Wilbur H. Jerome

Wilbur H. Jerome is a well-known and highly qualified marine engineer, and before sailing thoroughly learned the machinist's trade in the Cleveland City Forge, and in the machine shop of the Globe Iron Works Company.

Mr. Jerome is a son of Henry and Harriet S. (Hughson) Jerome, and was born on December 23, 1860, in Trenton, Wayne Co., Mich. His father also sailed some, but in 1861, at the breaking out of the Civil War, he enlisted in the 5th Mich. Vol. Inf. at Fort Wayne, Detroit. His regiment was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, and took an honorable part in the battles of Bull Run, Fair Oaks, the seven days fight in the Wilderness and at Gettysburg. He was wounded in the last named battle, a canister ball from a masked battery passing through both thighs. He was promoted to rank of sergeant. He lay in the hospital many weeks, suffering from his wound, but was ministered to by the loving care of his wife, who was soon at his bedside, and he eventually recovered. Previous to his enlistment he had been in charge of the engines in the Wyandotte Rolling Mills. After his honorable discharge from the army he went to Cleveland, where he entered the employ of the Cleveland City Forge & Iron Co., as engineer, and was soon advanced to the foremanship of the entire plant, giving good satisfaction in the performance of his duties. He died in the summer of 1888, at the age of sixty-two years. The wife and mother is still living in Cleveland.

Wilbur H. Jerome had the advantage of the excellent public school system of Cleveland, and finished his education in the Brooks Military Academy in that city, attending that institution three years. He then went as an apprentice to the machinist's trade in the Cleveland City Forge & Iron Co., where his father was foreman, remaining about two years and a half, after which he put in two years in the shop of Lord & Bowler, brass and iron founders. In 1880 he entered the employ of the Globe Iron Works, remaining with them until 1886, when he took out first assistant marine engineer's license, and shipped in the steamer J.H. Wetmore, but closed the season in the Colonial. The next season he put the machinery in the steamer Specular, and sailed in her as first assistant engineer, with Robert Neil as chief. In the spring of 1888 Mr. Jerome shipped as first assistant in the Charlemagne Tower, but later went as first assistant on the steamer Pasadena. The next spring, while engaged in fitting out the steamer Samoa as second engineer, he was appointed chief in the steamer Araxes, but before the close of the season he assumed charge of the engines of the steel steamer Northern Queen.

In 1890 Mr. Jerome was appointed chief engineer in the steamer Grecian, of the Menominee Transit Company. The next three years were passed in the employ of Henry J. Johnson, of Cleveland, as chief engineer of the steamers Horace A. Tuttle and Henry J. Johnson, remaining one year on the former and two years on the latter. His next berth was in the passenger steamer Atlanta, of the Goodrich Transportation Company, as chief engineer, an office which he has held four successive seasons. He is recognized as a first-class mechanic, and during the winter months has been employed in the Globe Iron Works, at times as night foreman, and assisted in putting up the machinery of the Northern Steamship Company's boats and the passenger steamer Virginia. He is a member of the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, and is now financial secretary of the Manitowoc Lodge; he is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, both of Manitowoc.

In February, 1891, Mr. Jerome was wedded, in Cleveland, to Miss Ella, daughter of Charles A. Halsey, of Whiting, Ind. Two children, Wilbur H. and Lulu M., have been born to this union. The family homestead is at No. 4 Goulder Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, although they reside in Muskegon, Mich., on account of his business interests. Mrs. Jerome's father has charge of the boiler works department of the Standard Oil Company at Whiting, Indiana.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.