Donner Party descendants to pay tribute to unlucky ancestors

TRUCKEE, Calif. -- Donner Party descendants will return this summer to the site of their ancestors' worst nightmare to reverently commemorate the 150th anniversary of one of the Old West's greatest tragedies.

Descendants named Donner, Breen, Reed and Graves will hold reunions at Donner Lake, where the snowbound pioneers desperately holed up during the deadly winter of 1846-47. Nearly half never left alive.

And up to 200 descendants are expected to gather in August in Truckee and Reno, Nev., for what's being billed as the year's premier event California Trail Days 96 and the Donner Party Sesquicentennial.

"I hope they dwell on the positive aspects instead of opening up 150-year-old family wounds," said James F. Reed III of Edmonds, Wash., a great-great grandson of party member James Reed. "So many of the families stayed in the West and contributed to its development."

Many members of the dissension-racked party starved to death. Others resorted to cannibalism to survive when stranded in the Sierra near Truckee. Forty-two of the 89 members died.

The group's farmers left homes in the Midwest 150 years ago this month to begin the covered-wagon journey. Their woes stemmed largely from a supposed shortcut through Utah and from an early winter.

Descendants acknowledge the cannibalism but said it was not discussed by survivors.

"It was traumatic for them and I think it was something they didn't want to talk about very much," said Barbara Wilder Politano of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., a great-great granddaughter of party captain George Donner. "We won't dwell on it, either."

More than 125 direct descendants of George Donner are expected to attend a family reunion July 20 at Donner Lake. The last such Donner reunion was held in 1990 in Truckee.

Plans call for family historians to speak about what happened to each Donner survivor after they reached California. Guests also will be given a chance to share memories passed down by ancestors.