Percy Henry Daniels

Percy Henry Daniels was the son of William Daniels and Eliza Bell Gale. He was born on December 5, 1885, in Olympia, Thurston County, Washington. Most of his life, he gave his birth year as 1881, for unknown reasons, but early records prove otherwise. His mother died when he was just two months old, in February of 1886, around the same time as his older sister, Mary, who died at the age of three. In 1889, Percy was living with his maternal grandmother in Mason County, Washington. His age was recorded as three. His grandmother died in 1899 and in April of 1892 he was counted on the census back in the home of his father in Kamilche, Mason County. His age was given as six. In June of 1900 he was counted on his father's home in Satsop, Mason County. At the time, Percy was as a student, age 16. According to his daughter, Ethel, that was the age he left home and joined the Navy. This may or may not be true. No records have been found again until 1907, when he begins to appear on ship records. In 1907, Percy's address was 27 South Street (now South Street Seaport) in New York City. The address was a a type of boarding house specifically for sailors; a place for them to stay when in port. Ship records show Percy sailing the S.S. Oscar II from Copenhagen to New York in 1907. He was noted as "Consulates Passenger".

It appears in 1915 he was hired as a crew member aboard the steam ship S. S. Abangarez, owned by United Fruit Co., and repeated a route between Havana, Cuba, and New Orleans, Louisiana, multiple times in 1915 and 1916. The trip took two days each way and Percy started out as Sailor in 1915, Quarter Master in 1916. In 1918 he was 3rd Mate on a ten day voyage from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to the Port of New York. Under the "Race" column, he was labeled "Scot." on that ship manifest. He was 5'10" and weighed 180-pounds. Four days after his arrival, he registered for the draft at the New York Public Library located at 31 East Broadway. He traveled from Naples in February of 1920 and in March he sailed from Gibraltar to New York, after a 15 day voyage. On this ship record, he gives two addresses: 27 South Street, New York and 542 St. Peter Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. His “Seaman’s Card” number was “12857 N.Y.” In 1921, he sailed the 410-foot S.S. Clearwater as "First Officer" under the Ship's Master, Lars Huitfeldt, traveling from Mobile, Alabama, to Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was "Ch. Mate" or 1st Mate. He sailed back as First Mate four months later, arriving in New York on Christmas Day of 1922.

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On April 29, 1929, he married Vena Dykeman of Candor, Tioga County, New York - daughter of Arthur Dykeman and Olive Jane Jacobs. They were married at the Baptist Parsonage on Utica Street (Tabernacle Baptist Church today) in Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York. Their daughter, Ethel, was born in 1930. The family lived in Cortlandville, New York in 1930. They were renting a home on Tioughnioga Ave, and Percy was working as a plumber at the time. In 1940 he owned a home in Solon, Cortland County, according to the census taken in April that year. He died later that year, on December 13, 1940, outside his home in Solon. He was 55 years old, despite the error in his obituary and death certificate. The cause of death was Coronary Disease. He was buried at Cortland Rural Cemetery in Section 5, Lot 81.