Fanny Belinda
Cleveland
(1820-1853) was the 11th child of Josiah and Fanny (Lathrop)
Cleveland. Fanny Belinda was born
in Jacksonville, Tompkins County, New York. In 1842 at the age of twenty-two
Fanny Belinda married Samuel W. Howland.
They soon relocated to Waupun, Fond du lac, Wisconsin and had three children:
Alanson b: 1843, George b: 1845, and Nelson b: 1847.
This is where the history gets a little fuzzy. A letter dated March 25, 1849 to her
father Josiah Cleveland, transcribed and included in Adaline (Cleveland)
Hosner’s Cleveland Family History
pamphlet tells how Samuel had started for California on the 6th of
March. Apparently Samuel caught
the gold bug and went to California to realize his fortune. Belinda tells how her husband could
hardly eat, drink or sleep thinking about California. Again in April she writes
that she feels almost like a widow. She wonders if she will ever see him again,
and if not, she writes that she did all she could to have him stay there
contented.
However, the 1850 U.S. census (taken 13 September) reports that Samuel W. Howland was
living with his family in Waupun, Fond du lac, Wisconsin, working as a
carpenter. At this point I do not know if Belinda falsely reported that her
husband was in the household, or if he was back in Wisconsin for a short period
of time before returning to California.
Tragedy
strikes. By January 1853 Belinda could no longer stand to be separated
from her husband. She and her children traveled by stagecoach to Chicago, by
train to Cleveland, and then on to New York where they boarded the steamer Vanderbilt.
In San Juan del Sud, Nicaragua they transferred to the
steamer Independence. On 15 February
1853 the ship struck a sunken reef a mile from shore and 125 (or more) lives
were lost, including Belinda and her three children. The steamer sank near the
island of Margarita, off the coast of Southern California. The accident wasn’t
confirmed until 2 April 1853. The list of passengers is listed in the Daily Alta. Several Howlands are listed, including a Mrs. Howland, but none of the
other initials match her three boys.
And
where is Samuel? The 1860 census
reports a S.W. Howland living in Anderson, Mendocino, California working as a
wheelwright.
