"I shall never forget the looks of those people for the most part of them were crazey their eyes danced & sparkled in their heads like stars. " - Eliza Gregson, writing about the Donnor Party.
In 1844 my great, great, great, great Aunt & Uncle, James & Eliza Gregson, traveled by wagon across the country to California. In 1847, they were living at Sutters Fort when the Donner Party was rescued, and they lived beside and interacted with the survivors.
In 1880 James Gregson was interviewed for a History Of Sonoma County. "Feeling that the pioneer women had been neglected by the historians, Mrs. Gregson proceeded to write her own “Memory.” This she did on the blank sides of old bill-heads, letters, and other scraps of paper. It was preserved and copied by her daughter, Mrs. Eliza Butler"
Both of their memoirs are fascinating, and full of American History. They experienced the Bear Flag Revolt, lived with the Donner Party Survivors, and James Gregson was one of the first to find the gold that began the Gold Rush.
"During the Bear Flag Revolt, from June to July 1846, a small group of American settlers in California rebelled against the Mexican government and proclaimed California an independent republic. The republic was short-lived because soon after the Bear Flag was raised, the U.S. military began occupying California, which went on to join the union in 1850. The Bear Flag became the official state flag in 1911."
In Eliza's "Memory", she has a good bit to say about her time with the Donnor party survivors. It's shocking and graphic if you are not familiar with the story of their story. I've included that section of her writings later in this post .
I remembered that when I had first read her memory, it had mentioned that someone had been accused of stealing money, and that I had researched it at the time and read that the money was, many many years later, found, clearing the name of the accused man long after his death.
"Nora Kelly, a young curator at the Santa Fe Institute of Archaeology, is approached by historian Clive Benton with a once-in-a-lifetime proposal: to lead a team in search of the so-called "Lost Camp" of the tragic Donner Party. This was a group of pioneers who earned a terrible place in American history when they became snow-bound in the California mountains in 1847, their fate unknown until the first skeletonized survivors stumbled out of the wilderness, raving about starvation, murder-and cannibalism.
Benton tells Kelly he has stumbled upon an amazing find: the long-sought diary of one of the victims, which has an enigmatic description of the Lost Camp. Nora agrees to lead an expedition to locate and excavate it-to reveal its long-buried secrets."
To be clear, this book is fiction. The gold they talk about in this story is fiction (although there was gold that was lost on this trip, found many years later), the diary they refer to is fiction. But true history and experiences of the Donnor party are also included, and it's a fast, fun, read, even if the "whodunnit" is patently obvious. I enjoyed it immensely, quite possibly because I've been intrigued by my 4th great aunts memoir, but have never taken the time to read more about the Donnor party.
Our Genealogy
- The Genealogy of James & Eliza Gregson
- The Genealogy Of Nicholas Gregson, James father & my 5th great grandfather
- Our Smith Line (Mary Gregson married Christian Smith) to Nina Lumbard, my grandmother
Eliza Gregson's Memory
of her time with the Donnor Party Survivors
Well the winter passes away & early in the year 47 the startling news arives at the fort that some emigrants [members of the Donner party] had just come in from the sirranaveds [Sierra Nevada] almost starved to death. & that they had left a large party starving in the mountains. So what was to be done there was but a few people at the fort. & old Captain Sutter sent out his vacquars [vaqueros] that is the indians that he had trained he sent them out to bring in about 12 head of the fatest [steers] & they did as they were told. they killed the beefs & barbaqued the meat & packed it on the best mules that was to be found & started them off. there was a few white men went along with the indians to rescue the starveing people. amongst the white men that went out was one young man that had just come in from the mountains he volenteered to go back again. he had no relations nor any intrest but humanity & a big heart promted him & taking of his waikcoat & his watch & a letter to be sent to N.Y. to his sister in case he should never return. poo[r] man he was froze to death.
*Charles T. Stanton, a native of New York but more recently a resident of Chicago, with William McCutchen had left the Donner party about September 18, 1846, somewhere in eastern Nevada and had pushed through to Sutter's Fort. There he left McCutchen, who was ill, and traveled back with food, seven pack-mules and two Indian vaqueros, rejoining the party on October 19—the first to bring back supplies. He later led the way three times over the pass, but on December 21, snow-blind, exhausted, and starving, he dropped behind and was left to die. George Rippey Stewart, Jr.,Ordeal by Hunger (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1936), pp. 55, 77, 125, 301, and 302.
there was but a few white women but we did all in our power for them. in two or 3 weeks back again some of them came. the mules allmost all dead & 3 or 4 indians besides white people. & they wanted more food for the starving ones that could not come. I shall never forget the looks of those people for the most part of them were crazey & their eyes danced & sparkled in their heads like stars. among the first lot that came out were 18. 5 girls & wemen the rest were men. the[re] were only two men survived a Mr fowler & Mr Edey.
* & 4 of the females were named Graves* the youngest one was about 11 years old & one maried lady Mrs Fosdick her husband died & she buried him in the snow.
* Mrs. Gregson probably means William M. Foster, from Pennsylvania, a son-in-law of Mrs. Lavina Murphy. His wife, Sarah A. C. Murphy, survived, but their baby son died in the mountains. Foster was a member of the fourth relief party. In 1847-48 he kept a furniture store in San Francisco, and later was a storekeeper in the mines. Foster's Bar was named for him. Bancroft, op. cit., III, 745; see also Stewart,op. cit. William H. Eddy, a carriage-maker from Illinois, was one of the most active in saving other members of the party. His wife Eleanor, son James P., and daughter Mary all perished in the Sierra. Eddy married Mrs. F. Alfred in 1848, and Miss A. M. Pardoe in 1856, and died at Petaluma in 1859. Bancroft,op. cit., II, 788-89; and Stewart,op. cit.
Mary Ann (20), Ellen or Eleanor (15), Lavina (13), and Nancy (9). Their father and mother—Franklin Ward Graves and his wife Elizabeth—and brother Franklin, Jr. had died in the Sierra. Stewart, op. cit., p. 299; and Bancroft,op. cit., III, 764.
Sarah Graves Fosdick (22), wife of Jay Fosdick and daughter of F. W. Graves. See Stewart,op. cit., p. 142. In 1848 Mrs. Fosdick married William Ritchie, and in 1856, Samuel Spiers. She died near Watsonville in 1871.
Bancroft,op. cit., III, 744.
praphs I might as well speak a little more about Mrs fosdick. the wemen would take the lead over the snow & beat the track for the men to walk in. but for all that the men sunk down & died. the wemen even led them by the hand & made the camp fires & gave them food one morning Mrs fosdicks husband was dieing he tried to travel but did not succeed & the rest of the party could not stop for him to die. So she told them I will stay with him untill he dies You go I will overtake you in about 2 hours she was seen 10 coming with her husbands black silk Neckercheif around her neck She told them he is dead. Fowler said can we have him to eat. She said you cannot hurt him now. so some of them went back & brought some of his flesh & cooked it. So speak about womens rights say they are weak & ought to have no rights.
the second party that came out were Mrs reeds family * & one servant women * & a part of the two donners familys. Jake & Gorge donner the[y] were two brothers with their wifes & children. of the gorge donner family * there was 5 girls elithey [Elitha] & Leah [Leanna] & frances and gorgeana [Georgia] & Elza [Eliza]. of jake donners family * two sons I was gorge donner & one girl named Mary donner. poor girl both her feet were frozen & they were in shocking condition the flys had blown them & there was maggots in them & she suffered a great deal. there was a doctor at the fort he came & put some medesien on them but her feet was ruined * another women by the name of Kesburg she left one dead baby in the camp & started with one little girl 2 years old it died & she had to bury it in the snow. She left her husband behind I shall speak of him
*Margaret W. Reed, wife of James Frazier Reed; the Reed children: Martha J. (Patty), James Frazier, Jr., and Thomas K.; and Virginia E. Backenstoe, generally known as Reed, for she was Mrs. Reed's daughter by her first
husband. Stewart,op. cit., p. 300, and Bancroft,op. cit., V, 690.
Eliza Williams, half-sister of Baylis Williams. Stewart,op. cit., p. 300.
See Bancroft,op. cit., II, 783; and Stewart,op. cit., p. 299.
Ibid.
Mary's foot, frozen and numb, had fallen into the fire at Starved Camp. After the party arrived at Sutter's Fort, Mary was carried through to San Francisco, where her foot was treated by Andrew J. Henderson, surgeon of the U.S. Ship Portsmouth. Eliza P. Donner Houghton,The Expedition of the Donner Party (Chicago, 1911), pp. 128, 313. She was married in 1859 to S. O. Houghton, but died the next year, and he, in 1861, married her cousin Eliza, the author of the book just cited. Bancroft,op. cit., II, 783.
{They left old Mr & Mrs [George and Tamsen] Donner with no one else but Keysburg [Lewis
Keseberg] whose cabin was about 8 miles this west side of the nevada line. The old man Donner was too sick to travel and one of his hands were very sore. Mrs Donner would not leave her husband. So they left her some beef and promised to return for them in a short time. Mr. & Mrs.Jake Donner died in a short time after the arrival of rescueing party to them. In due time the men went out again and the weather was getting milder and the snow not so deep in the mountains. The first camp was Keysburgs they found him in his cabin cooking his supper of human flesh. they followed the tracks to the other camp but found no one, but the foot prints of Mrs Donner where she had apparently been cutting meat from a steer which had been buried in the snow, showing, plainly that she had not died from starvation. returning to Keysburgs camp, they asked him where is Mrs Donner? He said she died and he cut her flesh up and had it in a box and her husbands too for there was the sore hand. There were boxes filled with human flesh all cut and packed in butcherly style. The next thing where was her money, for Mr & Mrs Donner had about $800.00 dollars it was not to be found Keysburg denied any knowledge of any money.} *so that one man by the name of big Ofallen * put a rope around his neck & strung him up to a tree two or three times untill he was black in the face. & then he told where there was $500 but would tell no more. so they brought him down to the fort. where he & his wife stayed that winter.
*William O. Fallon [or o'Fallon], an Irish trapper, was known as “Mountaineer,” “Big,” or “Le Gros” Fallon. He was a member of the fourth Donner relief, and his diary, published in the California Star, and quoted in J. Quinn Thorton,Oregon and California in 1848 (New York, 1849), II, 232-39, was the foundation of the charges against Keseberg.
one day old Mrs Lenox we thought we would like to see the maneater I told the old lady you go in first & I will follow. during the conversation Mrs Lenox asked him how human flesh tasted & he said it was better than chicken & several times that winter his wife would arrouse the people by 11 screaming murder at midnight she said that he wanted to kill her. Kesburg got offended at the folks for saying that he killed Mrs Donner & he sued them at law. during the examination he said that he got 4 pounds of tallow out of her. once he called one of the little donner girls to come to him but she answered him no you killed my mother he stayed about the fort for some time afterwards I saw but very little of him*
Cf. Stewart,op. cit., pp. 259-65, 287-93; see also Charles Fayeette McGlashan,History of the Donner Party (San Francisco: T. C. Wohlbruck, 1931), pp. 184-206. McGlashan and Mrs. Houghton,op. cit., pp. 360-70, did not believe that Keseberg had murdered the Donners, nor did Bancroft. Keseberg died in the County Hospital at Sacramento, on September 3, 1895, aged 81 years.
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