James Frazier Reed (November 14, 1800 – July 24, 1874) was an Irish-American businessman, soldier and pioneer in the American West, notable for being an organizing member of the ill-fated Donner Party emigration to California in 1846.

[1] The couple married and had four children in Springfield: Martha Jane (called Patty); James F., Jr.; Thomas Keyes; and Gershom Francis, who died as an infant.

While camped in Wyoming, the Reeds, Donners, and several other families decided to split off from the main trail and take a new route called the Hastings Cutoff, which had been advertised as a shortcut across the Great Basin.

The exhausted Donner Party finally rejoined the California Trail on September 26 near Elko, Nevada, having taken three weeks longer than the traditional route.

Reed initially refused to accept their decision but eventually agreed to go ahead to Sutter's Fort, in the Sacramento Valley, for supplies.

The Donner Party members contrived makeshift shelters, hoping to soon resume their journey, but were forced to spend the winter in the mountains.

Meanwhile, Reed, now stuck in California, tried to organize another relief expedition, but turmoil from the Mexican–American War not only disrupted his efforts but also forced him to take up arms.

In early February 1847, the citizens and naval officers of San Francisco funded a rescue effort for the stranded Donner Party.

Reed led a party out but a severe blizzard trapped them at the top of Donner Pass for two days, during which time they ran out of food.

He leased the orchards and in that summer gathered and dried apples, figs, pears, and quince, which he shipped to Hawaii, trading for cocoa, coffee, rice, and sugar.

Taking two of his sons, Reed leased a mining claim from Rancho Zayante owner Isaac Graham, on a tributary creek of the San Lorenzo River.

In 1948, San Jose State University's literary journal, then called El Portal, renamed itself to The Reed Magazine in honor of James F.

[12] Actor John Anderson was cast as Reed in the 1960 episode, "A Girl Called Virginia", on the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days.