The Donner Party

“They were very serious, very religious. They saved things up, they used to share, but they had to get their own large family to California. I’m very proud of them and the courage they showed,” said great-great-granddaughter Dorothy Avila. “Many accounts, like Jack King’s book, vindicate my great-great-grandfather and show how bravely he and his family behaved. The Breens came from Ireland, then came west. They joined the Donner Party in Missouri. My great-great-grandfather was John Breen, son of Patrick, and one of the survivors on the relief parties. He later became a supervisor in Monterey, and I remember my father saying that he never talked about the Donner Party and never liked hearing about it. The family experienced hardship that they just did not wish to remember. And so many false tales and nasty stories went around and multiplied.”

Gwen Robbins’ research will be published in the July issue of American Antiquity, and a book manuscript to be published in 2011 is underway. With the forensic evidence discovered in a hearth from 1847, the physical remnants of how families in desperation managed to survive, perhaps the horror-movie legends will be put to rest, and the story of families who, through courage and wit, came through an impossible journey and survived will remain.

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Nster.com