Steamboat Captain. He started as pantry boy, then steward, mate and finally, captain on steamboats on the Mississippi River. He steamed past St. Louis, Missouri thousands of times in an Illinois Packet Company vessel. A devout Baptist when ashore, he had a shrewd eye for the profits from bourbon and rock and rye in the river trade. In partnership with a St. Louis liquor dealer, he ran 30 bars on Mississippi steamboats. He had a much longer and more prosperous life than the steamer named for him by the Illinois Packet Company. After just two years afloat, the ship survived an explosion at Helena, Arkansas, but then was sunk by a Missouri River snag at Bowling Green Bend in 1874. When Wolff died nine years later, a silhouette of the G.C. Wolff steamer was carved on his monument.
Steamboat Captain. He started as pantry boy, then steward, mate and finally, captain on steamboats on the Mississippi River. He steamed past St. Louis, Missouri thousands of times in an Illinois Packet Company vessel. A devout Baptist when ashore, he had a shrewd eye for the profits from bourbon and rock and rye in the river trade. In partnership with a St. Louis liquor dealer, he ran 30 bars on Mississippi steamboats. He had a much longer and more prosperous life than the steamer named for him by the Illinois Packet Company. After just two years afloat, the ship survived an explosion at Helena, Arkansas, but then was sunk by a Missouri River snag at Bowling Green Bend in 1874. When Wolff died nine years later, a silhouette of the G.C. Wolff steamer was carved on his monument.
Bio by: Connie Nisinger
Gravesite Details
There is no name on the grave. There is a Steamboat Ship at the head of the grave.
Family Members
Advertisement
See more Wolff memorials in:
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
