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CAPTAIN AUGUSTUS WALKER (1800-1865) Captain Augustus Walker was born in 1800 in New York. He married Elizabeth D. (maiden name unknown). Their marriage was blessed with four children: Eliza, Alvin, Charles and George. Walker was one of the best known navigators on the Great Lakes. He moved his family from Buffalo to Huron, Ohio in 1830. Walker built the Sheldon Thompson there in the same year. She carried three masts and said to be the first of that rig on the lakes. The Buffalo News wrote the following on July 7, 1830: "The steamer Sheldon Thompson, A. Walker master, proposes to leave her dock, August 30th for Mackinac, Green Bay and intermediate ports. This stanch and elegant steamship is lauded as being a specimen of Ohio architecture. She will remain at Green Bay two or three days and one or two days at Mackinac to give her passengers a chance to view the delightful scenery of the upper Lakes. General Friend Palmer of Detroit saw the Sheldon Thompson leave the Detroit on July 6, 1832 from her dock in Dorr & Jones at the foot of Shelby Street. He said that she had on board a "goodly number of passengers, besides a number of United States troops, with their officers and regimental band, destined for the seat of the Black Hawk War." Captain Walker and Fairbanks Church built the side-wheel steamer George Washington (1833) and the steamer Columbus (1835) in Huron. Some accounts say that Walker built the Great Western with Benjamin Goodsell and/or Fairbanks Church at Huron in 1838. She was the first steamer on the lower lakes to have upper cabins. Walker moved back to Buffalo in 1842. President Fillmore appointed Walker the Supervising Inspector of Steamboats for the 9th District in 1852. Captain Augustus Walker died on February 6, 1865 in Buffalo New York. The Boston Traveler sadly reported on February 11, 1865, "Capt. Augustus Walker, Naval Constructor of Buffalo, New York, died suddenly a few days ago. Captain Walker was well known as the pioneer of steamboat interests on the lakes, and for his inventions and improvements in shipbuilding." He is buried in Lakeside Cemetery, New York. ISAAC W. NICHOLAS (1815-1900) Isaac W. Nicholas was born in St. Albans, Vermont in 1815. The family relocated in Ohio in 1829, sailing on the Henry Clay for the latter part of their journey. For several years they lived at Florence Corners, near Milan and later relocating to Vermilion. It was in Vermilion that Nicholas met Alva Bradley and Philip Minch and became interested in shipbuilding. He was married to Miss Lois Whelpley. George D., Alice M., and Frederick M. were the children born to them. 166