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George Donner was born on March 7th, 1784, the child of George Donner and Mary Huff. He is the oldest of 3 sons and 3 daughters. For most of his life, he lived in North Carolina and Illinois as a farmer. Because of this, he had no important actions until after his third marriage.
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He married for the first time, with whom he had Elizabeth, Sarah, Susannah M., and Lydia Donner.
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He married for the second time, with whom he had Elitha Cumi, and Leanna Charity Donner.
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He married for the third and last time, with whom he had Frances Eustis, Georgia Ann, and Eliza Poor Donner.
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George Donner, his brother Jacob Donner, and James Reed formed a large group to travel to California, going by the Donner-Reed Party. The party almost exceded 100 people.
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The Donner-Reed party makes their third pit-stop, and they meet a man named Lansford Hastings. He claims that he knows a shortcut, that would cut off 300 miles off the journey. This journey involves crossing the Wasatch Mountains, going around the Great Salt Lake to the south, then west to the Humboldt River in Nevada, before returning to the main trail from Fort Hall. As they were already behind most wagons, they take this path instead.
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The Donner Party decided to risk it and take Hastings' path. It proved him wrong, causing them to take 3 extra days and most almost starved to death. They then recieved a message from Hastings, who told them to camp out at the Weber River then to leave for the Wasatch Mountains as soon as possible.
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When they entered the Wasatch Mountains, they had to blaze the path themselves, cutting down trees, moving boulders, and building causeways (a raised road or track across low or wet ground.) At this point, they realize that after crossing the Salt Desert, they might not make it through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. They are now constantly slowing down.
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From here forward, the Donner Party had made many pit-stops, and more to come. After they reached Pilot Peak, they traveled to the Humboldt River, then they had to travel across a 40-mile desert to reach the Truckee Lake at the end of October. While crossing the desert, James Reed got into a fight with another member, ending with the other stabbed and Reed forced to ride home alone on horseback. After his exile, George Donner took over the entire party.
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The Donner Party were in some deep trouble. There were constant flurries between these mountains. Every time they attempted to cross, they were blocked by 5 to 10-foot tall snow walls. Their only option was to set up camp and wait for it to clear up. While setting up camp, a Paiute warrior (Native American tribe) had killed almost 20 of their oxen before being killed. While George Donner waited with others, another group tried to reach the summit and they were successful in making it through.
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After weeks of not getting through, the remaining members of the Donner Party had started to run out of food. Sooner or later, they had resorted to cannibalism, eating body parts of those who had passed. It was their only choice or they would die.
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Sooner or later, the other half of the Donner Party had made it to California. Men and women there set up a relief party to save any survivors. When they arrived, they found many eaten corpses, along with the corpse of George Donner and Tamsen Eustis. George was believed to have to died of an infection on his arm at the age of 62 on March 13th, 1865.
