The Prince of the Upper MO Research

The above picture is supposed to be of Captain James McGarry.

About the Project- The Prince of the Upper Missouri: Captain James McGarry. 

Captain James McGarry was truly a unique and important steamboat captain who worked on the Upper Missouri River from the late 1860s until the early 1870s.  Born in Ireland, his family fled the famine and settled in Canada. After immigrating to the United States and possibly serving in the U.S. Civil War, he made his way out to the West.  Here, he played an important role in the development of the history of this region and through the telling of his story an even wider story of the American West can be told.  His life came to a tragic end in 1879, he was only 44 years old.  His story has never been fully or accurately portrayed. Furthermore, it has been 100 years since the biography of any Upper Missouri steamboat captain has been published. 

About Me & Project Costs

I graduated with an M.A. in History from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 2013.  Earlier this year, I received an award for a conference paper that was based upon what I have learned so far about the captain. I also received the Independent Research and Creative Works Award from the Charles Redd Center which included some funding. However, I still need to come up with the funds to:

- cover the cost of obtaining records directly  from a number of repositories including NARA

- cover the cost of obtaining records on microfilm via interlibrary loan

- cover the remainder of the cost of travelling from Bellevue, NE to Helena, Montana to conduct research at the Montana State Archives. The award I received from the Charles Redd Center will fund the majority of this particular research trip.

- cover the cost of travelling from Bellevue, NE to Yankton, SD to conduct research at the courthouse and library. 

- cover the cost of traveling from Bellevue, NE to Kansas City, MO to conduct research at their branch of NARA.

- cover fees associated with obtaining copies of records at each of these locations to which I need to travel. 

- offset fees and taxes I must pay on the award I received and funds received via GoFundMe.

Please note, in the instances where I will be traveling to conduct research I am doing so because it is cheaper than or costs the same as hiring someone to do the research for me. 

More can be learned about this project as well as me on my blog at www.rpresearch.wordpress.com  You can find me on Twitter at @KassieLNelson and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rpresearch. 

Thank you.

- Kassie Nelson

History, historical research, independent historian, historian, steamboats, steamboat history