Donner Party Case Study
Document Study: Donner Party
1. The Donner Party was made up of the Donner brothers, George and Jacob, along with their wives and children, all adding up to 8 people, they were the main members. The families set off with another friend, John Denton, six wagons and two teamsters, Noah James and Samuel Shoemaker. The Reeds were another key family and they consisted of James Reed, his wife Margaret and their three children. Also travelling with them were: Virginia Reed (Margaret’s daughter from a previous marriage), Margaret’s mother and 5 employees: A servant, Eliza Williams, her half-brother, Baylis, and three teamsters. Hiram Miller also travelled with the Reeds as an employee. The Breen’s (9 in total), Eddy’s (4 in total), Murphy’s (13 …show more content…
The letters are a comprehensive report of the events the Donner Party experienced on their journey to California. They cover the frightening journey the Donner Party undertook in great detail, especially considering a12 year old girl wrote them! First and foremost, she writes about the harsh and inhospitable conditions the party met along the way. Virginia, however, rarely speaks of the other families and people in the Donner Party, making only a single reference to the Donner’s. After all the families are reunited again after crossing the Great Salt Plains, Virginia only writes of the events which concerned, and involved the Reeds. However, this is probably to be expected because as a 12 year old girl, her sights and priorities would be of her own family. Another major area which she avoids completely is the cannibalism which the other families took part of. The one instance of eating something close to her is when she speaks of eating their dog, Cash. Interestingly, in the original letter she had inked out the line involving ‘Cash’ and its inclusion can only be merited to the Illinois journal, which had the sentence recorded. You can infer that she inked out these lines because she was ashamed of what she did and that could be why she didn’t include it in the letters. However, apart from those areas, the letters are incredibly detailed and
1. The Donner Party was made up of the Donner brothers, George and Jacob, along with their wives and children, all adding up to 8 people, they were the main members. The families set off with another friend, John Denton, six wagons and two teamsters, Noah James and Samuel Shoemaker. The Reeds were another key family and they consisted of James Reed, his wife Margaret and their three children. Also travelling with them were: Virginia Reed (Margaret’s daughter from a previous marriage), Margaret’s mother and 5 employees: A servant, Eliza Williams, her half-brother, Baylis, and three teamsters. Hiram Miller also travelled with the Reeds as an employee. The Breen’s (9 in total), Eddy’s (4 in total), Murphy’s (13 …show more content…
The letters are a comprehensive report of the events the Donner Party experienced on their journey to California. They cover the frightening journey the Donner Party undertook in great detail, especially considering a12 year old girl wrote them! First and foremost, she writes about the harsh and inhospitable conditions the party met along the way. Virginia, however, rarely speaks of the other families and people in the Donner Party, making only a single reference to the Donner’s. After all the families are reunited again after crossing the Great Salt Plains, Virginia only writes of the events which concerned, and involved the Reeds. However, this is probably to be expected because as a 12 year old girl, her sights and priorities would be of her own family. Another major area which she avoids completely is the cannibalism which the other families took part of. The one instance of eating something close to her is when she speaks of eating their dog, Cash. Interestingly, in the original letter she had inked out the line involving ‘Cash’ and its inclusion can only be merited to the Illinois journal, which had the sentence recorded. You can infer that she inked out these lines because she was ashamed of what she did and that could be why she didn’t include it in the letters. However, apart from those areas, the letters are incredibly detailed and