History of the Donner Party | Page 6

and Noah James.
From Marshall County, Illinois, came Franklin Ward Graves, Elizabeth
Graves (his wife), Mary A. Graves, William C. Graves, Eleanor Graves,
Lovina Graves, Nancy Graves, Jonathan B. Graves, F. W. Graves, Jr.,
Elizabeth Graves, Jr., Jay Fosdick and Mrs. Sarah Fosdick (nŽe
Graves). With this family came John Snyder.
From Keokuk, Lee County, Iowa, came Patrick Breen, Mrs. Margaret
Breen, John Breen, Edward J. Breen, Patrick Breen, Jr., Simon P.
Breen, James F. Breen, Peter Breen, and Isabella M. Breen. Patrick
Dolan also came from Keokuk.
William H. Eddy, Mrs. Eleanor Eddy, James P. Eddy, and Margaret
Eddy came from Belleville, Illinois.
From Tennessee came Mrs. Lavina Murphy, a widow, and her family,
John Landrum Murphy, Mary M. Murphy, Lemuel B. Murphy, William
G. Murphy, Simon P. Murphy, William M. Pike, Mrs. Harriet F. Pike
(nŽe Murphy), Naomi L. Pike, and Catherine Pike. Another son-in-law
of Mrs. Murphy, William M. Foster, with his wife, Mrs. Sarah A. C.
Foster, and infant boy George Foster, came from St. Louis, Missouri.
William McCutchen, Mrs. W. McCutchen, and Harriet McCutchen
were from Jackson County, Missouri.
Lewis Keseberg, Mrs. Phillipine Keseberg, Ada Keseberg, and L.
Keseberg, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Wolfinger, Joseph Rhinehart, Augustus
Spitzer, and Charles Burger, came from Germany.
Samuel Shoemaker came from Springfield, Ohio, Charles T. Stanton

from Chicago, Illinois, Luke Halloran from St. Joseph, Missouri, Mr.
Hardcoop from Antwerp, in Belgium, Antoine from New Mexico. John
Baptiste was a Spaniard, who joined the train near the Santa FŽ trail,
and Lewis and Salvador were two Indians, who were sent out from
California by Captain Sutter.
The Breens joined the company at Independence, Missouri, and the
Graves family overtook the train one hundred miles west of Fort
Bridger. Each family, prior to its consolidation with the train, had its
individual incidents. William Trimble, who was traveling with the
Graves family, was slain by the Pawnee Indians about fifty miles east
of Scott's Bluff. Trimble left a wife and two or three children. The wife
and some of her relatives were so disheartened by this sad bereavement,
and by the fact that many of their cattle were stolen by the Indians, that
they gave up the journey to California, and turned back to the homes
whence they had started.
An amusing incident is related in the Healdsburg (Cal.) Flag, by Mr. W.
C. Graves, of Calistoga, which occurred soon after his party left St.
Joseph, Missouri. It was on the fourth night out, and Mr. Graves and.
four or five others were detailed to stand guard. The constant terror of
the emigrants in those days was Indians. Both the Pawnees, the Sioux,
and the Snakes were warlike and powerful, and were jealous,
revengeful, and merciless toward the whites. That night a fire somehow
started in the prairie grass about half a mile from camp. The west wind,
blowing fierce and strong, carried the flames in great surging gusts
through the tall prairie grass. A resin weed grows in bunches in this
part of the country, generally attaining the height of four or five feet.
The night being very dark, these weeds could be seen standing between
the fire and the guards. As the flames swayed past the weeds, the
impression was very naturally produced upon the mind of a timid
beholder that the weeds were moving in the opposite direction. This
optical illusion caused some of the guards to believe that the Indians
had set fire to the grass, and were moving in immense numbers
between them and the fire with intent to surround them, stampede the
cattle, and massacre the entire party. The watcher next to Mr. Graves
discovered the enemy, and rushed breathlessly to his comrade to impart

the intelligence. Scarcely had Mr. Graves quieted him before it was
evident that a general alarm had been spread in the camp. Two other
guards had seen the Indians, and the aroused camp, armed to the teeth,
marched out to give battle to the imaginary foe. It was a rich joke, and
it was some time before those who were scared heard the last of the
resin Indians.
Only once, before reaching Salt Lake, did death invade the joyous
Donner company. It was near the present site of Manhattan, Kansas,
and Mrs. Sarah Keyes was the victim. This estimable lady was the
mother of Mrs. J. F. Reed, and had reached her four score and ten years.
Her aged frame and feeble health were not equal to the fatigues and
exposure of the trip, and on the thirtieth of May they laid her tenderly
to rest. She was buried in a coffin carefully fashioned from the trunk of
a cottonwood tree, and on the brow of a beautiful knoll overlooking the
valley. A grand old oak, still standing, guards the lonely grave