JAMES M. TATTEN, Cairo, Ill., Captain and pilot of the W. Butler Duncan, Cairo, Ill., was born November 19, 1840, in Crawford County, Ind. His father, John Tatten, was born in 1796, near Atlanta, Ga., and emigrated to Southern Indiana about 1820, where he married Miss Sarah Smith, who was born in Indiana in 1801. James M. is the seventh of a family of nine children born to these parents. His mother died in Indiana in 1844, and the father subsequently married a Mrs. Williams, Nancy, wife of James B. Edgeman, of Missouri is the only child born to this union. The father died in Missouri on the 7th of October, 1881. James M. early in life developed a fondness for the water, and at the age of fifteen years went on the river to prepare himself for the position of pilot, the duties of which he assumed in 1861. During the civil war, he was duly commissioned as pilot in the navy, and was one of the pilots who ran the blockade at Vicksburg on the night of the 23d of April, 1863. From the close of the war until 1870, he was on the Mississippi River between St. Louis and New Orleans, the next four years in the employ of the Government, and from 1874 until 1880, was in the employ of the Illinois Central Railway Company as pilot of their transfer boat at Cairo. In April, 1881, he was made Captain of the Mobile and Ohio Companies transfer, which position he now holds. He was married in New Albany, Ind., September 2, 1863, to Miss Anna Z. Barnett, daughter of John S. and Sarah (Hale) Barnett. Mrs. Tatten was born in New Albany, Ind., June 8, 1844. Their family consists of George B., born August 15, 1865; Harry, deceased; Blanche, deceased; Addie C., born Octobers, 1873; Ella, January 5, 1877; Josie, deceased; and Nina B. Tatten, born November 16, 1882. Mr. Tatten is a member of the Knights of Honor, and Mrs. T. of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Family residence on Eighteenth street, Cairo, Ill.
Extracted 31 Mar 2017 by Norma Hass from 1883 History of Alexander, Union, and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part V, page 47.
| Cape Girardeau MO |
Union | |
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Pulaski | |
| Scott MO | Mississippi MO | Ballard KY |
