Patty reed donner party survivor
Patty reed doll.
Patty Reed’s Doll: A Small Survivor of the Donner Party
The 1840s marked the height of “California Fever,” when thousands left their homes and often their families in search of better, more prosperous lives in the West.
The Donner Party is seen as an archetypal American cautionary tale, yet the party was diverse, including Irishmen, an Englishman, a German family, and an elderly Belgian man, as well as Salvador and Luis, two Miwok natives.
Patty reed donner party survivor
The two pivotal families at the heart of the Donner Party were the Donners and the Reeds.
The Reed Family
The Reeds had filled their large two-story comfortable wagon (dubbed “the Palace Car” by their fellow travelers) with all the necessities and a few luxuries for their life beyond the long journey from their home in Springfield, Illinois, to their new home in California.
Eight-year-old Martha Jane (“Patty”) traveled with her parents, Irish-born James Frazier Reed (1800–1874) and Margaret Keyes Reed (1814–1861); Margaret’s dying mother, Sar