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Patrick Breen - The Donner Party

From November 20, 1846 to March 1, 1847, Irish immigrant Patrick Breen, a Donner party member, kept a diary of his ordeal in the mountains. Clinging to survival with his wife Margaret and their seven children, Breen described the harsh winter weather, the leather hides they resorted to eating, and the deaths of their traveling companions.

As spring approached, rescuers made their way to the Donner party’s mountain encampment. By March, Breen and his family were safely at Sutter’s Fort in California. All seven children and both parents had survived. Baby Isabella, who remembered nothing of the ordeal, lived until 1935, the last survivor of the Donner party.

Source: The Donner Party

In Patrick Breen’s first diary entry, from November 20th, he wrote: “We now have killed most part of our cattle, having to stay here until next spring and live on poor beef without bread or salt.”

On November 30th, Patrick Breen wrote: “Snowing fast…about 4 or 5 feet deep, no drifts. Looks…likely to continue…no living thing without wings can get about.” Then, the next day: “Difficult to get wood. No going from the house. Completely housed up.”

Although they didn’t know it, the Donner Party was experiencing one of the worst and earliest winters in the recorded history of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Warm, moist air from the Pacific Ocean had sped across the California mainland, colliding with cold, dry air in the mountains. This led initially to a rain/snow mix, followed by drier snow that accumulated to ski-slope depths. While these sorts of weather patterns are not uncommon in the Sierra Nevada, they don’t usually happen as early as they did in 1846, or with the same intensity.

Snow continued to fall through the following days. On December 13th, Breen noted that it was now about eight feet deep on level ground.

http://serene-musings.blogspot.com/2009/11/tragedy-in-sierra-nevada...

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WWbreenP.htm

http://user.xmission.com/~octa/DonnerParty/Breen.htm

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/r/a/v/Alice-Raven/GENE16...

One of the leaders of the infamous Donner party. Patrick Breen, his wife, Margaret Bulger Breen, and seven of their children were members of the ill-fated Donner party. The family departed Independence, Missouri, in 1846, along with the rest of the group. To top off a trip that had already had a series of misfortunes, an early winter blizzard trapped the party in the Sierra Nevadas. Breen and the other pioneers had to camp in the mountains for 111 days before helped arrived. During the ordeal, Breen kept a journal that was later published under the name "Diary of Patrick Breen, One of the Donner Party". Much of what is known about the experiences of the pioneers during their ordeal comes from Breen's diary. The lake that was formerly known as Trukee Lake is now named Donner Lake in honor of the party. Bren and his family witnessed many of their fellow travellers succumb to starvation and death. Breen himself became very sick for quite some time. But the Breens were fortunate; of the 90 members of the Donner Party, only 42 made it out alive, all the Breens included. After being rescued and taken to Fort Sutter in Sacramento, Breen and his family wandered California for a year before settling near the Mission San Juan Bautista. The home in which they lived, which was across the street from the Mission, is now an historic landmark and part of the Mission's historical area that is open to the public. (bio by: [fg.cgi?page=mr&MRid=13003043" target="_blank Candice xo)]

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jun 23 2018, 23:08:11 UTC