Joseph Vivian

This is a picture of my great-great-great grandfather, Joseph Vivian.  I'm not sure where it was taken, but I'm guessing either Michigan or Colorado.  He is the one on the left without the coat on.  It was taken probably about the 1900s.  Here is some information on him that I collected and put together for a personal history that I am writting for my grandmother, Donna Vivian Epperson:

Her father's 

family was originally from Gwennap, Cornwall, England where they lived on Goon Gumpus Street.  Her great great grandfather father, Alexander Vivian, died in 1853 when he was about 55 years old, leaving behind his wife of almost 10 years, Frances Richards Vivian, and seven children all under the age of 10.  Perhaps as a result of the widow needing to provide for her children, three of her sons, Alfred (23 years old), Joseph (17 years old), and John (21 years old) immigrated to the United States where they could use their occupations as minors to make a living. 

They left Liverpool, England in 1870 on a ship called City of Paris with a steerage class ticket that cost eight shillings each.  The City of Paris was a part of the Inman Steamship Company and was in service from 1866-1884.  It was a 346 foot long and 40 foot wide steamship, with one black smoke stack that had a white band near the top, a clipper bow, and an iron hull.  Three masts surrounded the smoke stack, one in the front, and two behind.   It was built by Tod & McGregor, from Glasgow, Scotland and weighed 2,651 tons.  It had one propeller and could reach a top speed of about 13 ½ knots.  The City of Paris maiden voyage was on March 21, 1866 out of Liverpool, England sailing to New York.

The Inman Line operated from 1850 until 1893, when it was absorbed into American Line.  It was one of the three largest nineteenth century British passenger shipping companies on the North Atlantic.  Inman lead the drive to replace wood-hulled paddle steamers with iron-hulled ships equipped with screw propulsion.  In 1852, Inman also established that steerage passengers could be transported in steamships.  By 1870, Inman landed more passengers in New York than any other line.  The City of Paris was the first screw liner to match the speed of the paddlers on the Atlantic crossing.  After four years of service it was lengthened to 397 feet and her capacity was increased to 150 cabins and 400 steerage.  City of Paris was sold in 1884 to French owners who converted her to the cargo ship Tonquin.  In March 1885, she sank off of Malaga after a collision in the fog.       

The City of Paris arrived in the New York with the Vivians onboard on May 24, 1870.  When the Vivians came to the United States through New York Donna’s Great Grandfather, Joseph Vivian, eventually settled in Champion, Marquette, Michigan.  He married Mary Jane Irving, from Hancock, Berks, Pennsylvania, about 1871.  They had four children; James H. Vivian, Francis Vivian, Laura Vivian, and Donna’s grandfather Joseph Vivian.  They lived in Michigan until about 1900 when they moved to Colorado.  Joseph Vivian married Donna Anna Hildebrand from North Carolina in 1904.  The Vivians stayed in Colorado until Donna was born in 1932.