tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-364212732024-03-13T18:58:36.851-06:00Donner BlogKristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.comBlogger103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-55638138283173666352014-07-08T07:00:00.000-06:002014-07-08T07:00:11.425-06:00Chautauqua tonight: Doris Dwyer as Margaret Breen
My second cousin alerted me to this -- thanks, Keith!
Just a quick heads up about Doris Dwyer's Chautauqua presentation at the Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton, Calif., at 7:00 PM tonight, July 8, 2014. Doris has been portraying of Margaret Breen for a number of years and is a well informed, interesting performer. Wish I could go! For more details, see this article.
Did I mentionKristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-92142892292928762922014-05-30T08:13:00.000-06:002014-05-30T08:16:39.270-06:00Meet Virginia Reed on June 27th
Recently I've been corresponding with a fifth-generation Californian, Cathryn Fairlee of Cotati, who has ancestors who arrived in California in the 1850s on both sides of her family. (One settled in Marysville -- named after Donner Party survivor Mary Murphy Covillaud; the other was buried in the cemetery of Mission Dolores in San Francisco -- as was Mary's brother-in-law, survivor William Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-56396129365247912212014-05-13T18:53:00.000-06:002014-05-13T18:53:00.615-06:00It's My Bloggy and I'll Crow If I Want To, Part II
Reader Chet's recent comment on my post about "Donner Party Cannibalism: Did They or Didn't They?" reminded me of some news I meant to share: Several weeks ago I learned that the article is a finalist (runner up) for the Western Writers of American Spur Award for best short nonfiction for 2014. What a surprise! I had no clue that it had even been nominated. Naturally, this is exciting news, but Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-74528881114212051012013-10-06T18:06:00.000-06:002013-10-06T18:45:53.399-06:00Donner Party cannibalism article
The latest issue of WildWest magazine to hit the stands might interest readers of this blog -- it features an article called "Donner Party Cannibalism: Did They or Didn't They?" by some bimbo named Kristin Johnson (that would be Moi). How did that happen? Well... It was work. A lot of hard work. The hardest thing I've had to write so far, because, despite all the revision, it's Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-42193711041846481412013-05-27T23:01:00.000-06:002013-05-27T23:08:33.029-06:00John Snyder's grave
As Donner buffs will recall, John Snyder was the Graves family's teamster who got into a fight with James F. Reed and was stabbed to death. Snyder was buried near where he fell and Reed was banished from the train. There has been some confusion about where the fight and burial took place, but trail historians are agreed that it happened at Iron Point, Nevada.
John Grebenkemper is Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-59614865482420989572013-02-27T08:45:00.000-07:002013-02-27T08:55:35.450-07:00Historic McGlashan site up for grabs
In 1893, newspaper editor, lawyer, and Donner Party historian C. F. McGlashan completed a remarkable building on a hillside in Truckee, California. White, with numerous tall windows and columns all around, the Rocking Stone Tower overlooked the town.
The tower was built was a 30-foot-high boulder with a flat top, at whose center perched a smaller rock (only 16 tons) so perfectly balanced Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-27131999174319855702013-02-18T11:46:00.003-07:002013-02-18T11:46:20.832-07:00Distressing News
On Friday I received a phone call out of the blue from Bill Springer, a fourth great-grandson of Capt. George Donner, to inform me that his brother Don died last month.
Donald Donner Springer, a life-long resident of Springfield, Illinois, was an avid collector of Donnerana. He amassed a quantity of documents and other items related to his family history, gave talks to local historical Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-74170945756967636042013-01-21T09:27:00.001-07:002013-01-21T09:30:42.569-07:00I'm ba-a-ack!
It's been over a year since I last posted, but it's not for lack of things to post about or lack of interest in the Donner Party. During my sabbatical of wrestling with boring offline, real life stuff, I've continued to research and correspond about the Donners, so I have a lot of news to share about all sorts of events, places, and people. For example (in no particular order):
* Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-14853488751327719242012-01-02T08:14:00.002-07:002012-01-02T08:22:29.157-07:00Happy 2012The New Year is a promising one for Donner Party buffs, with a new movie, books, and an anniversary or two, plus there's some exciting new research coming out. I'll be reviewing and blogging about these as I view, read, or write them up.Best wishes for a Happy New Year to all.Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-43387287969137338942011-11-26T23:58:00.000-07:002011-11-26T23:59:57.577-07:00Eating crowAh, the joys of writing! No matter how hard you try, errors inevitably creep into your work. It's dishearteningly easy to make dumb mistakes, and even if you catch them, your edits don't always make it into the published book. My copy of An Archaeology of Desperation has become a correction copy, with penciled notes scattered here and there throughout my contributions to the book. So you Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-21052256240862954732011-10-29T09:24:00.007-06:002011-10-29T11:18:50.784-06:00Donner Party horror flickLast May I blogged about a new Donner Party movie in the works, a horror film to be called Donner Pass. Well, it's finished and is being shown today at the Eerie Horror Film Festival in Erie, Pa., according to an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The directory, Elise Robertson, claims,“The script is so rich in character detail – each of our teens has a complex and surprising arc – all Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-16307178257226258502011-10-23T20:01:00.004-06:002011-10-24T09:17:35.516-06:00Radio interviewOn Thursday, October 20, Jeffrey Callison interviewed three of the authors of An Archaeology of Desperation on Capital Public Radio (KXJZ) in Sacramento. Book editors Drs. Kelly J. Dixon, co-director of the dig, and Shannon A. Novak, a bioarchaeologist who examined the bone fragments recovered, and I were on the air for about 20 minutes. You can listen to the show here.Naturally, there was much Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-82831217537127181422011-10-20T21:59:00.006-06:002011-10-20T22:36:23.935-06:00The Book!Yesterday the University of Oklahoma Press officially released the new Donner Party book, An Archaeology of Desperation: Exploring the Donner Party’s Alder Creek Camp. Call me biased, but I think it's quite a contribution to the literature of the Donner Party, with lots of new and interesting perspectives on the entire episode, and I hope that readers will agree.Naturally, it's too soon for Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-31668063770783807472011-08-24T07:09:00.009-06:002011-08-24T09:42:02.222-06:00What the -- ?
Okay, so I find a "Donner Party" hit on YouTube and open this "video" by The Donner Party:
Now, I'm not at all au courant with this sort of thing, so would be obliged if some more with-it reader could explain to me what this is all about.
Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-51674577662503341362011-08-11T06:55:00.004-06:002011-08-11T15:24:34.552-06:00Bill Maher and the Donner Party
Back in November 2008, when the election was over, I blogged about the frequent use of the Donner Party as a metaphor for the parlous state of national politics. Both liberal and conservative commentators have referred to the other side as a Donner Party ruthlessly savaging their companions in a desperate attempt to survive. One entrepreneur had even made up a Donner political party logo, Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-58568826940591833952011-07-31T19:40:00.003-06:002011-07-31T20:43:13.951-06:00Fifteenth AnniversaryFifteen years ago this month, Utah State University Press published my book "Unfortunate Emigrants": Narratives of the Donner Party. This is a collection of previously unanthologized Donner Party primary sources, some well known, some less so, and a few "new" ones, which I had struggled to locate in my own research. I edited them, annotated them, wrote introductions and biographical sketches, Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-63722063851338411962011-06-17T07:15:00.008-06:002011-06-17T09:39:25.643-06:00Archaeology book newsGuess what! An Archaeology of Desperation: Exploring the Donner Party's Alder Creek Camp is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble, and, no doubt, other fine emporia. The publisher is the University of Oklahoma Press, the ISBN is 1806142103, and the release date is October 20, 2011. Dr. Kelly Dixon is just checking the last set of galleys, and then that puppy's going to bed!Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-45701184453402496282011-06-14T07:13:00.009-06:002011-06-14T07:48:18.005-06:00New museumAt last work has begun on the new museum at Donner Memorial State Park. The planning started back in 2002 or earlier -- the old museum, which opened in 1962, had become too small for current operations and is not structurally sound or ADA-compliant. The federal grant and the state parks bond that provide the funding have been in place for some time and cannot be used for anything else, so despiteKristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-7455868459103588542011-06-12T21:53:00.006-06:002011-06-14T08:02:40.116-06:00Long time, no blogIt's been quite a while since I last blogged -- I came down with an acute attack of RLS (Real Life Syndrome) and got out of the habit. I haven't given up on the Donner Party, though -- all sorts of things have been going on. Back in October I visited Alder Creek for the first time in ages. It was great to be back! John Grebenkemper and I -- mostly John, actually -- have been checking out some newKristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-33045055646143602192010-12-09T19:41:00.004-07:002011-06-14T07:40:27.123-06:00Donner and Reed documents up for auctionR. R. Auction of Amherst, New Hampshire, is offering two early documents bearing the signatures of Donner Party leaders. The first is a petition dated February 16, 1840, asking the Sangamon County Commissioners to extend the Jacksonville Road, signed by George Donner and 37 others. The other document, undated, protests the annulment of the Bloomington Road, and is signed by James F. Reed and Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-32590496620141666442010-10-18T11:03:00.006-06:002010-10-19T09:25:14.884-06:00Tour at Donner Memorial State ParkOn Sunday, October 31, Donner Memorial State Park interpreter Gayle Green will guide visitors on a tour of the state park and the Alder Creek campsite. The event will begin at 10:30 and last about two hours. No fee is mentioned in the Sierra Sun article. You can also visit the state park website or call (530) -582-7892 for more information. The date was chosen because it was when the Donner PartyKristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-30012151917406170162010-09-29T07:18:00.004-06:002011-06-14T07:42:59.095-06:00Upcoming October eventsIn case anybody is interested (not that I expect them to be), I'm going to be on internet radio next Monday night, October 4. Ron Miller is going to interview me on his program The Chosen, which covers a variety of unusual topics such as UFOs, the paranormal, conspiracy theories, and so on. (Cannibalism is sufficiently outré to merit inclusion, I'd think.) Ron got the idea after last Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-62653265646817070032010-09-28T20:10:00.006-06:002011-06-14T17:37:33.220-06:00It's been a while...Things have been a mite slow on the Donner Party front lately. I continue to research -- Ancestry.com has just added the 1852 California State Census to their online databases, so I've been tracking down Donner Party survivors and rescuers, or trying to -- some of them are pretty darn elusive. Some are right where you expect them, while others show up in surprising places. Baptiste, for instance,Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-24221106702975665512010-08-20T07:15:00.009-06:002010-08-20T12:23:07.470-06:0050 years agoFifty years ago today, construction crews working on Interstate 80 along the north side of Donner Lake inadvertently started a huge wildfire on Donner Ridge. Whipped by winds, it roared eastward. Firefighters stopped the blaze from destroying the historic Donner family camp at Alder Creek, however, by bulldozing a line in time to protect the area. Consequently, when three years later Highway 89 Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36421273.post-75232378379553566502010-07-19T09:40:00.010-06:002010-07-21T08:30:16.021-06:00The Lincoln Muster RollThis morning, July 19, 2010, The Papers of Abraham Lincoln has announced the discovery of a new Lincoln document, a muster roll of Captain Jacob M. Early’s militia company from the Black Hawk War. The document is interesting because of its early date (1832), unusual nature (Lincoln filled out only part of the document – the rest is in another hand), and especially because of its history: Kristin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10137203177065875290noreply@blogger.com1