Tamsen Donner
[2] As the party encountered worsening conditions, she repeatedly refused to leave her dying husband, George Donner.
[6] Reporting on her work in Williamsburg, Donner states that she has "a convenient school house, pleasantly situated, (and) board(s) in a remarkably agreeable family".
"[15] Houghton recalls that her mother "was energetic in all these preparations, but her special province was to make and otherwise get in readiness a bountiful supply of clothing".
In the early days of their migration, Donner read and practiced botany along the trip, finding tulips, primrose, lupine, "the ear-drop", larkspur, creeping hollyhock, and an unidentified “beautiful flower".
[21] Donner spent a large portion of her time cooking, using flour, rice, beans, cornmeal, and meat.
[23] In her second letter, Donner updates the journal on the position of the party, stating "To-morrow we cross the river, and, by reckoning, will be over 200 miles from Fort Laramie, where we intend to stop and repair our wagon wheels.
[28] Over the course of the journey, some families in the Donner Party moved faster than others, resulting in the group separating into smaller sections.
[31] She also wrote, sketched, knit, and sewed, all while telling her daughters the stories "of 'Joseph in Egypt,' of 'Daniel in the den of lions,' of 'Elijah healing the widow's son'".
Tamsen Donner cared for her husband in his illness, and her daughter Eliza recalled her sitting "by his side, with a basin of warm water upon her lap, laving the wounded and inflamed parts very tenderly, with a strip of frayed linen wrapped around a little stick".
[37] Tamsen Donner again refused to leave her husband, stating that she was determined "to remain and care for him until both should be rescued, or death should part them".
"[41] Cady and Stone did not keep their promise of taking the girls to safety, and instead abandoned them at the Breen cabin where Lewis Keseberg and Levinah Murphy resided.
After Clark notified Tamsen Donner of the betrayal, she hesitantly left the bedside of her dying husband to head to the lake in order to make arrangements for her daughters.
"[2] Before she left for the lake, Trudeau recalls "[Tamsen Donner] wrote every day and kept account of every thing that happened.
William Eddy, a party survivor returned rescuer, recounts that Tamsen Donner said "she would not consent to leave him while he survived".
'"[43] After arranging the girls departure with the rescue party, she returned to Alder Creek to care for George Donner.
"[44] Eliza Donner remembered that they "listened to the sound of her voice, felt her good-bye kisses, and watched her hasten away to father, over the snow, through the pines, and out of sight, and knew that we must not follow".
Both accounts of the events before, during, and after her death agree that in March 1847,[45] after George Donner finally passed away from his illness, Tamsen made her way over to Lewis Keseberg's cabin and died shortly after.
[46] William Fallon, leader of the group sent to salvage the property of the Donner Party, paints a grisly scene.
[49] Keseberg's account states that Tamsen arrived at his cabin late one night, saying that her husband, George Donner, had died, and that she intended to cross the mountains alone.
