Montrans in the News

Montran Monday
By Don Taylor

This week I discovered an article in the New York Daily Herald from Friday, January 21, 1859.

ARRIVALS.

New York Daily Herald – 21 January 1859

From New Orleans and Havana, in the steamship Black Warrior—D Hubbard, wife, two children and servant; G Gueydon, J de Montran, Dr W A Davis, L Lavanburg, J W Retnecke, B S Wolf, H T Reinecke, Madame M Alanza and servant, A Oxosco, J P Bill, J Pusadas, F Casas, P Silva, S Sanson, J F M Acosta, Capt J Chase, Capt J S Dubel, wife and child, A Fraser, Jr, M Ferrera, A Nunez, J F Mesa, W Phillips, J Reynolds, Fr. W Gibbs; A Chase, Alex McDonald, sent by American Consul at Havana.

Comments:

J. de Montran arrived from Havana aboard the Black Warrier in January 1859. If “J de Montran” were 20 years of age, he would have been 53 years old when my grandmother was conceived. My great-grandmother (Ida Barber) was 18 years old at the time, so I don’t think this is my John Montran. However, it is worthwhile trying to track down what happened to J de Montran and see if he had any children.

Additional Research

Shipname – “Black Warrior” or “Black Wamer?”

I looked closely at the New York Passenger and Crew Lists from 1859 and found a record for the “Black Wamer” arriving on 20 January 1859 from Havana. My review of the document indicates that the ship name could be Black Warrior just as easily as Black Wamer, so I believe the transcription of the name in Ancestry.Com is incorrect regarding the ship’s name.  That said, it is very interesting that J de Montran does NOT show up in the list of passengers or crew. [1]

So, it appears that J de Montran may have intended to go to New York as was reported by the American Consul as going, but didn’t as he doesn’t appear in the Passenger/Crew list.

Source:

New York Daily Herald – NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Friday, January 21, 1859 via Newspapers.Com

Endnotes

[1] Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Ship: Black Wamer – Arrived 20 January 1859.