01Biography
James Frazier Reed came to Illinois as a young man, served in the Black Hawk War of 1832 alongside Abraham Lincoln, and became a merchant and furniture maker near Springfield. In April 1846 he set out for California with his wife, Margret, her daughter Virginia, their three younger children and Margret's mother, traveling with the families of George and Jacob Donner. At Fort Bridger he decided to take Lansford Hastings's cutoff.
In October, on the Humboldt River, he killed a teamster, John Snyder, in a quarrel and was banished from the company. He went ahead to Sutter's Fort, was turned back by snow when he tried to bring food over the mountains, and in February 1847 led the second relief party to the camps. Of the 87 people who took the cutoff, 48 survived. All of the Reeds lived.
02Why they matter
Organized the Springfield families who became the Donner Party, then led one of the relief parties that brought survivors out of the Sierra Nevada in 1847.
03How they died
He settled his family in San Jose, where he did well in land and held local offices. His wife, Margret, died in 1861. He died in San Jose on July 24, 1874, aged 73.
04Legacy
His own account of the journey, published in 1871, is one of the main first-hand sources for the Donner story. Reed Street in downtown San Jose, laid out on his land, carries his name, and nearby streets are named for his wife and daughters.