Captain William E. and Mary Gere
• • •
Early in 1859 Captain William E. Gere and his wife Mary purchased the Riggin-Pesold House. They would own it for less than 1 year according to deeds located through the state. However, each owner has their own story and made an impact on the house.
Captain Gere was a steamboat captain, his ship, The Little Rock, sailed from St. Louis to Little Rock, AR and back weekly. We found this rather interesting as we moved into this house after living just north of Little Rock for a decade!
Below is the obituary for Captain Gere. We hope to find additional information with time.
CAPT. WILLIAM GERE, OLD RIVER MAN
Buried Friday Afternoon in Oakwood Cemetery. Was in Eighty-Second Year.
Obituary from the Alton Evening Telegraph, Alton, Ill dated Friday, August 31, 1906.
Capt. William Gere, formerly a prominent Mississippi river steamboat captain and
owner of steamboats, who died at Advance, Mo., August 30, was buried in Oakwood
this afternoon. The body arrived in Alton on the Big Four Flyer accompanied by his
daughter, Mrs. B. J. West of Minneapolis, Minn., Emil Druech of Advance and Mrs. J.W. Burks of Bloomfield, Mo. The body was taken to Oakwood at l o’clock where it was laid to rest.
The passing of Capt. Gere is an interesting event to many Alton and Upper Alton people. He was in his 82nd year when he died from infirmities incident to his great age. About twenty-five years ago he retired from the river and shortly after that he
moved from Upper Alton to Advance, Mo., where he lived on a farm until he died. He retired from farming a number of years ago and with his aged wife, who survives
him and who was unable to come to the funeral, he lived in happiness. Capt. Gere
was engaged as a steamboat captain from St. Louis to St. Paul, but during [and] after war he was making trips down the river. His mind was a storehouse of interesting incidents which he loved to relate and as a story teller, he was good. He lived an
eventful life until he retired from the river and belonged to the number of steamboat
captains and pilots of the palmy days of old. He was interested financially in packet
steamers. In later years he never went near the river that was his love in his early days. Financial losses in steamboats resulting from the war caused his retirement
and made him seek a country place where he could live on a farm.
The pallbearers were Ed. Rodgers, A. H. Hastings, Philip Huebner, Louis Brier, James Moore and Captain Win. Wright.
[Thanks to Darrell Wesley,
http://genforum.genealogy.com/mo/stoddard/messages/1458.html ]
Riggin-Pesold House 