AUTHORIZING SAMUEL G. POWELL AS AGENT TO SELL THE STEAM BOAT "BETTY POWELL," WRECKED AND RESTING IN THE TRINITY RIVER, GALVESTON, COUNTY, TEXAS, JUNE 15, 1859, in a manuscript document, signed by W.S. Mauck.
Manuscript document, in a clerical hand, State of Texas, Galveston County, signed by W.S. Mauck, and dated 15th day of June 1859. Single sheet, 10.5 x 8.5 in., approx. 125 words. William Mauck, the Captain and owner of the steam boat "Betty Powell" appointed Samuel G. Powell to "sell and dispose of the wreck of said steamer boat Betty Powell as she now lies in the Trinity river including all and singular her hull engines machines tackle apparel and furniture...." Old fold lines, a few small holes (possibly from the ink) slightly affecting a few words, right margin strengthened with Japanese paper. Item #65001
The "Betty Powell" burned on May 17, 1859, while transporting bales of cotton shipped from points along the Trinity River to Galveston. The destruction of 93 of the 108 bales on board belonging to John H. Burnett resulted in a court case involving questions of insurance, the seaworthiness of the boat, the number of crew members aboard, and other matters. The cotton was said to be valued at $50 per bale. Capt. Mauck was not aboard the boat at the time due to ill health and had been replaced by a Capt. Montgomery. The crew consisted of "two negroes, firemen, and two white men," though the number of white crew men was in dispute. Ultimately the insurance company lost their appeal and Burnett won his judgment. [see "Marine Fire Insurance Company v. John H. Burnett" in The Texas Reports: Cases Adjudged in the Supreme Court, Vol. 29, pp.429-50 (Gammel-Statesman Pub. Co., 1882)].
The owner of the cotton was likely John H. Burnett (1830-1901) who arrived in Crockett, Texas in 1854. He was a farmer and merchant, according to his brief biography in the Handbook of Texas Online. He was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1857. During the Civil War he commanded the Thirteenth Texas Cavalry, and following the war he became a commission merchant in Galveston. The agent appointed to sell the steam boat was likely Samuel Graves Powell, son of Elizabeth Powell, one of the early Texas colonists whose grant of a league of land was along the San Bernard River. She operated a boarding house there, and the place was burned down by Mexican troops after the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836. Samuel Powell (ca.1813-?) is listed as a merchant in Matagorda County, Texas in the 1850 Census. Texas General Land Office records list a certificate granted to Powell in 1854 for 320 acres of land on which to build the steam boat "Betty Powell." By the 1860 Census, he was in business in Galveston.
Price: $150.00