ABSTRACT
James Howard's story is remarkable for his rise from a weaver's son in Oldham to the founder of a large shipyard. It includes fascinating details of the history and culture of early Indiana as well as Howard's complex life and its tragic end. After spending four years under his master he came to Louisville, and in a few weeks after his arrival succeeded in getting a contract for building a steamboat. Jeffersonville offering the most available situation to meet his needs, he located his yards on a small tract of land on the river bank at the foot of Mechanic street, in 1834. Among the older citizens of Jeffersonville and among steamboat men from Pittsburg to New Orleans, he was known affectionately as 'Uncle Jim'. His unswerving integrity, his charity and his fair dealings with all, made his death a personal one to many as well as a public calamity to the city of Jeffersonville.
