Tamsen was the daughter of Captain William Eustis, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, and his wife, Thomasine Wheelwright. Her distinctive given name is a variant form of Thomasine.
She was married first to Tulley B. Dozier (died 1834) and following his death was married 24 May 1839 in Springfield, Illinois to George Donner, Jr. (she was Donner's third wife).
She accompanied her husband and their children on the ill-fated Donner Party trek to California. Following the death of her husband, she went to the cabin of Lewis Keseberg at midnight on the 27th of March 1847 and told him that her husband was dead. She said her husband had died in her arms and, had died at nightfall. She wanted to see her children. She told Mr. Keseberg that she had money in her tent and for him to get the money and take it to her children in case she perished. The next morning she was dead. The hunger, the mental suffering, and the icy chill of the preceding night, caused her death.
A cenotaph is found at the Oak Hill Cemetery of Clear Lake at Clear Lake, Illinois, where her husband's parents are buried.
She was married first to Tulley B. Dozier (died 1834) and following his death was married 24 May 1839 in Springfield, Illinois to George Donner, Jr. (she was Donner's third wife).
She accompanied her husband and their children on the ill-fated Donner Party trek to California. Following the death of her husband, she went to the cabin of Lewis Keseberg at midnight on the 27th of March 1847 and told him that her husband was dead. She said her husband had died in her arms and, had died at nightfall. She wanted to see her children. She told Mr. Keseberg that she had money in her tent and for him to get the money and take it to her children in case she perished. The next morning she was dead. The hunger, the mental suffering, and the icy chill of the preceding night, caused her death.
A cenotaph is found at the Oak Hill Cemetery of Clear Lake at Clear Lake, Illinois, where her husband's parents are buried.
Tamsen was the daughter of Captain William Eustis, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, and his wife, Thomasine Wheelwright. Her distinctive given name is a variant form of Thomasine.
She was married first to Tulley B. Dozier (died 1834) and following his death was married 24 May 1839 in Springfield, Illinois to George Donner, Jr. (she was Donner's third wife).
She accompanied her husband and their children on the ill-fated Donner Party trek to California. Following the death of her husband, she went to the cabin of Lewis Keseberg at midnight on the 27th of March 1847 and told him that her husband was dead. She said her husband had died in her arms and, had died at nightfall. She wanted to see her children. She told Mr. Keseberg that she had money in her tent and for him to get the money and take it to her children in case she perished. The next morning she was dead. The hunger, the mental suffering, and the icy chill of the preceding night, caused her death.
A cenotaph is found at the Oak Hill Cemetery of Clear Lake at Clear Lake, Illinois, where her husband's parents are buried.
She was married first to Tulley B. Dozier (died 1834) and following his death was married 24 May 1839 in Springfield, Illinois to George Donner, Jr. (she was Donner's third wife).
She accompanied her husband and their children on the ill-fated Donner Party trek to California. Following the death of her husband, she went to the cabin of Lewis Keseberg at midnight on the 27th of March 1847 and told him that her husband was dead. She said her husband had died in her arms and, had died at nightfall. She wanted to see her children. She told Mr. Keseberg that she had money in her tent and for him to get the money and take it to her children in case she perished. The next morning she was dead. The hunger, the mental suffering, and the icy chill of the preceding night, caused her death.
A cenotaph is found at the Oak Hill Cemetery of Clear Lake at Clear Lake, Illinois, where her husband's parents are buried.
Gravesite Details
She left the Donner Party Camp at Alder Creek Valley following the death of her husband and went to the cabin of Lewis Keseberg in what is now the Donner Memorial State Park, where she died and her remains were subsequently interred.
Family Members
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