Artifact #68 Soapy Smith's envelope to Capt. Henry Lewis Tibbals

"Capt H. L. Tibbals"
(Henry Lewis Tibbals)
"News paper clipping"
Jeff Smith Collection

(Click image to enlarge)

 

 

 

rtifact #68 Envelope in Soapy's handwriting.

addressed to Captain H. L. Tibbals in Port Townsend, Washington.

 

The envelope is part of a stationary set from the Hotel Diller in Seattle, Washington. At the top Soapy wrote "News paper clipping." It looks as though he planned to mail this, but did not complete the transaction, at least not using this particular envelope. The Diller Hotel was built in June 1890 so the undated envelope dates some time afterwards. My guesstimate is that this is circa 1895-96 when Soapy was traveling the north searching for a new home.

 

The Hotel Diller
circa 1903
Courtesy Museum of History and Industry, Seattle

(Click image to enlarge)

 

Henry Lewis Tibbals invested in Port Townsend, opening his Blue Light Saloon, complete with a trap door over the bay. He owned two other saloons, a gambling hall and a hotel that became a brothel. It is not known why Soapy saved the newspaper clipping, but as Tibbals owned several saloons and a gambling house, it can be guessed that Soapy planned to introduce himself to Tibbals, perhaps for "permission" to operate?

 

Henry Lewis Tibbals

(Click image to enlarge)

 

 

The following is from the article, Captain Henry Lewis, A Seafaring Man. 

 

     The stories about Captain H.L. Tibbals are many. He was born in Connecticut in 1829, spending most of his boyhood at sea. At ten he was a cabin boy and by twenty a master sailor. By Juan de Fuca's Strait by James McCurdy states "His later voyages involved carrying a cargo of railway iron for the pre-canal railroad crossing of the isthmus of Panama and testing the first diving bell in the United States, which led him to Mexico, where he was granted the salvage rights to the Spanish ship San Pedro by Governor General Santa Anna. The frigate had blown up in Mexican waters in 1814 with a cargo containing three million dollars in silver. Using the diving bell, Tibbals dove in one hundred feet of water and retrieved sixty-eight thousand dollars before a change in the Mexican government halted the operation. He then traveled to Panama and Acapulco, where he dove for pearls." [There were several Spanish ships that were wrecked with treasure aboard around this date] Sometime around 1853 he joined the Revenue Cutter Jefferson Davis as sailing master, which put into Port Townsend. [No record was found that listed him as ever being master on the Jeff Davis. In his diary he states "I came to Port Townsend in the Jeff Davis in 1855..." according to the U.S.C.G. records of movements the Jeff Davis arrived in Port Townsend September 28, 1854, Tibbals was not listed as being on board. Most of the information in various books comes from his April 23, 1920 Obituary, which stated the information came from his diary, I do not know the whereabouts of the diary] around this time he became a full time citizen of Port Townsend.

     In 1858 he built and operated the Pioneer Hotel. The first record for him is the 1860 census which lists his occupation as "Hotel Keeper". By this time he was married and had a one year old son, Henry L. Tibbals Jr.

     Caroline Snook and Henry Lewis Tibbals were married around 1858 or 1859 [no marriage record] their first son was born in 1859.

     In 1860 Henry was 27 and owned the Pioneer Hotel and had real estate worth $400 and personal property worth $3,000. Caroline who was 22, had been born in Germany. [Although on later census she gives OH as her birthplace]. At the time they lived at the Pioneer hotel. The Pioneer was located on the eastern corner of Adams and Water Street. It was later renamed the Cosmopolitan. Across the street on the NE corner was the Silver Safe Saloon, which Henry also owned. By 1867 Henry was part owner of Union Wharf which had been built by the Union Dock Company. The wharf extended 342 feet into the harbor, and when a ship rounded Point Wilson, the muzzle-loading cannon on the tip of the wharf was fired as a welcome. There were three saloons and various merchandise companies renting space on the dock.

     About 1860 Henry & Caroline built a house at the corner of Fillmore & Clay. Built in the Greek Revival Style, it was a simple rectangle with a flat-roofed portico supported by square full-bodied Doric columns, extending out from the gable end. Later extensions were added to the left of the main house. The house is still standing, known as the Captain Tibbals House.

     Three children were born in the 1860s, Louisa in 1862, Ellen in 1865 and Nelly born in 1867. Henry was 40, owned a farm with a value of $3,000 and had personal property of $1,000. Caroline also lists real estate worth $4,000 and personal property worth $500. In 1863 Tibbals was elected to the territorial legislature, and was Jefferson County sheriff, and for fifteen years was a county commissioner. He also served on the city council and held the position of postmaster.

     Four more children joined the family during this decade, Eddie born in 1869, Carl in 1872, Blanche in 1877 and Wolcott in 1879.

     In 1880 Henry's occupation was a "commission merchant", He was 50 years old and Caroline was forty, their eldest son Henry Lewis Tibbals Jr. had married on March 8, 1880 Nannette Maria Sutherland of Portland Oregon. After completing his education, Harry [as he was commonly known] went to work for his father and the Union Dock Company.

      The Tibbals marriage was in trouble for a long time before their divorce in 1887.

      Henry Tibbals Sr. had been having an intimate affair with a much younger woman for about seven or eight years prior to this. Whether Caroline knew it's hard to tell. The young woman lived in Victoria where Henry leased a house for her; he furnished her with money, jewelry and other gifts, visiting her when he could get away.

      In May of 1887 Caroline & Henry divorced. Henry brought suit as plaintiff but could not prove his allegations against her, Caroline did prove abandonment and received in the decree the lovely Tibbals home and custody of their minor children. Besides the house she received the NE Lot of Block 41 Original Town site in Port Townsend. This property housed the Silver Safe Saloon which was a very profitable business for her, of course she always had a man who managed the saloon and probably never set foot in it, but that's just a guess.

The article stopped, with a "to be continued" heading, but unfortunately the author did not write part 2 of the article.

 

SOURCES:
1) The Leader, Captain Henry Lewis Tibbals, A Seafaring Man, January 23, 2011.
https://www.ptleader.com/stories/captain-henry-lewis-tibbals-a-seafaring-man,53232

"One day, a few years later, just as 'Soapy' had predicted, I took up a newspaper and there was an account of his death in Alaska. He died just as he prophesized—with his boots on. The other fellow drew first. I remember all that day I was pensive and sorrowful on account of the premature and untimely end of my friend 'Soapy.' In an Alaskan town on the board sidewalk there is a cross of brass nails marking the spot where 'Soapy' fell."

—Saunders Norvell, Forty Years of Hardware, 1924