The Two Captain Codys

As part of a "Mariner Monday" series on social media, the Archives researched the two Captain Cody’s, Captains on the Great Lakes. Captain Fabian Bernard Cody and Captain U.S. (Urban Stephen) Cody were the sons of Patrick and Margaret (Coffey) Cody of Sombra, Lambton County.

The Cody Family

Patrick Cody was born on 1 October 1834 to Patrick and Mary (Hogan) Cody at Prince Edward Island. After arriving in the Lambton-Kent area he met Margaret Coffey born on 4 June 1845. 

Margaret Coffey was the daughter of Stephen and Margaret (Ryan) Coffey. On 19 June 1865, Patrick and Margaret were married in Kent County, Ontario. Margaret passed away in October of 1884 and was laid to rest in Saint John’s Catholic Cemetery, Sombra, Lambton County.  Patrick married a second time to Mary Ann Murray born on 17 Mar 1853. Patrick Cody died on 2 May 1894 and is buried Riverside Cemetery, Sombra, Lambton County.  His second wife Mary Ann Murray died in May of 1882 and she was laid to rest in Saint John’s Cemetery, Sombra, Lambton County.

Patrick Cody was a shoemaker and was well respected in his community.

The Cody family were Roman Catholic, however in the 1881 Census of Canada while the rest of the family were listed as Roman Catholic, Patrick was listed as a Free Thinker and his obituary shared that he believed in the supernatural.

Children of Patrick and Margaret (Coffey) Cody:

• Captain Fabian Bernard Cody – born 14 March 1866 in Sombra and died 15 September 1929, Windsor, Ontario.
  He was laid to rest in Greenhill Cemetery, Kingsville, Essex County.
  
• Captain Urban Stephen Cody – born 20 Sep 1867 and died 12 Apr 1956 at Sombra, Lambton County. He was laid to rest in Riverside Cemetery, Sombra, Lambton County.
  
• Vitorella (Ella) M. Cody – born December 1868 and she died 25 May 1892. She was laid to rest in Saint John’s Catholic Cemetery, Sombra, Lambton County.
• Margaret Ann Cody - born 28 May 1873 and died 25 August 1953. In 1906 she moved to Detroit where she owned and operated a boarding house. Margaret passed away in Detroit, Michigan but was laid to rest in Riverside Cemetery, Sombra, Lambton County.

Children of Patrick and Mary (Murray) Cody:

• Lenore Cody - born 15 July 1889, Lambton, Ontario. She married Melvin Kenney on 3 Dec 1910. They had one daughter Dorothy Margaret Kenney. Their marriage ended in divorce on 8 Sep 1926.  She married a second time to Jack Woodham on 20 Jun 1927. Her date and place of death along with her burial information is unknown at this time.
• Virginia Marie Cody - born 9 March 1892, Sombra, Lambton, Ontario and died 8 Mar 1953. She married Francis Howard Carpenter. They had two daughters Margaret Jean Carpenter Prentice and Lenore Blanche Carpenter Bates. Howard passed on 24 Mar 1978. They were laid to rest at Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery, Sarnia, Lambton County.

Captain Fabian Bernard Cody:

Fabian met Phoebe A. Van Nest, a music teacher from Croswell, Michigan. She was the daughter of Barney and Elizabeth (Arnot) Van Nest. Fabian and Phoebe married on 3 January 1891 at Sanilac County, Michigan, USA. They had one son before their marriage ended in divorce. He later married Gertrude Lillian Doan. Gertrude was born on 13 Sep 1877 to James and Margaret (Wigle) Doan at Kingsville, Essex County, Ontario. They had two children.

Captain Fabian sailed the Great lakes for 45 years and during his long career on the water he made many friends on the lakes and garnered a rich store of experience. He was widely known among the men who work on the lakes. In October 1916, while master of the “Frank Billings”, he effected the rescue three of the crew of the “Marshall F. Butters” which sank in Lake Erie during a storm. His ship rescued three survivors who were clinging to the wreck.

For 33 of his 45 years sailing, he was master of Great Lakes steamers. The Captain was employed by three steamship companies; the Corrigan-McKinney Steamship company of Cleveland; the John Craig Steamship company, of Toledo; and the Hutchinson and Company Steamship Company. It was while connected with the Hutchinson company that he was master of the “Frank Billings”.

Captain Urban Stephen Cody:

Captain Urban Stephen Cody was the second son of Patrick and Margaret (Coffey) Cody. He married Emma Edith Stokes on 9 January 1899 in Sarnia, Lambton County. Emma was the daughter of Robert and Ellen (Meek) Stokes. They had one child, Freeda Pauline Cody born 4 April 1904, in Sombra, Lambton County.

After 44 years of Great Lakes sailing, Captain Urban Stephen Cody gave the following account of the Great Storm of 1913 to the London Free Press in 1955, a year before he died at 89 years of age:

“We were on the lake somewhere off Ashtabula when the storm broke in all its fury Sunday night. It was luck as much as anything else that got us through. In all my experience I have never know such a storm. For six hours we thought every minute was our last and that our ship could not possibly survive.”

Excerpt from “Stories of Storm Stir Memories of Father’s Plight” The Times Herald - Port Huron - Wednesday, November 13, 1963 p. 19.