George Flavel

Captain George Edward Flavel (; November 17, 1823 — July 3, 1893) was an Irish American maritime pilot and entrepreneur. Born in 1823 to Irish parents, Flavel relocated to the West coast of the United States in 1849, working as a tugboat operator between Sacramento and San Francisco, California. In 1851, he settled in the northern coastal port city of Astoria, Oregon, where he became one of the first licensed bar pilots in the state.

Flavel would go on to amass a fortune with a business managing pilot boats on the Columbia River, making him a prominent local figure, and one of the first millionaires in Oregon. In addition to bar piloting, he was involved in several other entrepreneurial endeavors, including operating a wharf in Astoria, and managing a coal business from Australia. At the time of his death in 1893, Flavel had a net worth of nearly US$2 million .

His family estate, known as the Captain George Flavel House, was donated to the Clatsop County Historical Society by his great-granddaughter after her inheritance of it in 1933, and contemporarily functions as a museum.

Biography Early life George Flavel was born in 1823. Some sources state he was born in Portadown, County Armagh, Ireland, while others state his birthplace as Norfolk, Virginia, where he had resided in his early life. Flavel was of Irish descent. before relocating to Astoria, Oregon, then a settlement based around John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company. Flavel settled in Astoria after a stint as captain of the brig John Petty. In his later life, Flavel also helped manage the First National Bank of Astoria beginning in 1886; he served as its president until his death.

Flavel died in 1893 with a reported net worth of $1.9 million . His funeral procession was one of the largest in the history of Astoria. In 1897, Flavel's body was relocated for interment at Ocean View Cemetery in Warrenton, Oregon.

In a 1922 interview with his widow, Mary Christina, she said of her husband's success: "One of the reasons why my husband made a success as a pilot on the Columbia River bar was that he was not only an able navigator, but he was fearless and was willing to put out in any sort of weather to assist vessels in need of help." The Flavel mansion, known as the Captain George Flavel House, now functions as a museum serving the city of Astoria. Flavel's eldest great-granddaughter, Patricia Jean Flavel, inherited the home from her aunt Nellie Flavel, and donated the property to the Clatsop County Historical Society around 1934. Patricia Jean Flavel died in 2014 at age 101.