Edward A. Costigan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edward A. Costigan
Edward A. Costigan.jpg
Edward A. Costigan, Boston Shipbuilder
Born(1819-10-17)October 17, 1819
Charlestown, Boston, Massachusetts, US
DiedJune 7, 1901(1901-06-07) (aged 81)
Boston, Massachusetts, US
NationalityUnited States American
OccupationShipbuilder
Spouse(s)Mary F. Griffece
Children3

Edward A. Costigan (October 17, 1819 – June 7, 1901), was a 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts shipbuilder. In 1858, he founded the E. A. Costigan shipyard at Commercial Street in Boston, where he built many notable pilot boats and scows. He was one of the oldest of Boston shipbuilders, being connected with shipbuilding most of his life. Costigan died in Boston in 1901.

Early life[]

Edward A. Costigan was born on October 17, 1819, in Charlestown, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of John Costigan and Jane Costigan. Edward married Mary F. Griffece on June 30, 1844, in Charlestown and had three children.[1]

At the age of 15, he joined the Fire Department and became Chief Engineer in Charlestown. He remained in the fire department for 33 years.[2][3]

Costigan had seen many celebrities and events including: major general Lafayette riding through Charlestown square in a barouche open carriage. He saw President Andrew Jackson; Com Elliott, President John Tyler in 1842; Edward VII in 1860 when he visited Boston, Massachusetts; the Duke of York in 1865; General Lewis Cass; President Ulysses S. Grant at the statue of The Minute Man at Concord, Massachusetts and President Andrew Johnson when he visited Boston in the late 1860s. On August 11, 1834, he saw the burning of the Ursuline Convent in Charlestown. At age 16, he saw the pirates, who boarded the brig Mexican, hung at the Leverett Street Jail in Boston.[3]

Career[]

Edward A. Costigan was one of the Boston's oldest shipbuilders being connected with shipbuilding most of his life. He did fishing work from the ages of 11 to 15 on fishing vessels catching Mackerel. He was on the 100-ton schooner Louise, which sailed from Boston to North Carolina bringing back grain. In 1841, he did his apprentice work as a shipbuilder at the Brown & Lovel shipyard in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He later worked at the Holbrook & Dickinson shipyard. In 1842, he stood on the deck of the ship Thomas H. Perkins in Medford, Massachusetts. At Holbrook & Dickinson he helped build the pilot boat Northern Light, which sailed from Boston to California on December 17, 1849.[3]

In 1858, he launched his own shipyard at 361 Commercial Street, Boston, Massachusetts, which he had for thirty years. He had a large business and employed up to 40 workmen. He built pilot boats, scows, which is a flat-bottomed barge, and did reparing and caulking. Two pilot boats he built were the Pet and the Gracie.[4][3]

In 1876, Costigan retired from the shipbuilding business. He was a resident of Dorchester, Boston, which is a neighborhood in the city of Boston.[4] He belonged to the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, which he joined in 1884.[5]

List of boats[]

Edward A. Costigan built the following boats:

  • Norhern Light (1849) pilot boat
  • Crusader which was seized by the government for the Mexican war
  • William F. Weld schooner
  • Harriet Irving ship
  • Ino (1851) clipper ship seized by the Union Navy for the American Civil War
  • Neptune ship
  • Art Union ship
  • R. C. Mackey ship
  • Mystic Belle (1861) launched for Harry Hastings
  • Pet (1866) pilot boat[6]
  • Gracie pilot boat

Death[]

Edward A. Costigan died, at age 81, on June 7, 1901, at the Old Men's home in Boston, Massachusetts.[7]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001; and Massachusetts State Census, 1865". FamilySearch. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  2. ^ "Seventeenth Of June. Charlestown Will Don Her Gay Attire". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 12 Jun 1890. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
  3. ^ a b c d "Saw Lafayette. Mr. E. A. Costigan Has Seen May Celebrities". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 10 Mar 1901. p. 33. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  4. ^ a b "Illustrated Boston, the metropolis of New England". American publishing and engraving co. New York. 1889. p. 303. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  5. ^ "Annals of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, 1795-1892". Press of Rockwell and Churchill. Boston. 1892. p. 339. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  6. ^ "The American Yacht List Containing a Complete Register of the Yacht Clubs of the United States and British Provinces". L. H. Biglow & Co. New York. 1874. p. 136. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  7. ^ "Old Training Field School Boys. Annual Convention in Progress In Charlestown, Many Deaths In the Ranks In a Year". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 16 Oct 1901. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
Retrieved from ""