John Widmer - Passenger
John Sidney Widmer, a 19-year-old coal passer on leave from the United States Navy, was one of six naval personnel traveling aboard the SS Valencia when she wrecked on the rocks off Cape Beale, Vancouver Island, on January 22–24, 1906. He was registered as J.S. Widmer, first-class passenger bound for Seattle. His body was never recovered. He is listed in United States navy records along with four other navy men who died on the Valencia. The record reads:
Merchant ship SS Valencia wrecked on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Five personnel on leave were drowned: Ordinary Seaman John Finley, Coal Passer Harman Fisher, Ordinary Seaman Clyde William Knight, Ordinary Seaman Charles Uhler and Coal Passer John Sidney Widmer. 23 January 1906.
Widmer was the son of Frederick H. (or F. H.) Widmer and his wife of 24 Queen Avenue S.W. (Queen Street), Cleveland, Ohio. Born in 1886, he left home in April 1905 at the age of 19 with ambitions to see the world. A talented young man trained as a lithographer and interested in architectural drawing, he worked his trade from town to town as he traveled. His journey took him westward through various points, including a stint in Alaska, before he reached California. From each stop he thoughtfully sent presents and mementos back to his parents.
The last letter his family received was dated January 8, 1906 (some reports cite January 12). In it, John wrote that he planned to leave San Francisco soon for Seattle, then continue eastward on the first leg of a much larger journey that would eventually take him to London, through Europe and Asia, and on to Australia. He asked his parents not to write until they heard from him again. That letter would be the final word they ever received from their son.
When news of the Valencia disaster reached Cleveland, the Widmer family’s worst fears were quickly confirmed. On January 29, 1906, Frederick Widmer received a telegram from the governor of Washington stating that “John Widmer” appeared on the passenger list. A follow-up dispatch from the commandant of the navy yard at Puget Sound left little doubt: their son was among those missing.
Newspaper reports from late January and early February 1906, including the Santa Barbara Morning Press, Cleveland Press, Cleveland Leader, and Armed Forces Journal, carried the growing confirmation of Widmer’s fate and the quiet grief of his family in Cleveland. His parents had almost given up hope by the time the navy’s confirmation arrived. Plans were mentioned to bring his body home for burial in Cleveland if it were ever found, but it never was.
John Sidney Widmer’s brief but adventurous life—marked by hard work, wanderlust, and a promising talent for drawing and lithography—came to a tragic end in the icy waters off Vancouver Island. He remains one of the many whose final resting place is the Pacific itself, a young sailor whose global dreams were cut short by the Valencia disaster.