Immigrant Ships
Transcribers Guild

Barque Tiberias

I, George Sears, do solemnly and truly swear that the within list subscribed with my name contains to the best of my knowledge and belief a just and true account or report of all passengers who have been taken on board the Barque Tiberias at New Port or at any other foreign port or at sea and brought in said vessel into any district of the United States since the departure from said port of New Port. Sworn the 11 Sept. 1838.

A List of Passengers on board of the American Barque Tiberias of Boston U.S., whereof George Sears, is Master, bound from New Port to Baltimore, U.S., burthen 299 tons Reg.

Columns represent: Name, age and occupation. The intention of all is George's Creek Co.* except Mary Bannista who is for Baltimore.

   
  1 Mary Bannista           54      Lady 
  2 Thomas Phillips         26      Collier*     
  3 Margaret Phillips       26               
  4 Mary Phillips            5            
  5 Cecil Phillips           3          
  6 William Phillips      infant*       
  7 John Johnson            25      Collier   
  8 Elizabeth Johnson       22           
  9 John Johnson          infant*       
 10 Herbert Watkins         29      Collier  
 11 Jane Watkins            29       
 12 Jane Watkins             5     
 13 Mary Watkins            2½      
 14 Rees Rees               50      Collier 
 15 Margaret Rees           50            
 16 John Rees               25      Collier
 17 Thomas Rees             23      Collier
 18 Jenkins Rees            21      Collier   
 19 Daniel Rees             19      Collier  
 20 Roger Williams          42      Collier 
 21 Charlott Williams       33            
 22 William Williams        12      Collier
 23 Roger Williams          10      Collier 
 24 Margaret Williams        7         
 25 Elizabeth Williams       4        
 26 Charlotte Williams    infant*        
 27 Benjamin Thomas         45      Collier  
 28 Hannah Thomas           40          
 29 John Thomas             23      Collier 
 30 James Thomas            20      Collier
 31 Benjamin Thomas         18      Collier 
 32 William Thomas          15      Collier 
 33 Diana Thomas             6        
 34 Joseph Thomas            3           
 35 Phillip Thomas           2          
 36 Jane Thomas           infant*          
 37 William Davies          40      Collier  
 38 Ann Davies              40   
 39 William Davies          16      Collier  
 40 Sarah Davies            13      Collier
 41 John Davies             11     
 42 Ann Davies               9     
 43 Isaac Davies             6   
 44 George Treasure         42      Collier
 45 Elizabeth Treasure      40      
 46 William Treasure        19      Collier
 47 Job Treasure            14      Collier
 48 Ann Treasure            12      
 49 Susannah Treasure       10      
 50 John Treasure            4       
 51 Hannah Treasure          3       
 52 Caroline Treasure     infant*  
 53 John Williams           31      Collier
 54 Maria Williams          33      
 55 Adam Williams           15      Collier
 56 Abraham Williams        13      Collier
 57 John Williams           11      Collier
 58 Ann Williams             8       
 59 Maria Williams           7      
 60 Benjamin Williams        2       
 61 John Lewis              36      Founder*
 62 Ann Lewis               37         *
 63 Margaret Lewis          16         *
 64 Harriet Lewis            9         *
 65 Elizabeth Lewis          7         *
 66 Ann Lewis                4         *
 67 Thomas Lewis            38      Founder
 68 John James              22      Collier
 69 David James             16      Collier
 70 Gwenelly Davies         24      
 71 Elizabeth Davies        22      
 72 Jenkin Thomas           35      Farmer  
 73 Mary Thomas             30     
 74 David Thomas             3      
 75 Margaret Thomas       infant*  
 76 Richard Richards        23      Collier

Produced at the Cuctora House Newport ???


Transcriber's Notes:

31 June 1838 (written at bottom, apparent date of departure)

 

* George's Creek Co. stands for George's Creek Coal Mining Company. It was 
    located near Lonaconing, Allegany County, MD.    

# 2 Collier means miner.

# 6 All the infants on board had no age listed. Just reported as infant in 
    the age column.  Also applies to #9, #26, #36, #52 and #75.

#27-36 Ancestors to Patricia Thomas and Pat Hook. See added information below.

#61 Founder means iron worker.

#62-66 There is a bracket in far right column spanning these passengers. A 
    note is written which appears to indicate the names were there but they
    were not on board. But, per information below, they did appear to reside 
    in Cumberland area.

Information below is provided by Patricia Thomas.  Her husband is a direct 
descendant of Passenger #32 on the above Manifest and Pat Hook

The Barque Tiberias appears to have left Wales on 31 June 1838 and is 109 feet 
long.  The voyage took 46 days to cross from Newport, Wales to Baltimore, 
Maryland.  The names of 76 passengers appear on the manifest.  A cargo of 
3,689 pieces of railroad iron was also on board.  Most were men (and their 
families) hired as colliers (miners) due to mass recruiting by the George's 
Creek Coal and Iron Company in Allegany County, Maryland. Of the 29 listed as
colliers, some as young as 10 and 12 years, there was a 13 year old Sarah 
Davies.  She may have been a collier in Wales but there is no indication that 
the George's Creek Company ever hired women or girls in the mines.  John and 
Thomas Lewis were listed as founders and employed as keepers.  John Lewis' 
wife Ann and daughter were cited as not being on board, but this must not have 
been the case, as Ann had a daughter, Mary, born 28 October 1841 in Lonaconing, 
MD.  John Harrison Lewis born 4 April 1841 and John T. Lewis.

Benjamin and Hannah Thomas had Ann E. Thomas in 1839 and a Maria Ellen on 17 
August 1841.  Benjamin died in 1846, and in the 1850 census for Allegany County, 
Hannah was called Diana and married to a much younger, John Richards, living 
with them were her younger children, his son Thomas J. Richards, born in 1845 
in Allegany County, and his daughter Victoria(mother Viola Temple), born 1847 
in PA.

On Joseph B. Thomas death certificate his mothers' maiden name is listed as 
Diana Evans.  George Treasure is located, with his family, in Ligoner, PA in 
the 1850 census. I have further information on all of the children of Benjamin 
and Hannah with the exception of Phillip and Ann E.  

There is a book called "Best Dressed Miners" by Katherine Harvey (no longer 
in print) with a lot of information about the mines in Allegany County.  There 
is a microfilm copy of "The George's Creek Coal and Iron Company Journal" at 
the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore.  The author is listed as 
Katherine Harvey. 

Another item is "An Experiment in Industrial Feudalism at Lonaconing, MD 
1837-1860", a Masters thesis, written in 1950 by William H. Richards at the 
University of Maryland.

Lonaconing can trace its beginning as a town and a commercial center to the 
coming of the George's Creek Coal and Iron Company, a Baltimore and London, 
England, syndicate which purchased 11,000 acres of land along the George's 
Creek and, in 1837, built a furnace complex to manufacture pig iron, using 
coal and coke rather than charcoal for the smelting process.  The Lonaconing 
iron furnace was the first in the United States to successfully use bituminous 
coal and coke in making pig iron. This information is from:  
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mdallegh/Lonaconing.htm

File transcribed and contributed for use at
ISTG and USGenWeb Archives by Lois Hopkins