Captain Winfield Scott Paris

Captain Winfield Scott Paris piloted riverboats for 45 years, including many of the famous steamboats and paddlewheelers that navigated the Ohio River., Captain Paris, born May 20, 1848 in Kentucky to Dabner Cosby and Mary ReynoldsParis, was one of seven children. His parents were farmers who later moved to Indiana. By the age of 12, Winfield had moved to Leavenworth and was working on a flatboat. By 14 he was boarded out to a river captain to learn the trade., With his first wife Mary Jane Wilkins, they had three children: Sarah (also called Sallie), John and Francis (who died as a child). After Mary Jane died in 1890, he married his sister-in-law Mary Alice Wilkens in 1892. She was a widow with one child, Nellie. Captain Paris was still piloting boats at the age of 73, moving boats at Leavenworth's No. 44 Locks., Captions (clockwise from top left) , . Winfield Scott Paris. , . From 1900 to 1921, Captain Paris and his family rented this house on East Elm Street in New Albany, Indiana. , . Captain Paris and his wives are buried in the Leavenworth Cedar Cemetery. , . Photo of the Tell City Steamboat at dock above, also piloted for a time by Paris. Shown here is a voucher from one of its voyages. , . Photo of the Steamboat Tarascon, built in 1895 and piloted by Paris. In the photo at left she's shown docked at the Leavenworth wharf. Note the skiffs on board as lifeboats. , . The E.G. Ragon, built in Jeffersonville in 1887, was piloted by Paris who lived on this steamer. This 1909 photo shows barrels of tobacco being loaded for export to England from Cloverport, KY. , . The Nelle Willett towboat, piloted by WinFIELd Scott Paris after 1908. The Nellie Willett was built in Leavenworth, IN by the R.A. Arnold Boat Works in 1904 and named for his daughter. This photo was taken in 1910.