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Book/Printed Material The expedition of the Donner party and its tragic fate,

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Title

  • The expedition of the Donner party and its tragic fate,

Summary

  • Eliza Houghton (b. 1843) was the youngest child of George Donner, one of two Springfield, Illinois, brothers who organized the ill-fated California-bound emigrant party that bore their name. Eliza and her older sisters were rescued by relief parties that made their way to the stranded travellers at Donner Lake, but their parents perished, and the girls were left to make their way alone in the West. The expedition of the Donner party and its tragic fate (1911) begins with Mrs. Houghton's account of her childhood and the family's tragic overland journey, and rescue. She continues with her life as an orphan, first at Fort Sutter, and then with a family in Sonoma and with her older half-sister in Sacramento. She describes the impact of the gold rush and new immigration on the area, farm work and domestic work, and her own education in public schools and St. Catherine's Convent in Benicia. She writes at length of the emotional scars caused by contemporary rumors of cannibalism among the Donner Party and offers full accounts of Donner family history as well as the background of her husband, Samuel Houghton. An appendix contains several documentary sources for the history of the Donner Party.

Names

  • Houghton, Eliza Poor Donner.

Created / Published

  • Chicago, A.C. McClurg & co., 1911.

Headings

  • -  Donner Party
  • -  Ethnic groups--California
  • -  Women--California
  • -  Urbanization--California
  • -  Real estate development--California
  • -  Agriculture--California
  • -  Religion and ethics--California

Notes

  • -  Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.

Medium

  • xxi p., 1 l., 374, [1] p. front., plates, ports. 22 cm.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • F868.N5 H8

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 11035962

Rights Advisory

  • No known restrictions on publication.

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf
  • online text

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

"California as I Saw It:" First-Person Narratives of California's Early Years, 1849-1900.

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Credit Line: Library of Congress, [appropriate source division as described in the bibliographic record]. For example: Library of Congress, General Collections; or, Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Houghton, Eliza Poor Donner. The expedition of the Donner party and its tragic fate. Chicago, A.C. McClurg & co, 1911. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/11035962/.

APA citation style:

Houghton, E. P. D. (1911) The expedition of the Donner party and its tragic fate. Chicago, A.C. McClurg & co. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/11035962/.

MLA citation style:

Houghton, Eliza Poor Donner. The expedition of the Donner party and its tragic fate. Chicago, A.C. McClurg & co, 1911. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/11035962/>.