Regarding Panama: One of my husband's relatives went to California to seek gold. He returned via ship - first from San Francisco to Panama, where he walked across the isthmus, then via a second ship to the US. Maybe Linda's relatives did something similar. Judy St. Louis Hi Linda, you state that a person landed in America in 1866 and proceeded thru the Panama Canal to San Francisco. The only thing wrong with this is that the Panama Canal construction started in 1881 and was not completed until 1914.