An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., 
The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893, page 482

	CAPTAIN SAMUEL JACKSON, one of the oldest steamboat navigators of Puget
Sound, was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, November 17, 1832, son of Captain
Samuel and Nancy (McCreedy) Jackson, natives of Long Island and Massachusetts
respectively. The subject of this sketch was reared under the influence of
seafaring stories, and when but ten years of age he would accompany his father
on his fishing excursions during the summer months, and during the winter found
employment about the foundries and shipyards, with but limited opportunities for
attending school. He followed fishing up to his seventeenth year, then sailed
upon larger vessels, through the deeper seas. During his earliest voyages on the
Elizabeth Fulton, about 1850, en route to the Pacific coast, the vessel
foundered near the equator and went down. The crew all escaped in lifeboats, and
after four days reached the land. He then sailed on the Criminal around Cape
Horn to Valparaiso, thence by the ship St. Bernard to Callao and back to
Philadelphia. He then sailed with the Enoch Train line of packet ships from
Boston to Liverpool, carrying freight and passengers. He continued in that
service five years, going in before the mast and coming out as mate. He then
sailed as boatswain on the Niagara, from New York to Liverpool, and was wrecked
on the Black Water banks in the Irish channel, and out of 265 passengers all
were saved excepting two. Our subject continued sailing on the Atlantic up to
1856, then spent the summer on the Lakes Michigan, Superior and Ontario, and in
the fall of 1856 went to New York and shipped as second mate on the ship Webfoot
for San Francisco, arriving in May, 1857. He then struck out for the mines and
passed the summer in various districts with reasonable success. In the fall he
sailed to Hong Kong on the ship Sancho Panza, returning to San Francisco in 1858
on the ship White Swallow. In the fall of 1858 he again visited the mines and
continued through California, Nevada and Mexico, up to 1861, then came to Puget
Sound, which he had visited in 1858. He engaged in steam-boating on The Ranger
No. 2. Since 1861 the Captain has served in various capacities in steam boat and
tug boat service, and about four years as partner of Henry Atkins, in driving
piles and building docks by contract. They built the first docks at Tacoma when
the new town was being established. The Captain has also had quite a mining
experience in the Cariboo districts and at the headwaters of the Yukon river,
where he met with flattering success, securing $2,000 in twelve days. Since 1890
he has been less active in navigation, giving more time to his personal affairs.
	He was married in 1890, to Mrs. Rosa (McLain) Olney, widow of Captain Olney.
They have one child, Helen, and Mrs. Jackson had three by her former marriage:
Earnestine, Jessie and Moses.
	The Captain has a handsome cottage home on the corner of Fifth and Virginia
streets, where the family reside, and he also owns other valuable property.
Socially, he is a member of the American Brotherhood of Steamboat Pilots.

Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in October 2003 by Jeffrey L. Elmer

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Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the
individual featured in the biographies.