Enoch Train

Enoch Train (1801 – 1868) was an American shipowner and merchant. He is known for establishing the White Diamond Line, that provided a packet service between Boston and Liverpool.[1]

Colonel Enoch Train
Born	1801 Weston, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States
Died	September 3, 1868 (aged 66–67) Saugus, Essex, Massachusetts, United States
Burial place	Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States
Spouse(s)	Adaline C. Dutton (married 1823–1834, until her death in 1834) and Almira Cheever (m.1834, until his death in 1868)
Children	Adaline Dutton Train, Theodore Train, George N. Train, Caroline A. Train, Enoch Train
Parents	Enoch Train (father) Hannah Ewing (mother)
Relatives	George Francis Train

Early life

Enoch Train was born around 1801, in Weston, Massachusetts to Enoch Train (1763-1805) and Hannah Ewing Train, daughter of a Scotch chaplain in British army. The fourth of five children, but the second living child. His oldest sister, Harriette died (1793-1797) in her fourth year and his oldest brother, also named Enoch Train (1795-1796), died in his second year.[2]

After death of his father Enoch's mother married Captain Levi Bishop in 1807 and they moved to Halifax, Vermont and to be closer to her parents.[3] Then, in 1814 she died[4] and Train found himself an orphan at the age of 13. It seems that he then lived with his uncle Samuel Train where he learned the hide and leather business.[5]

Marriages and family

On November 3, 1823 Enoch Train married Adeline C. Dutton in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. By 1824 they were living in Boston where their first child, Adeline, was born on September 15. She was followed by four more children, Theodore (1826–1847), George (1828–1848), Caroline (1830–1908), and Enoch (1833–1854).

Adeline died less than a year after the birth of their last child, in August 1834.

Train married Almira Cheever in 1836. They had one boy who died shortly after his birth in 1838. Almira lived until 1881.[6]

Early years as a ship owner

Train bought his first ships in the late 1830s and early 1840s. Dorchester, Cario, and Governor Davis served as trading vessels between Boston and South America. He then decided to move into the Baltic cotton trade with St. Petersburg (built by Waterman & Ewell, in Medford, Massachusetts, 814 tons burthen, 160 ft. long, 33 ft. beam).[7]

White Diamond Line / Enoch Train & Co. / Train & Co.

In 1843 Enoch Train established the White Diamond Line,[1] to provide a packet service between Boston and Liverpool. Initially he pulled ships from other service to that purpose, until new ships were built. His Boston based firm was named Enoch Train & Company, while the Liverpool end of the operation was Train & Co.[8]

Enoch Train and Donald McKay

While sailing to Liverpool, to establish Train & Co., Enoch Train had opportunity to converse with Dennis Coudry who had recently taken delivery of the Delia Walker, the first ship designed and built by Donald McKay. Coudry was so impressed with McKay's work, and spoke so highly of his ability that Enoch decided to speak to Donald McKay when he returned to the U.S., about having him build the first packet ship.[9] Upon his return to Boston he sought out McKay in Newburyport, MA and according to Captain Clark, ″it was the swift contact of flint and steel″, and Enoch ordered the Joshua Bates, his first ship built by McKay. Upon the launch of this ship Train offered McKay his financial backing if he would move his ship yard to Boston.[10] This began a relationship that produced nine ships between 1844 to 1853.

The Panic of 1857 significantly effected and eventually ended Enoch Train's shipping businesses. A Liverpool partnership, Thayer & Warren succeeded Train & Co. as the Warren Line.[11]

Ships built by Donald McKay for Enoch Train

Sovereign of the Seas (1852)

Great Republic (1853)

Date	Name	Size	Notes
1844	Joshua Bates	620 tons
1845	Washington Irving	751 tons	Launched 15 September 1845. Sold to England in 1852
1846	Anglo-Saxon	894 tons	Launched 5 September 1846
1847	Ocean Monarch	1,301 tons OM	Burnt in North Atlantic 1848
1848	Anglo-American	704 tons
1850	Daniel Webster	1187 tons
1851	Flying Cloud	1782 tons OM	Wrecked on Beacon Island 1874
1851	Staffordshire	1817 tons OM	Wrecked off Cape Sable, Florida in 1853
1852	Sovereign of the Seas	2421 tons OM	Initially named Enoch Train, she was renamed and sold before she was launched. She was wrecked in the Malacca Straits in 1859
1853	Star of Empire	2050 tons OM	In 1857, laden with guano, she broke to pieces on Currituck Beach, N. C.[12]
1853	Chariot of Fame	2050 tons OM	Sold in 1862 and came to her end in January, 1876, being abandoned or lost at sea en route from Chincha Islands to Cork.[13]
unk.	Parliament[14]	unknown
unk.	Empress of the Seas	unknown
unk.	Plymouth Rock	unknown	Half-owned by George B. Upton
unk.	Lightning	unknown
unk.	Cathedral	unknown
unk.	John Eliot Thayer	unknown

Other Ships owned Enoch Train & Co.

Date	Name	Size	Notes
Pre. 1839	Dorchester
Pre. 1839	Cairo
Pre. 1839	Governor Davis
Pre. 1839	St. Petersburg	814 tons	built by Waterman & Ewell of Medford
unknown	Break of Day	unknown

Boston & European Steamship Company

Enoch Train saw the future of steam powered ships and in 1855, along with James Bebee, Andrew Hall, Donald McKay, and George Upton, formed the Boston & European Steamship Company, ″for the purpose of navigating the ocean by steam.″ This venture seems to have been curtailed by the same economic issues related to the Panic of 1857 that ended Enoch Train & Co.[11]

References

1. Lubbock, Basil (1988). The Western Ocean Packets. Mineola, N.Y., USA: Dover Publications Inc. p. 29. ISBN 0-486-25684-7.
2. Dedham historical register. Dedham Historical Society. 1890. p. 69.
3. "THE SAD LIFE OF HANNAH EWING By Louis Lehmann". www.familysearch.org. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
4. "Hannah Train Bishop". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
5. "Some Merchants and Sea Captains of Old Boston". www.archive.org. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
6. "Find-a-Grave: Almira C. Train". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
7. Lubbock, Basil (1988). The Western Ocean Packets. Mineola, N.Y., USA: Dover Publications Inc. p. 30. ISBN 0-486-25684-7.
8. "The Law Journal Report for the year 1861 Comprising Reports of Cases in the House of Lords, and in the courts of Chancery". books.google.com. 1861. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
9. Lubbock, Basil (1988). The Western Ocean Packets. Mineola, N.Y., USA: Dover Publications Inc. p. 31. ISBN 0-486-25684-7.
10. Lubbock, Basil (1988). The Western Ocean Packets. Mineola, N.Y., USA: Dover Publications Inc. p. 32. ISBN 0-486-25684-7.
11. Other merchants and sea captains of old Boston : being more information about the merchants and sea captains of old Boston who played such an important part in building up the commerce of New England, together with some quaint and curious stories of the sea. University of California Libraries: State Street Trust Co, Bsoton. 1918. pp. 45, 48. OCLC 903285879.
12. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35988125/star_of_empire/
13. McKay, Richard (1928). Some Famous Sailing Ships and Their Builder Donald McKay. New York.
14. "Dorchester's Enoch Train" (PDF). dorchesteratheneum.org. Retrieved October 2, 2019.