ohio river.
He began steamboating about 1851-2 when he became employed on the “Relief,” then running in the Portsmouth and Big Sandy trade.
About 1856, he became associated with others in the ownership of the “Cabinet.” Later he and his partners bought the Boston and put her in the Cincinnati and Pomeroy trade. It burned, and they chartered the Izetta and ran her for a while.
Along with the beginning of the war, Capt. Washington Honshell was associated with David Gibson, Hiram Campbell, John Means of Ashland, and others, and this company built the first steamer Telegraph.
Later they built the Fleetwood and then organized the Cincinnati, Portsmouth, Pomeroy, and Big Sandy Packet Co., more popularly known as the “White Collar Line,” a name which it obtained from the fact that all its boats, from the beginning, wore, as they still wear, two white collars on each chimney.
The Clipper, a little boat owned by the company at its first organization, had its chimneys so adorned the model was followed on other boats. So the white collars on the chimneys became the distinguishing mark of all Big Sandy Packet Company boats.
Capt. Honshell served as master on the various boats of the line and, being one of the heaviest stockholders, eventually became the company’s general manager, a position he held for a long time.
During the early seventies, he, with others, organized the Huntington and St. Louis towboat line, which became known as “the red barge line,” and has continued to retain a large interest in that line. During the seventies, too, he became interested in Capt. W. H. Kerr, Shade Ward, George Williams, and James Rees in the Granite State also adopted the white collars, though never owned by the Big Sandy packet company.
About the year 1881, Capt. Washington Honshell became associated with the Bay Brothers‘ and the Portsmouth and Pomeroy Packet Co., was organized, and owned and operated the Fannie Dugan, City of Ironton, Minnie Bay, Lizzie Bay, Henry M. Stanley, and other boats. He was a director in this company from its organization till its affairs were wound up recently.
During his time, too, Capt. Washington Honshell was interested in the Andes, Exchange, Buckeye State, New Granite State, and other boats.
In addition to his steamboat interests, the deceased was interested in several Ironton Institutions and, at the time of his death, was a director of the First National Bank and the Belfont Iron Works.
His wife and four children survive him. His children are Mrs. Lindsey Kelly of Ironton, Mrs. M. F. Hampton and Mrs. Rush Williamson of Catlettsburg, and Mr. Gus Honshell of Huntington, also widely known in steamboats and railroad circles.
The funeral took place at 2 o’clock p.m. Friday, at Catlettsburg.
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