Jayne, Great story! As you have requested, I have Forwarded your email to the two Message Boards, and Jacki Wilson of the Pens Historical Society. All of this coverage can include a lot of experts---let's see what happens. There are some REAL experts on these Boards--- Dean DeBolt, Lee Scott, Jacki, maybe Suzanne Weathers and who knows what others? Good luck---it will be interesting to see the outcome! Thanks for writing to me. Would THIS be related in any way to the "Hannah book" that was donated to us last year---I don't remember his name, but he was quite well known in this area in his work with the, was it the military, government; I think think his wife died early, etc., etc.?? I'll have to check our library to find the Hannah book. Evan ----- Original Message ----- From: Jayne Lipe To: Evan Strohl Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 10:32 PM Subject: The Okoloosa Evan Since you were of great help to me a few years ago on some West Florida genealogy AND because I've lost my email for FLESCAMB, I am writing you direct with a question I would have sent to Flescamb. The attached file will tell you all I know about this subject. My great-grandfather, John Mathew Hannah, was born in Milton and was a resident there all his adult life. He built and captained ships, mostly steam tugs, from the 1880s till his death in 1913. I am particularly interested in any information anyone has on the "Okoloosa," a tug he built in cooperation with James Albert Bishop in the late 1880s. You can see the detail in the file of information I attached AND, I am most interested in the last item, a poem called "Ode to the Okoloosa" which was written by someone at Mary Esther in 1902, probably after the ship had gone out of service. A notation at the bottom of the poem says PROGRESS, but this meant nothing to me. My mother, now dead, typed out the poem on one of her visits to her mother-in-law, Carrie Hannah Allen, who was a daughter of John Matthew Hannah. I would appreciate it if you could put me in touch with anyone who might know anything about these mysteries, as well as any other information on the Hannah family and/or the descendants of James Albert Bishop. Also, if it is possible to put it on the FLESCAMB email list, please do. Thank you very much. Jayne Allen Lipe-- Jayne Lipe jayne@lipe.ws 425 739 0472