IAGenWeb - Scott County
MISSISSIPPI RIVER FOLK BACKGROUND
TANSY HAWTHORN Retired Boat Captain, 93, Pilots Ellen.
Capt. Tansy Hawthorne, Le Claire, Guest of U. S. Engineers 1935lCaptain Joe Morehead "Tansy" Hawthorne, 93, Le Claire, basked in the Limelight today. The old river captain was the guest of the U.S. engineers station in the Clock Tower and was brought to Davenport by the U.S. Ellen, the engineers' boat, this morning. He was an honored guest at the Clock Tower and at a dinner served aboard the Ellen at noon.
In the afternoon the Ellen was taken thru the locks and below the dam, and on the return trip to Le Claire Captain Hawthorne took the wheel, piloting the boat over once familiar rapids now submerged by the lake. Although he retired from the river in 1930 after 73 years service, he is given his pilot's license each year by the government.
Captain Hawthorne told the engineers that John D. Rockefeller, who celebrated his 96th birthday Monday, had only three years start on him and that he would live longer.
Source: Unknown.
Transcribed by Georgeann McClure.