The wonderful postings about "sea stuff" prompted me to dig out information about the arrival of my gg-grandparents in San Francisco. According to family records, David HOWELL went back east to IL from Napa, CA, in 1855. He was supposed to buy farm equipment for his father, Isaac HOWELL, and bring his brother & his brother's wife & baby back out to CA. David met Martha Ellen WADE in IL, and they eloped. They and his brother's family traveled to NY where they boarded the "George Law" steamship to the Isthmus of Panama. At the Isthmus, Panamanian natives carried them and their luggage through the surf to the railroad dock. The railroad was not quite finished, and they had to walk the last 1 1/2 miles into Panama. (Descendants talk about a mule train across part of the Isthmus; was it a train with an engine or a mule train??) The five Howell's boarded the ship "Golden Age" to San Francisco. Family records say they reached San Francisco on 1 June 1855. The wedding and trip had taken all David's money, so he had no farm equipment for his father. Does anyone have more information on the "Golden Age?" Elaine Waiters [email protected]