Captain Cleaveland Alexander Forbes (1780-1857) was the son of Captain Alexander Forbes and Susanna Gifford of Newark, New Jersey. During the War of 1812, Captain Cleaveland Forbes sailed as a privateer and from 1833 to 1836 he commanded the FRANCIS DEPAU between New York and Havre, France. Captain Forbes also carried cotton and passengers between Liverpool, Savannah, Mobile and New Orleans on the FRANCIS DEPAU from 1836 to 1843.

C.A. Forbes married Susanna Foster and their children were Alexander Forbes (1805), Catherine Forbes (1807), Anna Forbes (1808), Elizabeth Forbes (1811), Cleaveland Alexander Forbes (1814), and Andrew Bell Forbes (1824). This second generation Cleaveland also became a ship captain [it was most likely this Capt. Forbes who commanded the S.S. CALIFORNIA on her historic passage from New York to San Francisco, October 1848 to February 1849] and who's letter to his sister Bessie (married to William Henry Pope Benton) is included in this collection.

Second generation Cleaveland married Mary McKinney and their [known] children were Cleaveland Alexander Forbes (1842) and Charles Seymour Forbes (1844).

The FRANCIS DEPAU was a 595 ton full rigged ship built in New York in 1833 by Bell and Brown, for the New York-Havre trade. She was slow, and is known as having one of the longest westbound passages of her day. In 1836 she was damaged at Havre, where she was condemned and sold to be repaired. She was intended to be used as a sailing "tramp," but in fact, she actually returned to active trans-Atlantic and coastal trade. In 1836 she became part of the Orleans Line, and by 1843, part of the Merchant's Line, carrying cargo between Liverpool, Savannah, Mobile and New Orleans. In 1849 she was sent to California for the Gold Rush and her history from that point on is unknown.

The ship SULLY was a 456 ton ship built in New York by Bergh in 1827. Her service was as part of the Havre Line from 1827 until 1846.