I would just like to add that employment at the federal shipyard at Norfolk 
was in the post-War era was an object of political patronage.  Republican 
Congressmen like ? Jorgenson (R-4th District-VA) controlled that patronage 
until William Mahone entered the US Senate as an independent and with his 
vote organized the body in favor of the Republicans.  When, subsequently 
President Garfield died and VP Chester A. Arthur ascended to the presidency 
(this may have happened before Mahone was seated) Arthur asked for the 
resignation of every patronage-holding federal official at all levels. 
Senator Mahone then sent out printed forms to his county and city Readjuster 
Party chairs, asking for the political leanings of the job holder and HIS 
FAMILY.  (Remember, the Australian ballot printed by the gov't arrive in 
Virginia in the 1890s.  Parties printed their own tickets in the 1870s and 
1880s and thus it was fairly easy to tell who voted what way.)  If the local 
party chair said the job holder and family voted Coalition then they held 
their jobs.  If not, not.

That is how it was done in the late-19th century.  When Grover Cleveland 
moved into the White House, patronage shifted to Democrats.  I suspect that 
many of those who had worked in the Norfolk shipyard in antebellum days, who 
wished to return, did so in 1885.

Harold S. Forsythe
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Langdon" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007 5:07 PM
Subject: Re: John Luke Porter and the MOUNTAIN LILY


> John Luke Porter died in Portsmouth, Va, but certainly could have been on 
> the French Broad.  He was in Paducah, Kentucky, which was a shipbuilding 
> center after the war.   Several family members went there for work, after 
> being denied entry into the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, located in Portsmouth. 
> They did build steamships in Paducah. I think you're right that many of 
> the shipyard workers moved where the work was. Part of Reconstruction was 
> denying entry to former employees of the Norfolk Shupyard.
>
>  The Portsmouth Public Library has quite a bit of information on the 
> family.  There is also a Naval Museum in Portsmouth, which maintains an 
> excellant library dedicated to the history of  shipping in Portsmouth and 
> Norfolk County. [I can't think of the official name of the museum, and am 
> away from my notes, but maybe someone else can supply it.] The library 
> operates by appointment only. Norfolk City Library [central] also has 
> material on the family, but is probably more genealogical in nature.
>
>  The Portsmouth Library has several collections of newspaper clippings 
> pertaining to shipping and steamboats. These contain notices of ships 
> being launched, tickets for sale, notices of ownership, obituaries of 
> individuals, etc.
>
>  One item that the Portsmouth Library has is a book collection containing 
> transcripts of Congressional testimony given after the war. There is 
> testimony concerning the ironclads, the Porter and Murray famlies, and 
> their sojourn to Paducah. I think I copied somewhere between 20 - 50 pages 
> years ago. It was fascinating, but again, I don't have my notes on the 
> title. Contact me off-line and I will supply it later.
>
>  By the way, the Porters were actually from Portsmouth, which had been 
> Norfolk County.
>
>  Langdon Hagen-Long
>
> Bill Trout <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>  Does anyone know if John Luke Porter of Norfolk, the Confederacy's "Chief
> Naval Constructor" was in Hendersonville NC in 1881 building the MOUNTAIN
> LILY for the French Broad Steamboat Company? Alan Flanders' book about
> Porter says he was working then at B.& J. Baker Company's shipyard in
> Berkley (Norfolk).
>
> An 1881 newspaper article in Hendersonville stated that "Capt. Porter, of
> Merrimac notoriety, is superintending the construction" of the MOUNTAIN
> LILY. If this can be confirmed, we hope that some of this notoriety could
> rub off onto the short-lived but dramatic LILY, billed as "The Highest
> Steamboat in America," navigating the French Broad, after a fashion, about 
> a
> half-mile above sea level.
>
> Flanders' book has much about his work before and during the war (he 
> rebuilt
> the USS CONSTELLATION, now a museum ship, in 1853, co-designed the CSS
> VIRGINIA, and designed most of the Confederacy's east-coast ironclads) but
> has little detail after the war. He probably took on any shipbuilding
> project he could get, including the one on the French Broad. Is a list of
> his postwar projects anywhere?
>
> Bill Trout
>
>
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