California

Schallenberger, Moses 1826-1909

Daughters of Utah Pioneers, An Enduring Legacy, - Vol. 12. Salt Lake City, UT: Utah Printing Company, 1978. Pioneer Potpourri: Almaden Valley Camp

" Oak Hill Cemetery—a few acres of unfenced and unsurveyed land—was the first burial place of the scattered Spaniards who followed De Anza. It belonged to E1 Pueblo de San Jose de Guadelupe and was located at the foot of the San Juan Bautista hills. This peaceful spot against the hills became the natural choice of the American settlers for interment of their loved ones during the early years of the pueblo. This cemetery is California's oldest secular cemetery. It has been in constant use since 1777. Even then, as now, the hills around it were studded with graceful oaks that gave it its name... In the pioneer section we also see the tombstone of Moses Schallenberger, another member of the Donner party. Left alone at Donner Lake through the winter of 1846-47 to guard the wagons that couldn't get through before winter snows blocked the route, he survived by living entirely on foxes and coyotes he trapped. He was rescued the next spring."

California and Californians: Volume 2
Ch. 6: Overland Immigrant Home Seekers (1841-46) page 53

"Leaving the Missouri River in May, the Stevens-Murphy Company proceeded along the old emigrant trail to Fort Hall. About half of the train decided to go to Oregon; the remainder–twenty-six men and about twenty women and children–proceeded toward California. It was about the first of November before the Humboldt Sink was reached; and by the time their preparations for the trip over the mountains had been completed, the early snow had made its appearance. With the help of an Indian guide they took a westerly course instead of pursuing the southerly route via Walker River, thus breaking a new path into California. A group of half a dozen persons, including two of the women, taking each a horse, went on in advance of the main company, finally making their way across the head waters of the American River and down into the valley."

"Members of the main group reached what is now known as Donner Lake; and from this time onward their many hardships, their separations, their lack of sufficient food, while not such as to be compared with the tragic experiences of the Donner Party of two years later, nevertheless bring to mind by anticipation that grewsome story. Three of the men– Moses Schallenberger, Joseph E. Fosters and Allen Montgomery–were left at the lake, where they built a cabin in which Schallenberger was compelled to remain until the following February. It was about the middle of March, 1845, when the last members of the company finally reached the ranch settlements in safety. The most of the Murphys settled in Santa Clara Valley, where theirs is still a well-known family name."

The Donner Party page 116

“That night,” wrote Virginia Reed Murphy, many years afterward, “came the dreaded snow. Around the campfires under the trees great feathery flakes came whirling down. The air was so full of them that one could see objects only a few feet away. The Indians knew we were doomed, and one of them wrapped his blanket about him and stood all night under a tree. … In the morning the snow lay deep on mountain and valley. With heavy hearts we turned back to a cabin that had been built by the Murphy-Schallenberger party two years before. We built more cabins and prepared as best we could for the winter. That camp, which proved the camp of death to many in our company, was made on the shore of a lake, since known as ‘Donner Lake.’ The Donners were camped in Alder Creek Valley below the lake, and were, if possible, in a worse condition than ourselves. The snow came on so suddenly that they had no time to build cabins, but hastily put up brush sheds, covering them with pine boughs.”

John Bidwell, Life in California: Life In California Before The Gold Discovery.

The first wagons brought into California came across the plains in 1844 with the Townsend or Stevens party. They were left in the mountains and lay buried under the snow till the following spring, when Moses Schallenberger, Elisha Stevens (who was the captain of the party), and others went up and brought some of the wagons down into the Sacramento valley. No other wagons had ever before reached California across the plains.

John Bidwell, Living in California, 1841-89: Echoes of the past about California, by General John Bidwell. Ch 3 pg 86 - 87

The first wagons brought into California came across the plains in 1844 with the Townsend or Stevens party. They were left in the mountains and lay buried under the snow till the following spring, when Moses Schallenberger, Elisha Stevens, who was captain of the party, and others went up and brought some of the wagons down into the Sacramento Valley. No other wagons had ever before reached California across the plains. Mr. Schallenberger still lives at San Jose´. He remained a considerable part of the winter alone with the wagons, which were buried under the snow. When the last two men made a desperate effort to escape over the mountains into California, Schallenberger tried to go with them, but was unable to bear the fatigue, and so returned about fifteen miles to the cabin they had left near Donner Lake, as it was afterwards called, where he remained, threatened with starvation, till one of the party returned from the Sacramento Valley and rescued him.

Among the high social scene of San Jose in late 1800's and early 1900's include:

• Miss Lou Schallenberger, later Mrs. Thomas Montgomery
• Miss Maggie Schallenberger
• Miss Fannie Schallenberger