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16
The Progress of the Races
INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS
The colored people in these towns, emerging from slavery, illiterate, penniless and homeless, taking the ground start in life, began their gradual inarch of progress thi’ough the assistance of the business men who gave them every opportunity to develop. It was not long before they built up homes, schools and churches and learned to do business. In 1869, the Poitevent & Favre Lumber Company employed Gilbert Burton as the first colored captain on Pearl River. He mastered the Schooner Emma Jane. It is true that colored men ran their masters’ vessels in slave time on Pearl River and Lake Pontehartrain, carrying commodities into New Orleans, but they were mere sailing masters and not full-fledged captains, because a white man had to be on board to clear the law.
But Captain Burton was the first colored captain with a colored crew who was master from stem to stern. Captains Smith King and Anatole Mc-lvan were next employed by the same company. Captain King ran the schooner Alice McGuigin and steamer Major White. Captain Me Kan succeeded Captain Burton on the Schooner Emma Jane. He ran the Emma Jane twice, and the schooners Lillie Schmidt and Ella C. Andrews. The Andrews was the largest lake vessel plying the waters of Pearl River, Lakes Pontehartrain and Borgne, and the Mississippi Sound. Captain McKan ran this vessel outside to Ship Island, Miss.; Port Eads, La.; Galveston, Tex.; and Key West, I''la. He was probably in the employ of the Poitevent & Favre Lumber Company about twenty-five years.
Captain Anatole McKan A Unique Character
Captain McKan is a unique character. He was born a slave at Covington, La., and is now 89 years old. He was born the same year that the Charles Morgan was built at New Bedford, Mass., the oldest sailing wooden ship afloat today. He has outlived all of his contemporaries. He was a soldier in the Civil War, and is now a regular pensioner of Uncle Sam. He trained most of the colored sailors on Pearl River.
Captain McKan’s first wife, Rosa McKan, gave to him sons and daughters. His second wife, Malinda McKan, helped to raise his children and to acquire property. They owned five schooners at different times and some good real estate. They ran their business on a fifty-fifty basis. Captain Annison Thompson and Captain Standford Thompson, whom he trained to be sailors, were his brothers-in-law. His sons, Captain Standford McKan and Captain Nicholas McKan, whom he also trained, are splendid sailors. The former is a ship carpenter.
When Captain McKan’s advanced years made him quit the lakes, his sons ran his schooners and he handled the business end of the cargoes and kept the vessels in running order. His two oldest daughters married men who afterward became captains, namely, Captain Dudley Cloud and Captain John Peters.
Captain McKan is a Mason, and he has been a deacon in the First Baptist Church of Pearlington over fifty years.
The Progress of the Races
17
A List of Colored Captains and the Vessels They Mastered
The • indicates that the Captain was a product of Pearl River, but ran schooners hailing f^om other ports.
1.	Eb Avery, Schooner Alice McGuigin.
2.	Couter Bates, Schooner Julia Rickert.
:j. Charlie Baxter, Schooner Melvina Anderson, Hortense.
4.	Joseph Beard, Schooner Lena M. H.
5.	Charlie Burton, Schooner C. A. Fish.
(i. Edmund Burton,* Schooner Flowers.
7.	Gilbert Burton, Schooner Emma Jane.
8.	Jesse Burton, Schooner Serrena Junior, Corinne H., Angreline, Ella C. Andrews.
9.	Rogers ,Burton, Schooner Lillie Schmidt.
10.	Enoch Bush,” Schooner Emma T Mestier.
11.	Joseph Bush, Schooners Corinne rl., Lois, Emma J. Mestier.
12.	Albert Butler, Schooner Alice McGuigin.
13.	Charlie Butler, Schooner Try Again.
14.	Eddie Cain, Schooner C. A. Fish.
15.	Dudley Cloud, Schooners C. A. Fish, Victoria.
Hi. Sam Coleman, Schooner Geo. W. Rhode.
17.	Shep Cupid, Schooner Julia Rickert.
18.	Jesse Davidson, Schooner Corinne H., Steamer Palo Pinto.
19.	Willie Delavior, Schooner Alice McGuigin.
20.	John Emery, Schooner Saint Bartholomew.
21.	Charlie Fitzgerald, Schooner Victoria.
22.	Nelson Fitzgerald, Steamer Major White, Dial, Asa.
23.	Jules Gaines, Schooner R. O. Elliot.
24.	Norman Gaines, Schooners Leta, Victoria.
25.	William Gaines,* a Schooner hailed from Rotten Bayou.
26.	Augustus Gilbert, Schooners Ella C. Andrews, Addie Eads.
27.	Charlie Gilbert, Schooner Emma Jane.
28.	Washington Grooms, Schooner Julia Rickert.
29.	Richard Harris, Schooners Annie B., Leta.
30.	Eddie Herger, Schooner Geo. W. Rhode.
31.	Mars Johnson, Schooners Emma Jane, Wade Hampton.
32.	Peter Johnson, Schooner Try Again.
33.	Lilburn Jordan, Schooner Alice McGuigin.
34.	Richard Jordan, Schooners R. 0. Elliot, Alice McGuigin, Union.
35.	Smith King, Schooner Alice McGuigin, Steamer Major Whi:e.
36.	John W. Lee, Schooner R. O. Elliot.
37.	Spencer Lee, Schooner Leta.
38.	Thomas Lee, Schooners Angeline, Victoria.
39.	Andrew Lewis,* Schooner Lillie Schmidt.
40.	Jacob Lewis,* Schooners Flowers, Emma Hawkins.
41.	Leon Limuel, Schooners Hortense, Leta.
42.	Augustus Lolow, Schooners Victoria, Calla, Ella C. Andrews, Barge Coleman, Julia Rickert, Petronia H.
43.	William McGee, Schooner Alice McGuigin.
44.	Anatole McKan, Schooners Emma Jane, Lillie Schmidt, Ella C. Andrews, Julia Rickert.