Luis died, or was killed by the Snowshoe Party, on about January 9, 1847, in the foothills above Bear River. Caught by the sudden storm the first week of November, and hampered by a shortage of large trees and strong men to cut them, The Donners did not construct cabins. R.W. Twenty years after the tragedy, Gold Hill Daily News reprinted the account of another one of the Donner Party survivors as she told it in 1847. Wolfinger, 26, never returned after abandoning his wagon at the Humboldt Sink about October 15, 1846. Instead, they built crude brush sheds covered by their wagon canvas. In spite of their ordeal, many survivors of the Donner Party established themselves in California and put the winter of 1846 and ’47 in their past. Joseph Reinhardt, about 30, died at the Alder Creek camp in mid-December, 1846. Son James Jr., 5, was rescued by the First Relief. She married John App on September 26, 1852, and had three children. The Donners’ friend John Denton, 28, died after being left behind by the First Relief on February 24, 1847. Patrick, Jr. died in 1899. Of the 81 people who became stranded at … At Sutter’s Fort in California, Reed raised money for a rescue expedition, which he helped lead. The statistics were first analyzed by J. Quinn Thornton in his 1849 book Oregon and California in 1848. He returned to Missouri to attend law school, and then returned to Virginia City, Nevada, to practice law. Simon died in 1899. Her great-uncle was William McCutchen, a hero of the Donner Party, who rode ahead for supplies and returned with the Second Relief. He married and had three sons. Teamster Samuel Shoemaker, 25, died at the Alder Creek camp in mid-December, 1846. Patrick Breen, 51, was rescued by John Stark of the Third Relief after being abandoned by the Second Relief at Starved Camp. They settled in Calistoga, and had five children. The Breens settled in San Juan Bautista, on a ranch on the San Andreas fault. Daughter Georgia, 4, was rescued by the Third Relief. This photo provided by Keith Sutter shows the 4 Forlorn Hope Expedition members from … Out of the 45 survivors, 32 were children. She married John L. Schenck, and lived until 1934, the second-to-last survivor of the Donner Party. He became a Superior Court judge in San Benito County, and later an Assemblyman. Last survivor of the Donner Party: 29 April 1847 James Stephens Brown: 25 … After their rescue, the Donner Party survivors became famous and then infamous. About December 21, 1846, he failed to come up to the Snowshoe Party’s camp near Sixmile Valley. T. H. O’Sullivan/United States Geological Survey. But a judge allowed the book’s publication. Most of the survivors were comprised of children, as well — including one-year-old Isabella Breen, who died when she was 90. The broken axle on George Donner’s wagon caused the Donners to stop at Alder Creek, eight miles from the cabins at the Lake. They settled in Knights Valley, Sonoma County, and had nine children. Starving and driven to cannibalism after snows trapped their caravan in a snowy Sierra Nevada mountain pass, the survivors relayed to their rescuers the horrific stories of their ordeal. His wife Doriss, 19, was rescued by the First Relief. He married Catherine Sullivan and had three sons. Top: Painting of Donner Party by Vincent Decourt.Bottom: Statue at the Donner Party Memorial State Park in Truckee, Calif. Photo courtesy of user Noah_Loverbear on Wikimedia Commons. While a small number denied the tales of cannibalism, at least eight survivors personally admitted to eating human flesh. T. H. O’Sullivan/United States Geological SurveyDonner Pass in the 1870s. In 1880 he was the City Attorney of Marysville, California. One of the most puzzling aspects of the Donner Party is why so many women survived, and so many men died. In return Reed promised to join Frémont's forces and fight in the Mexican–American War. Horrible, horrible!”. They had no children, and James, Jr. died in 1901. Of the nearly 90 members who left Illinois, only around 45 made it to California. Stanton returned with seven mules loaded with provisions, and two Indians from Sutter’s Fort. Teamster Walter Herron, 25,accompanied James Reed after Reed was banished by the Party on October 5, 1846. Teamster: Milford (Milt) Elliott, 28, died on February 9, 1847, at the Murphy cabin by the Lake. Four people left the Party to ride ahead for supplies: Charles Stanton, William McCutchen, James Reed and Walter Herron. Harriet’s daughter Naomi Pike, 3, was rescued by the First Relief. Both the pass and the lake were named after the Donner Party. William Eddy, 28, survived the Snowshoe Party, and returned leading the Third Relief. Donner Party Survivor, Pioneer, Boarding House Owner. Unlike the Reeds, the Breen family crossed the plains without fanfare or fame. Son Thomas, 3, was rescued by the Second Relief. He died the first week of January, 1847, in the foothills above the Bear River. Daughter Eleanor, 15, was rescued by the First Relief. Daughter Mary, 20, survived the Snowshoe Party. They rode ahead from Relief Springs, Nevada, to Sutter’s Fort for supplies. In March 1847 when the third rescue team reached Donner Lake, rescuers discovered that German immigrant Lewis Keseberg, who’d been traveling with his own family, had eaten two children. The Sweetest Morsel. Simon, 9, was rescued by the First Relief. Unknown/Wikimedia CommonsJean Baptiste Trudeau, a teenager on the Donner expedition, later denied reports of cannibalism. Peter, 7, was rescued by John Stark of the Third Relief after being abandoned by the Second Relief at Starved Camp. Most of the Donner Party consisted of children and adolescents. Some of the most substantial proof … The man’s reputation had tormented and ostracized him, leaving him widowed and caring for two mentally-disabled daughters. When the final rescue party arrived at the Donner camp in April, 1847, Lewis Keseberg was the only survivor. William McCutchen, 30, left the Party with Charles Stanton on about September 12, 1846. Unknown/Wikimedia CommonsJames and Margaret Reed managed to survive the Donner Party disaster with their four children. RENO, Nev. (AP) — A pair of backcountry endurance athletes who became obsessed with the Donner Party spent the last seven years researching and exploring the Sierra on foot to try to pinpoint the final 90-mile (145-kilometer) route survivors of the infamous tale of cannibalism finally cut through mountain snow drifts to safety in the winter of 1846-47. Because Tamsen Donner had … Lewis Keseberg was the most infamous and vilified member of the Donner Party. Donner Pass in the 1870s. Reed died in 1874. He died in 1903. He never married. But when they returned on April 17, Keseberg was alone, having eaten his remaining companions. According to one rescuer, there were human skeletons “in every variety of mutilation. He lived to old age in San Jose. Patrick Breen died in 1868. His wife and children remained with the Party, many of whom blamed Reed for their predicament. Unknown/Wikimedia Commons James and Margaret Reed managed to survive the Donner Party disaster with their four children. Daughter Elizabeth, 1, was rescued by John Stark of the Third Relief after being abandoned by the Second Relief at Starved Camp. Just three months after her rescue, she married William Johnson, co-owner of Johnson’s Ranch. William McCutchen was a hero of the Donner Party. Just three months after her escape, she married Edward Pyle. The single men who accompanied the Donners fared very poorly. Teamster James Smith, 25, died in mid-December at the Donner’s camp on Alder Creek. RENO — A pair of backcountry endurance athletes who became obsessed with the Donner Party spent the last seven years researching and exploring the Sierra on foot to try to pinpoint the final 90-mile route survivors of the infamous tale of cannibalism finally cut through mountain snow drifts to safety in the winter of 1846-47. The Donner family suffered more than most families. Sarah’s husband Jay Fosdick, 23, tried to escape with the Snowshoe Party. They had ten children. Upon his arrival at Sutter’s Fort, he filed an action for defamation against Ned Coffeemeyer. Daniel A. Jenks/Library of CongressPioneers crossing the Humboldt River in Western Nevada. The employees who accompanied the Reeds fared no better than the Donner employees. Around 87 emigrants (though sources differ on this exact number) banded together to take a supposedly shorter — albeit, untested — route to California. A deadly combination of travel delays and difficult terrain stranded the caravan of now 79 in the Sierra Nevada Mountains — where snowfalls reached 22 feet high. Daughter Mary, 13, was rescued by the First Relief. Augustus Spitzer, died at the Breen cabin at the Lake on February 8, 1847. Lawrence & Houseworth/Library of CongressStumps cut by members of the Donner Party show how deep the snow had gotten. She died in 1874. A more revolting and appalling spectacle I never witnessed.”, In the years that followed, the Californa mountain settlement would become known as “Cannibal Camp” and the adjacent lake that was their final resting place renamed “Donner Lake.”. Pyle was killed a few years later, and in 1851 Mary married J.T. In 1858 she married William Wilder and had five children. A lot of the survivors spent the immediate aftermath recovering in present-day Sacramento at Sutter’s Fort. The Party did not exist when its members crossed the Missouri River in May, 1846. Because many of the survivors were children and thus orphaned, the young women and teens were forced to marry in order to survive. Several streets in San Jose are named for the members of the Reed family. He died in 1899. They vowed only to restrain themselves from eating a relative’s flesh. Eliza forgave him, though many still believe that Keseberg was every bit the inhuman murderer that the rumors said he was. Survivors went on to carry the scars of their experience for the rest of their lives, constantly reminded of their tragedy by the media, and their own nightmares. McGlashan’s inquiries, Eliza began collecting accounts of the tragedy from her sisters. After James Reed stabbed and killed a fellow Donner Party member, the group banished him and he managed to make it through Donner Pass before the snows trapped his family and the rest of the pioneers. Son Simon, 10, was rescued by the Third Relief. He married Catherine McMahon and had a son who died young, and two daughters. Supplies dwindled and they were pushed to starvation. But rumors swirled that Keseberg had murdered her in order to eat her. Son Landrum, 15, died at the Murphy cabin at the Lake on January 30, 1847. Presumably the allegedly defamatory statements were the stories spread by the Fourth Relief that Keseberg had killed Mrs. Donner for her money. Upon his arrival in California, he befriended fellow Irish emigrant Martin Murphy, Jr., who had a ranch on the Cosumnes River, south of present Elk Grove, California. In the 1870s, an author researching the scandal found Keseberg living in destitution and dismay. “I wish I could cry but I cannot,” Graves said. Fifteen members of the party tried to cross the pass in December of 1846 to get help, but 12 days later, they turned to cannibalism to survive. It was Eliza Donner, who was four years old when her mother Tamsen sent her away with a rescue party, and Keseberg, the man accused of murdering her mother. 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