# SS Wyoming, pre 1870



## Bitkin (Oct 31, 2007)

Does anyone have any information on this passenger ship please? I can only find pictures and details of one built in 1870, but my ancestors travelled in 1853.


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## JoyceW (Sep 24, 2007)

Hi Bitkin, here is a picture supposedly of the SS Wyoming of the 1850's, but the vessel shown is definitely not of that era, I would say, and looks like a much later ship. Maybe other members could comment but in any case the Guion Line wasn't in business as early as that.

http://homepages.wmich.edu/~rudged/gen/ship.html

Here is a page about another Wyoming, but there are no details as to whether she was steam or sail, but was of 891 tons and was sailing in the 1850's.

http://www.immigrantships.net/v6/1800v6/wyoming18540227.html

And here is a .pdf do***ent about the Quaker Thomas Cope's shipping line of Philadelphia which transported immigrants to the US from Liverpool. There are a lot of graphs etc, but if you keep reading down, there are references to the same Wyoming, even mentioning Capt Richard Dunlevy. This may not, of course, be the ship you are looking for and it may be that this particular one is, in fact, a sailing vessel. I hope this may be of some help. If not I hope you find what you are looking for eventually. Good Luck.


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## JoyceW (Sep 24, 2007)

Sorry, forgot to post the last link (the phone rang just as I was finishing off!)

http://www.ehs.org.uk/ehs/conference2008/Assets/KillickFullPaper.pdf


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## Bitkin (Oct 31, 2007)

Thank you so much JoyceW - yes indeed, the Master of the Wyoming on which my ancestors travelled to Philadelphia was Richard Dunlevy, and the shipping line was Cope.
On the passenger list, (which I was sent by email tonight), it states that the ship was just over 884 tons - tiny for such a long journey. 

I will check out your links, but will bear in mind your comments. (update - yes, that picture is of the Wyoming built in 1870)

Thank you again


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## Bitkin (Oct 31, 2007)

Just another thank you - by giving me the information that the ship and Richard Dunlevy were operating the year after my ancestors sailed, it has proved that they were not all lost at sea......which given that I cannot find them on American censuses (although their records are not as good as ours!) was a possibility in my mind.


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## JoyceW (Sep 24, 2007)

Hello again Bitkin, glad I could help a little, but if you want to pursue this further, here's another link I came across and you will see Wyoming mentioned. So there are records around, and your ancestors' names may well be there. Unfortunately, you have to subscribe. There may be access to other records free of charge elsewhere, though.

http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/list.aspx?dbid=8769&path=1853.2


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## Bitkin (Oct 31, 2007)

Yes, all roads eventually lead to Ancestry!! I only have the UK package, not the worldwide one which is needed for emigration etc., but fortunately I have a friend who has the whole thing and she is looking for me.

Thank you for your time


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## surfaceblow (Jan 16, 2008)

There was a Wyoming of the Cope Line Packet Ships. From Haverford College Libraries "Thomas Pim Cope (1768-1854), prominent Quaker merchant, member of Philadelphia City Council and Pennsylvania legislature, was the founder of the Cope packet line - a mercantile shipping firm based in Philadelphia and trading with England and the Far East. His sons, Henry and Alfred later took on the business themselves when their father withdrew from the company in 1829. Their brother, William D. Cope (1798-1873), settled in Susquehanna County, Pa. where William looked after his father's land interests, establishing his home at "Woodbourne." Henry's sons, Francis R. Cope (1821-1909) and Thomas Pim Cope (1823-1900) also joined the shipping firm, continuing it as Cope Brothers after the death of their father in 1869 and the withdrawal of their uncle Alfred. The company was sold in 1880".
http://www.haverford.edu/library/special/aids/copeevans/

There is also a print of the Wyoming in Frank H. Taylor's Old Philadelphia Prints 
http://www.brynmawr.edu/iconog/fht/pfht/p130.JPG

The Cope Lines Liverpool Agents were William and James Brown.


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## surfaceblow (Jan 16, 2008)

The web site below as a picture of a steerage ticket for the Cope Brothers Ships. The ships sailed on the twelve of each month and had to present their ticket on or before the 8 of the month departing from Liverpool. 

http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/exhibition/2_3.html


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## kewl dude (Jun 1, 2008)

SS Wyoming US Flag?

My 1884 list of US Flag ships shows three SS Wyoming's:

ON: 26505 – GT: 205.86 – HP: 79 – BLT: 1852 Wilmington Del – PORT: Philadelphia, Pa

ON: 26630 – CALL SIGN: HSTK - GT: 799.89 – NT: 540.69 – HP: 150 - BLT: 1867 Kaighn’s Point, Nj – PORT – Kaighn’s Point, Nj

ON: 89741 – GT – 1034.15 – BLT: 1879 Pittsburg, Pa – PORT: Cincinnati, Oh

ON – Official Number, GT – Gross Tons, NT – Net Tons, HP – Horsepower, BLT – Built, PORT – Home Port

Greg Hayden


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