The Indifferent Stars Above (38 page)

“while they and I live”: Morgan, 356. John Stark was perhaps the greatest hero of the Donner Party, almost single-handedly responsible for bringing all of the Breens as well as some of the Graves and Donner children out of the mountains.

“save my children!”: Thornton, 85.

“photographed on my mind”: John Breen to McGlashan, April 20, 1879 [McGlashan Papers, folder 11].

escape the heartrending scenes: Houghton, chapter 15.

C
HAPTER
F
OURTEEN—
S
HATTERED
S
OULS

a little after noon: Much of what is known about the Fallon expedition comes from an account in the June 5, 1847, edition of the
California Star
reputed to be Fallon's journal. No copy of the journal itself has survived, and there is some controversy as to whether Fallon really authored the alleged journal himself. I have used it judiciously, omitting many of the more lurid details and relying on it primarily for a basic outline of events and dates. Much of what it says, however, particularly about Louis Keseberg, is borne out by Keseberg's own statement given to McGlashan in April 1879 and reprinted in McGlashan's book. Other details are substantiated by Reason Tucker's letter to McGlashan, alluded to below.

“in this horrible place”: Reason P. Tucker to McGlashan, 1879 [McGlashan Papers, folder 53].

2003 in the United States: Arias, 3.

historical longevity rates worldwide: The historical statistics here are from Margolis.

it was seventy-eight: “Rank Order: Life Expectancy at Birth.”

their way across the country: Jamison, 1–22.

higher degrees of risk taking: Grayson, 153.

than that of intact males: Ibid., 154.

about as long as men: Laurance.

only 14 percent died: All the statistics related to Donner Party mortality can be found in Grayson, 155–58.

therefore less heat loss: Ibid., 155.

“hury along as fast as you can”: Virginia Reed to Mary C. Keyes, May 16, 1847. Reprinted in Morgan, 287.

“i want to go to my mother”: Mary Murphy, May 25, 1847. Quoted in Steed, 20.

“to tell the sufferings of the camp”: I am very grateful to Kristin Johnson for providing me with a copy of Sarah Fosdick's letter of May 23, 1847. The complete text of Sarah's letter is now in print in the spring 2008 issue of
Overland Journal,
24.

“and perhaps more than I ought”: Mary Ann Graves to Levi Fosdick, May 22, 1847. Reprinted in Kristin Johnson's
Unfortunate Emigrants,
129–31.

“our parents are dead”: Hurtado, 206.

the hefty sum of $89.93: The ledger listing the debts owed to Sutter by the Graves family and others is at the Sutter's Fort Archives, cataloged as item 8-7-308.

negotiations with James Reed by mail: Two letters from Sinclair to Reed at the Sutter's Fort Archives: June 25, 1847, box 8-3-308, 61, and June 28, 1847, box 8-3-308, 62. See also the receipt for forty dollars from James Reed to Sinclair, to be laid out for purchase of young cows to be delivered to Mrs. Fosdick, May 6, 1847, box 8-7-308, 21, and the receipt signed by Sarah Fosdick for forty dollars, being the amount due from James Reed, box 8-7-308, 27.

Lansford W. Hastings: Hurtado, 206.

mother to her youngest siblings: The list of items Sarah bought at auction is at the Sutter's Fort Archives, box 8-8-308, 122. The spelling book was almost certainly Noah Webster's
American Spelling Book,
reputedly the second-best-selling book in American history, after the Bible.

C
HAPTER
F
IFTEEN—
G
OLDEN
H
ILLS,
B
LACK
O
AKS

idly scratching their fleas: For a good sense of how sparsely inhabited the California countryside was in 1846, there is no better read than Bryant's
What I Saw in California.
For a sense of what California was like before the Mexican War, Dana's
Two Years Before the Mast
and also William Henry Thomes's small book,
Recollections of Old Times in California,
are useful.

painting it purple and gold: For more about the world Sarah entered when she moved to the Napa Valley, see Wright's “The Early Upper Napa Valley” and also Weber and Neelands.

running the mill for Bale: Wright, “The Early Upper Napa Valley,” 38–39.

On May 10, 1849, he did: See Kristin Johnson's biographical sketch of Mary Ann Graves in
Unfortunate Emigrants,
126–27, for more about the murder of Edward Pyle. See also Jacob Wright Harlan's account, Harlan, 69–70.

in the Napa Valley: “The Early Upper Napa Valley,” 38–39. Additional information about the Graves girls' movements around California are from notes titled “My People,” by Elizabeth Cyrus Wright as transcribed by Juanita D. Larimore, to whom I am indebted for providing me with a copy. Other details are from Karl Kortum's unpublished compilation of Graves family history documents. I am grateful to Sarah's great-granddaughter Kathy Larson for making these materials available to me.

third son, Alonzo Perry: W. C. (Billy) Graves outlines the sequence of Sarah's first few children in his letter to McGlashan, June 15, 1879 [McGlashan Papers, folder 18].

“unworthy of her”: Georgia Donner Babcock to McGlashan, May 26, 1879 [McGlashan Papers, folder 2].

a dying pig can scream: The anecdote about Sarah, the pig, and the bear is from Wright's “The Early Upper Napa Valley.”

“like the application of a mustard plaster”: London.

at the end of the rope: Details of the lynching of William Ritchie come primarily from Gay LeBaron's article “Mob Ruled,” from two articles in the
Sonoma Democrat
—“A Disputed Date,” December 5, 1891, and an answering piece, “The Disputed Date,” December 12, 1891—and from “Sonoma County Sheriff—History and Information.”

C
HAPTER
S
IXTEEN—
P
EACE

wandered down to the bay: Much of my information about life in Corralitos in the 1870s, including information about the location of the old cemetery site, comes from Judy Pybrum Malmin's local history,
Corralitos,
as well as from e-mail exchanges between Judy and myself.

Sarah died: Some of the details of Sarah's death are from Karl Kortum's family history compilation.

C
HAPTER
S
EVENTEEN—
I
N THE
Y
EARS
B
EYOND

as best they could: Information about the later lives of the Donner Party members is drawn from a variety of sources, primarily McGlashan and the roster of Donner Party members on Kristin Johnson's “New Light on the Donner Party” Web site. Other important sources include Wright, Weber, King, Steed, Kortum, Neelands, and Fluke.

in Santa Rosa in 1907: Kristin Johnson, “New Light on the Donner Party.”

following their mother's death: Kortum.

in 1891 and is buried there: Abercrombie.

Sarah's daughters for a time: Ibid.

died at the ranch in 1894: Kortum and Kristin Johnson, “New Light on the Donner Party.”

was buried in Calistoga: For much more about Lovina's marriage and subsequent life, see Wright, “The Early Upper Napa Valley.”

about it to Charles McGlashan: Nancy Graves to McGlashan, 1879 [McGlashan Papers, folder 55].

about thirty feet from a large boulder: The complete story of the recovery of the coins can be found in “Half a Century Buried.”

Peggy Breen followed him in 1874: For the later lives of the Breens, see McGlashan, 243–44.

“have admitted this to be true”: James Reed to Gersham Keyes, July 2, 1847. Reprinted in Morgan, 304.

died there in 1923: For summaries of the later lives of the Reeds, see McGlashan, 242, and Kristin Johnson, “New Light on the Donner Party.”

and Leanna in 1930: Dates are from Kristin Johnson, “New Light on the Donner Party.”

cancer of the jaw in 1878: See McGlashan, 247–252, and Kristin Johnson, “New Light on the Donner Party,” for much more about the fates of the Donner children.

on Christmas Eve 1859: McGlashan, 243.

when he died of a stroke: Kristin Johnson, “New Light on the Donner Party.”

died in 1934: Ibid.

“a drunken sot”: Steed, 19–20. Other details, ibid.

named Marysville in her honor: McGlashan, 241.

died in Tennessee in 1873: Ibid., 242. Other details from Kristin Johnson, “New Light on the Donner Party.”

“very hungry, eat anything”: Stewart, 296.

in fact, was hanged: “Astounding Disclosure.”
Alta California,
May 10, 1849. Reprinted in “Donner Party Bulletin No. 21,” on Kristin Johnson's “New Light on the Donner Party” Web site.

a charity hospital in 1895: Kristin Johnson, “New Light on the Donner Party.”

where she died in 1861: Ibid.

at the age of eighty-nine: Ibid.

“Hastings was a bad man”: Bagley, 21. A number of other facts concerning Hastings's later life are drawn from the same article.

E
PILOGUE

“Heart disease was the cause”:
Pajaronian,
March 30, 1871.

remained in place ever since: Malmin, 31.

can still be seen today: Mullen, 49.

the peaks ahead of them: McGlashan, 55.

had kept oil of hemlock: Ibid., 259–60.

paused at the lake camp: See Bryant quoted ibid., 238–39.

was formally dedicated: Rarick, 244.

won't adapt to
your
needs: This is one of the central theses of Laurence Gonzales's fascinating study of survival psychology,
Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why.

A
PPENDIX:
T
HE
D
ONNER PARTY
E
NCAMPMENTS

The dates here are drawn from several sources but primarily from the roster at Kristin Johnson's Web site “New Light on the Donner Party,” adjusted for the date of November 12, 1846. I would also like to thank Kristin for consulting with and advising me on where each member of the Donner Party was likely living on that date.

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