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n 1851, I set sail aboard a ship bound for Panama. Once aboard, I made the acquaintance of Phineas Banning, an agreeable young man several years my senior who, with his employer, was escorting a shipment of goods from Philadelphia to the tiny southern California hamlet of San Pedro.To pass idle hours at sea, young Phineas related to me the story of his youth; born in 1830 as the ninth of eleven children, Phineas left his home in Wilmington, Delaware at thirteen to take his first job as a clerk in his brother's Philadelphia law firm before joining the enterprise which had put him on the voyage. Eventually, our party debarked in Panama to cross the treacherous isthmus by land.
That portion of our journey proved disastrous; Phineas's employer fell ill and died, leaving the young man penniless and in charge of his cargo alone.
Stranded | We Land in San Pedro | Stagecoach Adventures
Harnessing the Iron Horse | A Bay Bows to His Will
The Fulfillment of Family | A Fair & Agreeable Isle