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Dr. Charles E. Feltner Great Lakes Vessel Certificate Master Abstract Database 1810 - 1868

About the Charles E. Feltner Great Lakes Vessel Certificate Master Abstract Database

Dr. Charles E. Feltner's database of Great Lakes vessel enrollments was created between 1992 and 1996 by Dr. Feltner to provide a comprehensive resource for researching early Great Lakes vessels. The database scope includes abstracts of all Great Lakes vessel certificates prior to the advent of the Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States, which began formally in 1867, and after the War of 1812, during which the early US vessel certificates were burned. The Feltner database's entire period of coverage encompasses records from the period 1810 – 1868.

The database is notable and unique because it was developed from the customs house Master Abstracts rather than extant certificates of enrollment and registry. This is an important distinction because a significant percentage of the original certificates of enrollment and registry were lost through fire and bureaucratic errors. It is estimated that perhaps only 70% of the known certificates still exist in any form, and NARA is known to be missing substantial groups of early certificates, as many were lost in the 1912 Bureau of Navigation move and in a 1921 fire. Conversely, the Master Abstracts are thought to contain entries for every certificate issued after the War of 1812. The Feltner database consequently, represents the most complete electronic record of early Lakes shipping known to exist, and includes over 25,000 unique entries, each representing a vessel certificate issued on the Lakes. The following Customs Houses are represented in Feltner:

Feltner developed the database by essentially transcribing the details from all of the Master Abstracts at the National Archives. His basic method was to transcribe the essential details from the master abstract indexes for all available Great Lakes customs houses for which NARA possessed an abstract index. Feltner then performed additional verification by checking enrollment and registry certificates for a significant percentage of the vessels and noting any errors or gaps in a vessel's chain of certificates. By undertaking the immense task of transcribing data from all the early Master Abstracts at NARA, we now have a searchable record from which we can generate meaningful analytic statistics for the period and we can quickly trace the career of nearly any vessel on the Lakes during the period.

There are a few notable caveats for searching the Feltner database.

1. Canadian vessels do not appear unless they were sold to American owners and issued a certificate at a US customs house.
2. Certain small, early ports exist, for which NARA does not have master abstracts, but were known to have had customs houses and to have issued vessel certificates. The number of certificates issued by such customs houses is believe to have been very small, but may explain the few significant vessels for which no master abstract entries can be found.
3. Small vessels (generally under 20 tons) were not required by law to obtain a certificate, and as such, may not appear in the index.
4. Certain vessels deemed non-commercial or not otherwise engaged in commercial activity were sometimes excluded from the need to obtain a certificate
5. Occasionally, vessels were lost before obtaining a certificate and were consequently, not included in the Abstracts. A case in point is the 384 ton schooner John B. Wright, built 1854 at Cleveland. One of the largest schooners on the Lakes when built, she was lost on Lake Michigan within a few months of her launch and does not appear in the master abstracts for any port.
6. A very small number of significant vessels have been found for which no certificate entry can be found in the Abstracts. These instances, while extremely rare, do exist. A notable example is the 104 ton schooner South America, built 1841 at Vermilion, Ohio and lost in 1843 on Lake Erie. One would expect her to have been enrolled at a customs house on Lake Erie, particularly given that she was a substantial vessel, sailed for two years and was sold at least once. However, she does not appear in the abstracts, and although she almost certainly carried a certificate, we have no record of it. These instances are likely due to being enrolled at small, short lived customs houses for which NARA has no abstracts or clerical errors by the original recorders, as no significant commercial vessel could engage in commerce on the Lakes without a certificate of enrollment or registry.

The Feltner Database is particularly valuable when used in conjunction with other sources for period vessel information. Two other enrollment databases have been developed from the certificates of enrollment at the National Archives. These databases, while not as comprehensive in their period coverage, contain greater detail for each certificate. Links are consequently provided to check for the existence of an actual certificate associated with the master abstract entry provided in Feltner. Certificates can be found to exist for approximately 70% of the abstract entries in Feltner. This means that for 30% of Feltner's entries, his database is the only record we have for those certificates.

The two other enrollment databases are as follows:

1. Wisconsin Marine Historical Society Enrollment Database – Developed in the mid 1990s with a grant from Elizabeth Cutler, the WMHS Database includes about 44,000 records for unique enrollments for the period 1814 – 1915. The database is unique in that it was developed from a new set of enrollment certificate microfilms that were ordered made by NARA specifically for the project. The database was made by volunteers who transcribed a subset of the data from each certificate. The data collected, unfortunately, omitted significant details such as owner names, master name, dimensions and builder. However, the database remains the single most comprehensive resource in existence for data about 19 th century Lake vessels. As noted, because the WMHS database was developed from certificates, it is missing about 30% of the certificates known from the abstracts. In particular, the WMHS database is missing a substantial run of Buffalo certificates (1848 – 1870), which are known to exist at NARA, and a significant run of Mackinac certificates, which are not at NARA. The WMHS database also does not include certificates for several small, early customs houses or for Port Huron and Grand Haven, as NARA does not have their certificates. Certificates located in the WMHS database may be ordered online from the WMHS at a modest cost. The certificates in the WMHS collection are not publicly accessible. They are housed in the private area behind the Humanities Room in the Milwaukee Public Library but are not available to Library patrons. They can only be accessed by paid order through the WMHS or by special arrangement with the WMHS. Milwaukee Public Library does have a publicly accessible set of enrollment microfilms in the periodicals area, but is from an older NARA filming commissioned in 1974 by Rick Wright and is not as complete as the private WMHS film set.

2. Walter Lewis Enrollment Database – The Lewis Database was developed in the late 1990s through the efforts of Walter Lewis, Bill McNeil and Jack Messmer, who undertook a concerted project to record all Lake steamboat enrollments prior to 1861. The project made use of the 1974 NARA enrollment filming commissioned by Rick Wright and was transcribed at the Historical Collections of the Great Lakes at Perrysburg, Ohio. The database is much more limited in scope than the WMHS database, but includes a complete transcription of the certificates. As such, it is an immensely useful database for primary research and contains full names of thousands of owners, masters and builders. It has a less sophisticated search interface and includes only a small subset of the known enrollments for the period, as follows:

- Contains all known steamboat certificates contained in the 1974 films for all ports before 1861
- Contains all known vessel certificates in the 1974 films for Detroit and Cleveland before 1861.
- Contains all vessel certificates in the 1974 films for Buffalo before 1841.