G. W. Capron, Kentucky-Mississippi-Texas Silversmith

At long last, I am back to some research projects and have finished a post for the blog!

Vintage Photo of the Natchez Pilgrimage

Notes on George W. Capron, Silversmith

by Gary Dean Gardner, Independent Scholar

Of all the early native-born craftsman of Kentucky, few prove more elusive in discovering their story as George Washington Capron.  Previously unknown as a Kentucky-born silversmith, his career has been neglected by modern scholarship for want of surviving examples of his craft.

Granted, Capron’s time in Kentucky was seemingly brief, and we can but conjecture about his initial training and early career.  Per surviving Census records, George was born, perhaps in Louisville, about 1807, the son of Henry Capron and Elizabeth White of Woodford County, Kentucky.  Henry married Elizabeth there 28 June 1804.

The story of Henry (aka Henri) Capron, the silversmith’s father, is in & of itself interesting, and provides us now with an explanation for the choice of George’s given name.  Apparently, Henry Capron, an accomplished musician formerly of Charleston, SC and later a resident of Philadelphia, lived in Louisville shortly after arriving in Kentucky, and became a friend to William Clark of the famed Lewis & Clark expedition.  In the book Dear Brother: Letters of William Clark to Jonathan Clark we find a brief biographical sketch of Henry which reads, “Henry Capron was an accomplished violinist who lived in Philadelphia in the 1780s and 1790s.  He was a music tutor of George Washington’s step-daughter in the 1790s.  By the early 1800s he had settled in Louisville, possibly coming from Maryland.  A suit filed against Capron in November 1808 sought payment for bringing three slaves from Maryland to Louisville for him in May 1808, and expressed the fear that Capron was preparing to remove himself and property from Kentucky without paying the debt.  This was just one of seven suits filed against him from 1805 to 1809.  While in Louisville he became associated with the Clarks.  It is not known whether Clark’s suggestion that he relocate to St. Louis influenced Capron, but he did move there.  In 1810 Capron was licensed to operate a tavern in St. Louis, and in 1811 he led an effort to establish a public library there.”  (The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (2), 31:70, 69:108, 112-13; Wayman v. Capron, case 8114, Jefferson County Circuit Court Records, KDLA; Louisiana Gazette, 14 FEB 1811; Houck, 3:60, 72. Sonneck, Oscar G. T., Early Concert-Life in America 1731-1800.) 

William Clark, painted by Joseph Bush, 1817

Henri Capron was born, quite expectedly, in France where he was the student of violoncellist and composer Pierre Gavinies (1728-1800). Capron left Europe for America early in the 1780s and arrived in Philadelphia about 1785 after having performed in and directed concerts in New York in addition to Charleston.  While helping direct the Philadelphia City Concert Series at James Oeller’s hotel, Henry Capron performed for the likes of even Thomas Jefferson, whose account books show the payment of his subscription for the 1792-1793 season that began 1 DEC 1792. The following year Henri branched out to try his hand at music publishing in partnership as Möller & Capron, one of, if not the very first such venture in America.  Henri became ill late in 1793, bringing an end to his publishing, performance, and likely residency in Philadelphia.  It would seem he removed to Maryland shortly before heading on to Kentucky.      (Bear, James A. Jr. & Stanton, Lucia, Jefferson’s Memorandum Books, Vol. 2: Accounts, with Legal Records; Keffer Collection of Sheet Music, Penn Library, Dept. of Special Collections)

Oeller's Hotel to the far right

The dates provided in the Capron chronology would indicate that the newlyweds Henry & Elizabeth soon left Versailles, Kentucky and made a new home in the young city of Louisville where George would appear to have been born, after which the family rather quickly moved  westward to Missouri at the urging of lawsuits, and the advisement of family friend William Clark, just a few years later.  City records do verify that Henry Capron was granted a tavern license in July of 1810, and the following year led the efforts to “organize an association” to begin a library and “a museum for such natural curiosities as may be offered.” (Scharf, John Thomas, History of Saint Louis City & County:  From the Earliest Periods, Vol. I, Chapt. 22)  This leaves us with a major question as to where Capron received his training as a silversmith, in the wilds west of the Mississippi, or back in Kentucky.  

There is a crucial 16-year gap in the chronology of George Capron’s life story, during which he would have been apprenticed to a yet unidentified silversmith.  We know that Capron (1807-1 April 1865) had established his residency in Adams County (Natchez) Mississippi by 1826, for it was there that he wed Elizabeth Perry (1803-1868) on the 26th of January, soon followed by the nuptials of his sister Elizabeth Capron to fellow native Kentuckian Peter C. Goosey on 18 Nov. 1826.

Peter Goosey Jr. had been born in Clark County, KY in 1798 to former Virginian Peter Goosey Sr. & pioneer Lexingtonian Anne Cotton (b. 1785-1817).  The elder Goosey’s later resided in Estill County, Kentucky.  The young Peter Goosey and bride Elizabeth Capron eventually became the parents of 12 children.  They resided for some time in Adams County, moving later to Jefferson County.  Peter Goosey was Postmaster of Vernon, Mississippi in 1835, and ultimately died in Yazoo City, Mississippi.

George & Elizabeth as well resided in Natchez, perhaps also at the Perry plantation, for at least the next decade, for their son J. Thomas Capron was born there in 1836 (Houston, Harris County TX Census 1850).  George was perhaps 19 when he married, and likely had just completed his apprenticeship.  Though no official court records have yet surfaced, it is likely he was bound to a Kentucky silversmith due to the scarcity of working smiths in Missouri or Mississippi.  Though there were silversmiths working and taking apprentices even before Capron's birth, no surviving Adams County records offer a hint that he actually was trained there.   It seems plausible, however, that he set up his first shop in Natchez, working there through most of the 1830s.  (The Smith family comprise the first dynasty of Natchez silversmiths.  We read from The Natchez Court Records 1767-1805, "INDENTURE:  9 July 1794 James Smith apprentices his son Prestwood Smith, being 7 years old 1st March 1794, to his brother William Smith, until he is 21 years old, to learn the art of silversmith, during which time his master's secrets he will keep.  Matrimony he shall not contract neither shall he absent himself at any time without leave.  William Smith to give him two years schooling and teach him the art of his calling; 8 July 1794  James Smith of the District of Buffalo, the Government of Natchez, bound his son, John Smith, as an apprentice unto William Smith, of the same government, until he is 21 years old, he being 5 years 8 Sept. 1793, to learn the art and mystery of a silversmith.)

 Mark for Capron, Natchez &/or Houston, ca. 1840 The Bayou Bend Collection, gift of William J. Hill

The Capron’s may have left Natchez for Texas in 1838, for we find a notice in the “Telegraph & Texas Register,” (Houston) Vol. 11, No. 7, Ed.1, Wednesday, February 18, 1846 that reads, “LOST- My headright certificate for one league and labor of land, issued by the board of land commissioners of Fort Bend County, on the third of May 1838, No. 278.  If not heard of in the time prescribed by law, I will apply to the proper officers for a duplicate of the same.  14 JAN GEORGE W CAPRON.”    By 1840, George had most certainly settled his family in or near Houston, TX, as proven by the 1850 Mortality List for Texas: Harris County, that included the deaths of two sons of George & Elizabeth Capron, they being George Henry, age 21, born in Mississippi and died of fever in August 1850, and Abner Capron, age 10, born in Texas and drowned in June 1850.  The death of poor little Abner, along with what must have been his cousin, was recorded in the local newspaper for Thursday, 21 June 1849, as well as in “The Texas Democrat” (Austin) Saturday 30 June 1849:  “We are pained to mention that two interesting little boy were drowned, while bathing in the bayou in the upper part of the city on Saturday last:  one of them was a son of Mr. G. W. Capron and aged about nine years, the other a son of Mr. Perry aged ten years.”  Young George Capron was a printer by trade, “distinguished for his application and industry and remarkably amiable and affectionate in disposition” per his obituary in the “Democratic Telegraph and Texas Register” for Thursday, 30 August 1849.

In the Federal Census of 1850, the Slave Schedule for Harris County, it is recorded that George W. Capron owned two slaves, a male age 40 and a female age 25.  The male slave is likely Arthur, inherited by Elizabeth Perry Capron from the estate of her bachelor brother Bryan Perry, killed fighting in the Mexican War.  Bryan acquired Arthur from their brother Daniel Perry “Jr.” III, who purchased Arthur from the estate of their father for $600.  The Capron’s were, it seems, comfortable middle-class merchants helping establish eastern (southeastern!) society in the wilds of Texas where, in 1848, he became a founding member of the “Houston Mechanics Institute.” (Gammel, Hans P. N., The Laws of Texas 1822-1897, Vol. 3, Chapt. 203)

Shortly after their arrival in Houston, Capron seems to have followed the military lead of his Perry in-laws and joined the last raiding party of Republic of Texas militia into Mexico.  Ordered back, many dissatisfied enlisted men and officers opted to go their own way for profit and adventure.  Capron stayed with those men defying orders who opted to take one last raid that Christmas of 1842.  Their fateful escapades across the Rio Grande came to be known as the Mier Expedition.    In all, 176 men were ultimately captured by Mexican troops with the final order that 1 of each 10 be executed.  Victims were chosen by lottery, each man drawing a black bean fated for death.  One account of the “Black Bean Episode” explains that George Capron was “one who drew the black bean, which was a misfortune as those who did were to be shot.  Those who drew white beans were to be taken as prisoners.  His buddy, all through the War, said to him, “You take my bean as I have no family or anyone and you have a wife and children back home.”  So, they did exchange beans.  Those who had white beans were marched on foot through arid country in Mexico.  To allay their excruciating thirst, they scraped prickly pears on the way to get moisture.  The thorns from the pear caused their tongues to swell so much the men could not get them back into their mouths.  May men died under this torture.  The remaining men were thrown into prison in Mexico half starved and badly treated.  Those who survived dug their way out and escaped.  Only eight of those men lived to reach Texas.  One was George Washington Capron.”  (oral history as told by descendant Dorothy Brown Jennings, as recorded in Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Vol. 1, Turner Publishing, Paducah, Ky.)

Frederic Remington's depiction of "The Black Bean Episode"

  

We may never know for sure just which comrade saved Capron’s life by the subtle switch of a bean, though a companion story seems to fill in the gaps.  We do know, however, that the seventeen ultimate victims of the bean lottery were James Decatur Cocke, William Mosby Eastland, Patrick Mahan, James M. Ogden, James N. Torrey, Martin Carroll Wing, John L. Cash, Robert Holmes Dunham, Edward E. Este, Robert Harris, Thomas L. Jones, Christopher Roberts, William n. Rowan, James L. Shepherd, J. N. M. Thompson, James Turnbull, and Henry Walling.  One source, while omitting Capron’s name, explains that the friend who saved George’s life was none other than fellow Kentuckian and future Confederate Major-General George B. Crittenden.  According this narrative, Crittenden drew a white bean and offered it (to Capron) saying, “You have a wife and children, but I have none.  I can take another chance.”  Crittenden went on to draw, luckily, another white bean. (Raine, William MacLeod, “A Forgotten Filibuster”, The Outing Magazine; Handbook of Texas Online, "Black Bean Episode," accessed January 09, 2018, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qmb01)

Confederate General George Bibb Crittenden, son of Kentucky Congressman John J. Critttenden

Some have surmised that George Capron was nothing but a retailer of silver, as was common in the 1860s, but that assumption is based upon limited knowledge of the duration of his career.  We must safely assume that Capron was a working silversmith, at least while in Natchez, Mississippi, and likely worked as a silversmith during his first years in Texas.  The scant few surviving examples of his silver, all flatware, would indicate manufacture much earlier than the 1860s, more likely ca. 1830 while in Natchez.  Such silver was marked simply "CAPRON" in cartouche. Those surviving pieces of flatware that might be of later manufacture still would date to the 1840s or 1850s at the least, and bear no pseudo-hallmarks, only a “G W CAPRON” rectangular cartouche mark.  Simple in line, well executed and heavy in gauge, there is just no indication that anyone other than Capron himself was the craftsman.  This conclusion is supported by Capron's involvement in organizing a mechanic's guild in the newly formed state of Texas.

Sauce Ladle by G. W. Capron, The Bayou Bend Collection, gift of William J. Hill

Capron’s career as a jeweler in Houston is of course confirmed by the Federal Census of 1850 and 1860, though strangely we find but a single advertisement for his business.  He ran this ad in the Houston “Tri-Weekly Telegraph” on 24 Sept. 1862, “NOTICE.  Having purchased the stock of Jewelry, etc., from A. J. Chavanne*, the business will be conducted as heretofore.  Having secured the services of first rate workmen, all work will be done with neatness and dispatch.  G. W. CAPRON.”  Likely George subsidized his shop through minor governmental positions.  The span of civic involvement of Captain Capron, as he was referred to locally, is documented in the pages of the local “Telegraph and Texas Register.”   On Wednesday, 29 JAN 1845 we find notice from Capron that, “The undersigned being elected Constable of Beat No. 3, city of Houston, given bond and taken the oath of office, is now ready to attend to any business of said office entrusted to him.  Strict attention will be given to the collection of notes and accounts G. W. CAPRON.”  Where exactly Capron's shop was is difficult to ascertain, but tax records show his ownership of 4 lots in Houston including #1 & #10 in Block 9, but likely the shop was on lots 4 & 5 on Block 5.  He as well owned 4 lots in the "Buffalo" District. His two slaves were taxed at $500 each.  (Texas, County Tax Rolls, 1837-1910, Harris County 1849-1859)

Original Plan for the City of Houston, mapped 1869, Block 5 fronting the upper bend of the Buffalo Bayou River

George as well served as Justice of the Peace, a local election officer and a member of the Houston Division, #46 “Sons of Temperance” and was as well candidate for the office of Houston City Recorder in January of 1861.  Then in August of 1862 he successfully ran for the position of Chief Justice for Harris County.  In January of 1863, the last mention of Capron in the local papers prior to his death, he lost a re-election as City Recorder.

Counter-struck American Quarter bearing the mark of George W. Capron

The finals days of George Washington Capron’s life must have been as painful and his last day was tragic.  The “Houston Tri-Weekly Telegraph” Vol. 31, No. 4 for Monday 3 April 1865 reports that, “Mr. George W. Capron, an old citizen of this town, committed suicide last Saturday night at his own residence.  He is reported to have been temporarily insane.  He was buried yesterday by the Masonic Fraternity, a large number of citizens attending the funeral.”  Such a sad end to a rich life of love, adventure, and craftsmanship.

*Chavanne, the Swiss-born jeweler & watch-maker (1829-) with an impressive estate per the 1860 Harris County Federal Census, must have come out of retirement after Capron's death.  He's found advertising again in the Houston City Directory for 1866 as a "dealer in watches, clocks and jewelry, Congress between Main and Fannin Streets" and again in the Directory for 1867-68 employing E. Lilienkamp as watch-maker.  Chavanne was "naturalized in the county of Harris state of Texas" per his 26 May 1859 passport.  He first advertised in the "Weekly Telegraph" for Wednesday, 30th April, 1856,  "Clocks, Watches, Jewelry, etc. A. J. Chavanne, late from Paris, watchmaker, has just received from France the largest stock of goods."  Chavanne's shop, rented from J. T. D. Wilson, was listed among those buildings damaged &/or destroyed by the "Great Fire" of Houston on 7th March 1859.  Chavanne left for Europe the 18th of May "for the purpose of laying in a heavy stock of watches and jewelry.  He has taken the lower floor of Hutchins' new building and designs opening in the fall the largest stock of those articles ever brought to the State."  (The Weekly Telegraph)