Shown this week is the “Kiwanis” ferry on the Maysville shore with Aberdeen in the background. This photo was taken about 1930 and shows the Maysville-Aberdeen bridge under construction. The Kiwanis served the east end of Maysville while the Laurance was operated on the west end of the village.
(By Stephen Kelley from the People’s Defender 1984)
Nathan Ellis began operating a ferry between Limestone (Maysville) and present-day Aberdeen as early as 1796. This has been an important crossing point on the Ohio river for several years. In addition to the Indians and early settlers, this crossing had been used by the military on a number of occasions during incursions into southern Ohio to fight the Shawnee.
It was not but a short time after the establishment of Ellis’ ferry that he encountered competition. In October 1799, Scottish-born James Edwards started a second ferry crossing less than a half mile downstream from Ellis at the mouth of Fishing Gut.
The license granted to Edwards for his ferry was issued by Arthur St Clair, governor of the Northwest Territory. The Aberdeen area was then a part of Adams County, and the ferry license can yet be seen in the Adams County Recorder’s Office. It reads in part: “Territory of the U.S. North West of the river Ohio… Whereas it has been represented that a ferry is necessary over the river Ohio at the mouth of a gut in the county of Adams nearly opposite to Limestone and James Edward has requested permission to erect the said Ferry & having taken the said representation & request into consideration I have thought proper to comply with the same & license is hereby granted to the said James Edwards to establish a ferry over the said Ohio river form the mouth of the said gut to the opposite side of the river & to transport over the said river from & to the said place all persons who shall apply for the same & their horses, cattle, carriages, wagons, carts & other movables whatsoever & the said Jas. Edwards is hereby authorized to as, demand, receive & recover.. a reasonable and customary compensation until the rates of ferriages shall be settled by the General Quarter Session of the peace of the said county… and the said James Edwards both bind himself to provide one good & suitable boat or more if more than one is necessary with a sufficient number of able & skillful men to navigate the same.. between the hours of Sun rising & sun setting…”
This ferry, as well as Ellis’, was a large log raft which was propelled across the Ohio by use of long poles which would reach the bottom of the river. After a few years these primitive watercrafts were replaced by “Horse-boats”. These were guided by the use of long ropes that crossed the river. The ropes were suspended on each side of the waterway on large pulleys. The ferry was attached to the ropes and was towed with guy lines pulled by horses on shore.
By the early 1840s three different horse-boat ferries were being operated between Aberdeen and Maysville. One of these, the old Edwards ferry then being operated by his grandson-in-law, John Rains, closed down in 1842. This was due to the rebuilding of Zane’s Trace, then being called the Aberdeen & Zanesville Turnpike. The new road conveniently by-passed and Rains’ ferry and directed traffic to the old Ellis’ ferry site then owned by James Powers and to a newer ferry begin in 1838 by Helms and Campbell.
The first steam powered ferry at Aberdeen was owned and operated by a group of Maysville businessmen. It was put into service prior to the Civil War and lasted only a year. The second steam ferry was based in Aberdeen and was owned by Helms and Campbell. Helms later bought Campbell’s interested in the business and continued to operate it and an old brick hotel near the landing until his retirement in 1860. William Linton then bought Helms’ ferry and ran it during the trying years of the Civil War.
In 1877, Captain James C. Powers, master of the “Wildwood” riverboat, built a large two engine ferry and dubbed it in the Gretna Green. This ferry was a well known sight at the Aberdeen-Maysville crossing for many years.
In 1891, the “Laurance” ferry was built by another riverboat captain, Con Phister who also operated the Maysville Wharfboat. In its latter days, the Laurance was jointly owned by Captain Gordon C. Greene and Charles Stalder. After completion of the Mayville-Aberdeen Suspension Bridge in 1931, the Laurance was taken to Ripley where it was operated under the new name of the Colonel W.S. Taylor. The old ferry was condemned in the fall of 1942 and towed to Manchester where she was dismantled in 1943.
