Captain Francis Newton Annis 1842-1890
Captain John Annis 1731-1780
Stephen Annis 1738-1766
John Annis 1783-1825
Asa Annis 1816-1859
Captain Francis Newton Annis 1842-1890
Francis Newton Annis was born July 18, 1842 at Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Canada, the son of Francis Newton and Sarah (Harrington) Annis. After receiving a common school education at Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Francis began his career as a mariner with his first voyage at the age seventeen. He began in earnest the study of navigation and while still in his 20's he became "mate" of a packet brig that sailed between Liverpool and Boston, Massachusetts.
During the winter of 1863, while on a passage from Boston in his Brig, Francis was shipwrecked near Cape Sable Islands, Nova Scotia. He narrowly escaped death in the freezing Atlantic, although four of the crew were lost. It was not long after this that he became a Master Mariner and sailed vessels ported in Liverpool and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and Boston, Massachusetts. This merchant vessels traveled the waters of the Atlantic to ports of call in London, New York, Madiera, South America, and the West Indies.
It was not long after this, on November 4, 1871, that he married Mary Jane Nickerson, and started raising a family, with Edith Evelyn born in 1872 and Francis Oscar in 1874. But in 1880, his wife Mary became ill and passed away on the 11th of October. With two young children left in the care of loved ones, Captain Annis returned to the sea he knew so well and became a trusted and reliable Master of the ships that were entrusted to his care.From the book "The Story of Captain Sam Kempton, I have found the following passage relating to "Captain Frank Annis":
"The Brig’t “SADIE” had been owned by Steward Freeman & Co., and registered at Sable River, Nova Scotia. These were times with many forced sales caused by economic depression. Juggling of properties, repossessing of land, bankruptcies, changing vessel ownership, etc. were common.
A.W.Mooers & Drew now owned the Sadie, and she was being readied for a trip to Barbados in the West Indies. She was slated to sail on August 5, 1881, from Liverpool, Nova Scotia. Captain Frank Annis was Master, and Oliver Tupper was Mate and First Officer of this ship.
The captain needed a second mate to round out his crew, and he hired Mr. S.T.Kempton for this role.
They set sail from Liverpool, NS, in August 1881, and as many before them, ran into a terrible storm, a hurricane, before they were halfway to their next port of call, in Bermuda. Vessels of this period depended completely on the sails and the spars that supported them, as well as the wooden hull of the vessel itself. “Wooden ships…Iron Men”.
They became aware of the weakness of their topmast, and being junior officer Sam was the one designated to climb high into this huge mass of sails and booms and with a hatchet cut away the weak mast. His diary reports: “ I did this, some of the rigging swung in the wind and struck me in the mouth, it broke one of my teeth off. I then came down and we cut the topgallant backstays, but still the mast would not go. We lost our flying jib boom some time towards morning. It was a fearful, bad night and very dark”
It would be a week before they arrived at Bermuda, and only then was he able to go to a dentist. There they also repaired the storm damage to the ship.
Life on board a sailing vessel was reported in Sam’s diary. It was great when the weather was right, the ship silently travelling along, and the crew with time for living a simple life. He had never cut hair before but he cut the steward’s hair. A bird, a snipe, landed on board, and was quite tame as it climbed up onto the Captain’s shoulder when he played music on the accordion. They were able to do such things as shave, to put out wet clothing and bedding to dry, with many ship-keeping things to get organized again.
The ship arrived at Barbados Sept. 3rd. 1881, a journey of 29 days from Liverpool, N.S. to Barbados. It was then that they discovered that Yellow Fever (another name for smallpox) was prevalent there.
A yellow flag hanging in the rigging of vessels would signify this, as would the hanging of a lantern there at night. They declared quarantine, only the Captain was allowed to visit ashore, no one was allowed on board.
The decision was made to go to St. Pierre, Martinique, and find a market for the cargo. There they learned that 200 deaths had occurred in Barbados, including a Cap’t Shaw from Annapolis, NS, who had been in port with his brigantine.
Captain Annis sold the lumber cargo for $27 per M. (1000 square feet board measure, M.-fbm.). Unloading the 155 M.-fbm load of lumber was accomplished by making up rafts and floating these ashore. Layering a number of boards as platforms laid much like shingling a roof, boards totaling from 10 M to 20M in size made a raft. No docks or wharves existed at this port, so the rafts would be towed or poled ashore to the unloading beach. The weather was so hot and humid that the work was performed at night.In November of 1890 Francis became Master of the Liverpool built "James H. Hamilton", a Barque owned by a firm in Portland, Maine. As fate would have it this was to be his last ship, for on a passage from St. Lucia, British West Indies to Mobile, Alabama Captain Francis Annis was violently stricken with "malarial fever". He died on December 18, 1890 and was buried in the sea that he loved so well.
His Annis lineage is: Francis Newton Annis 1801-1872, James Annis 1762-1840, Thomas Annis 1724-c.1770, Charles Annis c.1693-?.
John Annis was born July 11, 1731/1732 at Marblehead, Massachusetts, the son of Andrew and Hannah (Belcher) Annis of Hampton, New Hampshire and Boston. He married in 1753 to Mary Meloney at Boston, Massachusetts.
According to the book Eatons Annals of Warren, Maine, John removed from the Boston area soon after his marriage, and went to Brood Cove, Cushing(town), Maine. It was here that he purchased Cushing Lot #39, which today is bounded on the south by property owned by the heirs of Frank Crute. John was listed in the Militia Company of Captain Fletcher at Cushing in 1755, and later he is recorded as a mariner and ship's captain. He removed to, and settled at, Warren, Maine on April 17, 1779. John used his skills as a mariner and Ship's Captain for the fledgling American Navy during the Revolution, serving as a privateer. He was shot and killed by the British, but for his service and sacrifice during the Revolution, his family was relieved from taxes, for a time, by a vote of the citizens of Warren, Maine.In the book The History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine by Cyrus Eaton (1865), we can find the following passages.
"Among other doings of the Committee, was the assignment of a part of Capt. Gregg's men as guards in different places; of which two were at Geo. Young's, and 5 at Hanse Robinson's, in what was afterwards Cushing, 2 at S. Creighton's in what is now Warren, 2 at Wm. Watson's, and a party at Wessaweskeag, which on the 10th Sept. was ordered to be stationed at Tenant's Harbor, in what is now St. George, to double the guard there. These were probably employed mostly in the enforcement of regulations respecting coasters; the Committee in the exercise of its ill-defined functions ordering one Capt. Atwood, bound for Boston as they suspected with a load of cordwood, to be detained till he should give bonds to stop and enter at Salem, and warning Capt. Wm. Pendleton not to contract any trade with the King's troops contrary to the orders of the Provincial Congress. It also, at a meeting at Wheaton's, Sept. 19th, of which Mr. Snow was chairman, gave permission for Capt. Samuel Hathorn in sloop Sally, and Capt. James Watson, probably then in the sloop Three Friends, to sail to Ipswich; Capt. Wheaton's schooner to sail to Portsmouth; Lieut. B. Burton to take Capt. Phillips's schooner to go a fishing, said Burton to return the fourth part of his earnings to the committee or to said owner; and that said schooner together with Capt. Wm. Hutchings's sloop remain in custody till further orders. The schooner, it seems by a later entry, was lost; and the committee in 1777 paid the owners œ37, 10s. lawful money as indemnity.
Whilst some vessels were thus occasionally licensed by the newly created authorities here, similar favors were granted to others by the British authorities in Boston, either to supply their own necessities or to favor some of their own adherents. The following, to one of this vicinity, is a specimen. "By Samuel Graves, Esq., Vice Admiral of the White, &c. "Permit Nehemiah Eastman of the Sloop Advance with the three men named in the margin (John Annis, Robt. McIntire, and Wm. Hilton) to pass as a Coaster with fuel for the use of the King's Fleet at Boston, this Pass to remain till the Vessel returns to Boston. Given under my hand on board His Majesty's Ship Preston at Boston the 4th day of October, 1775. Samuel Graves. To the Respective Captains and Commanders of His Majesty's Ships and Vessels in North America."
Stephen Annis was born May 28, 1738 at Haverhill, Massachusetts, the son of Abraham and Abigail (Sawyer) Annis.
Stephen began his career as a cooper and ship's carpenter, and later turned to a life at sea. It was reported by his great neice that he traveled to many exotic places in his short life, and that he never married. He returned to his home at Middleton, Massachusetts, where he died of smallpox in November 1766.Stephen's lineage is: Abraham 1707/08-1787, Abraham 1668-1736, Cormac Annis 1638-1717
John Annis was born February 1, 1783 at Wells, Maine, the son of Stephen and Rosamond (Dame) Annis. He married January 10, 1815, Mary Gowen at Wells, Maine.
John was a mariner by trade and was "drowned on the Bar" on August 12, 1825, off the coast of Maine. His wife, Mary, was appointed administrator of his estate on October 15, 1827, and on March 4, 1828, John Gowen, her brother, was appointed legal guardian of John, Jordan, and Julia Ann Annis, minors.
John's son, Jordan, was also lost at sea at the age of 26.
Children:1. Alva Annis, b. 1816; d. April 24, 1818
2. John Augustus Annis, b. August 10, 1818; d. March 03, 1891
3. James Annis, b. 1821
4. Julia Ann Annis, b. December 15, 1824
5. Jordan Annis, b. 1825; d. 1851
John's lineage is: Stephen Annis 1756-1840, Stephen Annis 1726-1792, Charles Annis 1692/93-1741, Abraham Annis 1668-1736, Cormac Annis 1638-1717
Note: Although many of the facts about Asa's lineage are still being investigated, the following story is one of documented fact. We are indebted to AFA members Marion (Dallman) Mossuto and Jane Annis (Rixmann) Godfrey for the story of Asa.
Asa Annis was born in 1816 in New York State. Although it has not been documented as of yet, it is thought that he may be a son of John Closson and Hannah (Crawford) Annis. Evidently he went west as a young man and he married in St. Louis, MO on June 3, 1838 in the Roman Catholic Basilica of St. Louis the King to Cecelia Kelly {1822-1889}. The church record is a good one because of a special circumstance. It reads:
"On the third of June 1838, I, the undersigned received the mutual consent of marriage between S. Annis, on one part and Cecelia Kelly, on the other part, and, having granted dispensation upon the impediment of disparity of culte inter acatholicum non baptizatum, et catholicam, joined them together in the holy bonds of matrimony before two witnesses, one of whom is the father of the young lady. Jos. A. Lutz, priest.
Asa and his family appear on the Federal census at St. Louis, MO in 1850. Asa was a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River and the circumstances of his death are both tragic and controversial. According to the newspaper Missouri Republican of Thursday, June 23, 1859:
"PAINFUL ACCIDENT - Mr. Asa Annis, a pilot on the steamer D.A. January, while walking across the deck of the Hesperian, on Friday evening, fell through the hatchway a distance of six feet, fracturing his skull, causing a frightful wound, from which a portion of the brain was removed. He is now lying at Allen's Hotel, where everything that medical aid and the attendance of the kind host and hostess can effect is being done for him. His physicians say he cannot possibly recover. He was still alive at the time we go to press."
Asa lived for four days after his terrible and ghastly accident and, as reported by the Missouri Republican on Saturday, June 25, 1859 in the 'River News' column reporting which steamer has arrived in St Louis:
"We understand that the body of Mr Asa Annis, who lately died at St. Joseph, is coming down on the Rowena."
And finally in the Missouri Republican for June 26, 1859:
"DIED - In St Joseph, June 21st 1859, ASA ANNIS, aged 43 years. The funeral will take place from his late residence North Tenth Street, between Montgomery and Warren Streets, this morning at ten o'clock."
Janie Godfrey writes:
"I inherited a fine oil portrait of a man that is supposed to be Asa Annis. It has been handed down in my family. Family legend always said that he was murdered by being pushed on his boat. I always thought it was just a story and was astonished to find the newspaper articles and death certificate describing the circumstances of his accident. Family legend had transmitted the story very accurately. The question as to whether he was murdered or not will never be answered. However, in the decade before he died we found he purchased many parcels of land in what is now downtown St. Louis. This may have been an incentive for someone to want him out of the way, but it was also corroboration of another family legend that I always thought was sheer wishful thinking and that was that "if Asa had lived, the family would own half of what is downtown St. Louis today." His widow had to sell the parcels of land off after his death to support the family.
Asa was buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, MO.
Children:
1. William Kelley Annis, b. May 20, 1839
2. Hanna Annis, b. abt. 1840
3. Stella Josephine Annis
4. James W. Annis, b. Jan 1846
5. Mary Rosalie Annis, b. Oct 14, 1847
6. Frances Emma Annis, b. Mar 1850
7. Louis Henry Annis, b. Sep 1853
8. Alice Virginia Annis, b. Dec 5, 1854
9. Belle Annis
10. Gertrude (probably died young)
11. Cecelia Gertrude Annis
We are hopeful that more information about Asa and his lineage will be forthcoming.
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