History of 1886 D3 2 Bbl Set:
Captain Henry Lewis Tibbals has a colorful history.
Henry Lewis Tibbals invested in Port Townsend, opening his Blue Light Saloon, complete with a trap door over the bay. He owned two other saloons, a gambling hall and a hotel that became a brothel.
From the Leader, Port Townsend, Washington.
The stories about Captain H.L. Tibbals are many. He was born in Connecticut in 1829, spending most of his boyhood at sea. At ten he was a cabin boy and by twenty a master sailor. By Juan de Fuca's Strait by James McCurdy states "His later voyages involved carrying a cargo of railway iron for the pre-canal railroad crossing of the isthmus of Panama and testing the first diving bell in the United States, which led him to Mexico, where he was granted the salvage rights to the Spanish ship San Pedro by Governor General Santa Anna. The frigate had blown up in Mexican waters in 1814 with a cargo containing three million dollars in silver. Using the diving bell, Tibbals dove in one hundred feet of water and retrieved sixty-eight thousand dollars before a change in the Mexican government halted the operation. He then traveled to Panama and Acapulco, where he dove for pearls." [There were several Spanish ships that were wrecked with treasure aboard around this date] Sometime around 1853 he joined the Revenue Cutter Jefferson Davis as sailing master, which put into Port Townsend. [No record was found that listed him as ever being master on the Jeff Davis. In his diary he states "I came to Port Townsend in the Jeff Davis in 1855..." according to the U.S.C.G. records of movements the Jeff Davis arrived in Port Townsend September 28, 1854, Tibbals was not listed as being on board. Most of the information in various books comes from his April 23, 1920 Obituary, which stated the information came from his diary, I do not know the whereabouts of the diary] around this time he became a full time citizen of Port Townsend.
In 1858 he built and operated the Pioneer Hotel. The first record for him is the 1860 census which lists his occupation as "Hotel Keeper". By this time he was married and had a one year old son, Henry L. Tibbals Jr.
Caroline Snook and Henry Lewis Tibbals were married around 1858 or 1859 [no marriage record] their first son was born in 1859.
In 1860 Henry was 27 and owned the Pioneer Hotel and had real estate worth $400 and personal property worth $3,000. Caroline who was 22, had been born in Germany. [Although on later census she gives OH as her birthplace]. At the time they lived at the Pioneer hotel.
The Pioneer was located on the eastern corner of Adams and Water Street. It was later renamed the Cosmopolitan. Across the street on the NE corner was the Silver Safe Saloon, which Henry also owned. By 1867 Henry was part owner of Union Wharf which had been built by the Union Dock Company. The wharf extended 342 feet into the harbor, and when a ship rounded Point Wilson, the muzzle-loading cannon on the tip of the wharf was fired as a welcome. There were three saloons and various merchandise companies renting space on the dock.
About 1860 Henry & Caroline built a house at the corner of Fillmore & Clay. Built in the Greek Revival Style, it was a simple rectangle with a flat-roofed portico supported by square full-bodied Doric columns, extending out from the gable end. Later extensions were added to the left of the main house. The house is still standing, known as the Captain Tibbals House.
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Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead, forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell and the profit and loss.
A current under sea picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell he passed the stages of his age and youth entering the whirlpool.
T.S. Eliot
Last edited by Bruce P Bruner; 09-21-2023 at 12:03 PM..
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10-01-2023, 04:55 AM
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