George Flavel
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Captain George Edward Flavel (; November 17, 1823 — July 3, 1893) was an
Irish American Irish Americans () are Irish ethnics who live within in the United States, whether immigrants from Ireland or Americans with full or partial Irish ancestry. Irish immigration to the United States From the 17th century to the mid-19th c ...
maritime pilot A maritime pilot, marine pilot, harbor pilot, port pilot, ship pilot, or simply pilot, is a mariner who has specific knowledge of an often dangerous or congested waterway, such as harbors or river mouths. Maritime pilots know local details s ...
and
entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...
. Born in 1823 to Irish parents, Flavel relocated to the West coast of the United States in 1849, working as a tugboat operator between
Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...
and
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, California. In 1851, he settled in the northern coastal
port city A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manche ...
of Astoria,
Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
, where he became one of the first licensed bar pilots in the state. Flavel would go on to amass a fortune with a business managing
pilot boat A pilot boat is a type of boat used to transport maritime pilots between land and the inbound or outbound ships that they are piloting. Pilot boats were once sailing boats that had to be fast because the first pilot to reach the incoming ship ...
s on the
Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...
, making him a prominent local figure, and one of the first millionaires in Oregon. In addition to bar piloting, he was involved in several other entrepreneurial endeavors, including operating a
wharf A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...
in Astoria, and managing a
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...
business from
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. At the time of his death in 1893, Flavel had a
net worth Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, so net w ...
of nearly US$2 million (). His family estate, known as the Captain George Flavel House, was donated to the Clatsop County Historical Society by his great-granddaughter after her inheritance of it in 1933, and contemporarily functions as a museum.


Biography


Early life

George Flavel was born in 1823. Some sources state he was born in
Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...
,
County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...
,
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, while others state his birthplace as
Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...
, where he had resided in his early life. Flavel was of Irish descent. As a young man in 1849, Flavel relocated by ship to the West coast. He sailed around
Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...
and also spent time in
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
during the state's Gold Rush era before relocating to
Astoria, Oregon Astoria is a Port, port city in and the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the ...
, then a settlement based around
John Jacob Astor John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-born American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor. Astor made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by exporting History of opiu ...
's
American Fur Company The American Fur Company (AFC) was a prominent American company that sold furs, skins, and buffalo robes. It was founded in 1808 by John Jacob Astor, a German Americans, German immigrant to the United States. During its heyday in the early 19th c ...
. Flavel settled in Astoria after a stint as captain of the brig ''John Petty''.


Maritime career

Flavel began his career as a sea captain managing ship routes from the Pacific Ocean up the Columbia River and to the
Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward ...
. In 1850, he was given command of the '' Goliah'', the second tug boat ever built in the United States, driving the boat between Sacramento and San Francisco, California. The following year, in December 1851, he earned his marine piloting license from the state of Oregon. One of the only mariners in the state to possess a captain's license, Flavel and his partners were able to establish a virtual monopoly on bar piloting and ship tours on the Columbia, which amassed him a great deal of wealth. In January 1852, during a particularly strong gale, the SS ''General Warren'' lost its fore-topmast and began to leak near Astoria; Flavel was unable to rescue the ship, and forty-two people aboard died with its sinking. However, Flavel's his efforts to save the ''Warren'' earned him the reputation of a local hero in the city. In 1854, Flavel married fourteen-year-old Mary Christina Boelling, whom he met at a hotel in Portland. The couple had three children: George Conrad (1855–1923), Nellie (1858–1933), and Katie (1864–1910). With the continued success of his business enterprise, the family divided their time between Oregon and San Francisco, California, and Flavel was able to afford his children extensive educations in
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
; his daughter, Nellie, became a classically trained pianist and performed with the Organists' Guild of Portland. In 1869, Flavel and his partners built a steam tug, ''Astoria'', and used it as a pilot boat. In addition to his pilot business, Flavel operated a
wharf A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...
and also purchased and sold coal from Australia as a side business.


Later life and death

Flavel built a Queen Anne mansion in Astoria in 1886. Built on a lot running an entire city block, the rumored cost of the home was $36,000. Surrounding the house are nine trees planted by the family's gardener, Louis Schultz, which Flavel had acquired from various locations across the world during his voyages. In his later life, Flavel also helped manage the First National Bank of Astoria beginning in 1886; he served as its president until his death. Flavel died in 1893 with a reported
net worth Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, so net w ...
of $1.9 million (). His funeral procession was one of the largest in the history of Astoria. In 1897, Flavel's body was relocated for interment at Ocean View Cemetery in Warrenton, Oregon. In a 1922 interview with his widow, Mary Christina, she said of her husband's success: "One of the reasons why my husband made a success as a pilot on the Columbia River bar was that he was not only an able navigator, but he was fearless and was willing to put out in any sort of weather to assist vessels in need of help." The Flavel mansion, known as the Captain George Flavel House, now functions as a
museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
serving the city of Astoria. Flavel's eldest great-granddaughter, Patricia Jean Flavel, inherited the home from her aunt Nellie Flavel, and donated the property to the Clatsop County Historical Society around 1934. Patricia Jean Flavel died in 2014 at age 101.


See also

*
List of sea captains This is a list of sea captains. The list includes merchant ship's captains as well as naval ship's captains. It is limited to those ''notable'' in this role (those who already have Wikipedia articles). Fictional sea captains * Captain Ahab, ...
* List of shipwrecks of Oregon


Notes


References


Works cited

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Further reading

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External links


Capt. George Flavel
at Find a Grave
1896 court notes
on dispute of Flavel estate (from ''Reports of Cases Decided in the Supreme Court of the State of Oregon'', Volume 27) – via
Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

Flavel House Museum
at the Clatsop County Historical Society {{DEFAULTSORT:Flavel, George 1823 births 1893 deaths Irish emigrants to the United States American transportation businesspeople Businesspeople from Oregon Businesspeople from Virginia People from Astoria, Oregon People from Portadown People from Norfolk, Virginia People of the California Gold Rush 19th-century American businesspeople