Lewis Keseberg

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Lewis Keseberg
LewisKeseberg.jpg
Born
Johann Ludwig Christian Keseberg

(1814-05-26)May 26, 1814
Berleburg, Westphalia
Died1895 (aged 81)
Sacramento, United States
Known forDonner Party
Spouse(s)
Philippine Zimmerman
​
​
(m. 1842; died 1877)​
Children11

Johann Ludwig Christian Keseberg (May 26, 1814 – 1895), also referred to as Lewis Keseberg, was a member of the Donner Party of 1846–1847. He was the last survivor to be rescued from the Donner campsite. His reputation and his involvement in cannibalism allowed him to be remembered as "the most infamous and vilified member of the Donner Party."[1]

Biography[]

Johann Ludwig Christian Keseberg was born in Berleburg,[2] Westphalia, the son of a Lutheran minister. On June 22, 1842,[2] Keseberg married the nineteen-year-old Elisabeth Philippine Zimmerman. Within a year, his wife gave birth to twin daughters Juliane Karoline "Ada" Keseberg and Mathilde Elise Keseberg. In 1844, the family left Germany for New York.[3] Two months after their arrival, Mathilde died.[4] The family then settled in Cincinnati, where Keseberg found work at a brewery. They then decided to move west, joining the Donner Party in 1846.[3] Keseberg spoke German, English, French and Spanish,[5] and was "probably by far the most highly educated person in the company."[6]

The Donner Party[]

The Kesebergs, consisting of Lewis (32), his wife Philippine (23) and their daughter Ada (3), joined the Donner Party with two wagons. They were accompanied by teamsters Karl "Dutch Charley" Burger (30) and Hardkoop (60),[3][7] and further joined by their associates Joseph Reinhardt (30) and Augustus Spitzer (30), and merchant Jacob Karl Wolfinger (26) and his wife Doris (20),[7] all of whom were fellow Germans.[8] During the journey, his wife gave birth to a boy, Lewis Keseberg Jr.[9]

In September, during the difficult trek across the Great Salt Lake Desert, the Kesebergs left one of their wagons behind.[10] By October 7, Keseberg and his wife, carrying their newborn, was walking to lighten the wagon's load.[11] Keseberg's driver,[11] a Belgian immigrant known as Hardkoop, was unable to walk, and was left behind by Keseberg. Nobody could take Hardkoop, and he was last seen sitting by the road completely worn out.[12][13]

Lewis Keseberg was an unpopular member of the party.[9][14] The Kesebergs, being immigrants, were subjected to some discrimination.[15] Keseberg was noted to have physically abused his wife,[16] and had stolen buffalo robes from an Indian grave while travelling on the Platte River.[6] James Breen, member of the party, noted that Keseberg was "quick tempered and irritable."[16] Keseberg's friend, Heinrich Lienhard, wrote before Keseberg's departure that "Keseberg’s greatest weakness was his unbridled temper... After his anger had subsided, he always realized his mistake and was extremely penitent."[3]

Snowbound[]

In the winter of 1846–1847, unable to proceed in the snow, members of the Donner Party camped at Truckee Lake. Keseberg's foot was injured from an earlier hunting accident, and was lame. The Kesebergs were thus unable to build a proper cabin. Keseberg and other German immigrants built a lean-to shed.[17][18] On January 24, Keseberg's infant son, Lewis Keseberg Jr., died. He was buried in a snowbank by his mother.[19]

A relief party arrived in February. Keseberg's wife Philippine, carrying their daughter Ada, left the camp with the relief party. Ada died on the journey, and was buried by rescuers Reason Tucker and Daniel Rhoads in the snow.[20][21] Keseberg stayed in the camp due to his injuries,[22] and he moved into the cabin of the Murphy family.[23]

The second relief party arrived near the end of February, which found Keseberg "lying in pain in his own excrement." His wound was cared for, and the rescuers left behind some food.[20][24]

The third relief party arrived on March 13. The rescuers included William Eddy and William Foster, who were previously themselves survivors of the Donner Party. At the campsite, they found Foster's mother-in-law Levinah Murphy, who told them their young sons, James Eddy and George Foster, were dead and had been cannibalized by the survivors. Murphy accused Keseberg of killing George Foster, but Keseberg vehemently denied the accusations.[25][26] Keseberg confessed to Eddy that he had cannibalized his son.[27] Eddy swore to murder Keseberg if they ever met in California.[25][26] Keseberg refused to leave with the relief party,[28] and stayed in the campsite along with Murphy, and George and Tamzene Donner.[29]

The fourth relief party arrived on April 17, and found Keseberg, the only survivor, wrapped in a blanket, surrounded by human bones and next to a pot of what appeared to be fresh human liver and lungs. Keseberg confessed to cannibalizing the other survivors after their deaths, but when the rescuers accused him of murdering Tamzene Donner, Keseberg insisted that she died naturally. Keseberg had also hidden Tamzene's money. The rescuers believed that Keseberg stole the Donners' money, but Keseberg claimed that Tamzene had told him to take the money to her children. Nonetheless, Keseberg was allowed to leave with the rescuers. On his way to Sutter's Fort, Keseberg discovered the body of his daughter Ada. Keseberg arrived at Sutter's Fort on April 29, 1847, and was the last survivor of the party to be rescued.[30][31]

Later life[]

His reputation and actions in the Donner Party caused many to speak against him. Members of the fourth relief party spread shocking and gruesome tales about Keseberg[30] which involved some exaggeration, and this image of Keseberg held sway in common lore.[32] Keseberg was vilified as a cannibal, and accused of being a thief and a murderer.[33] Keseberg eventually sued Edward "Ned" Coffeemeyer, one of his own rescuers, for allegedly defamatory statements. Keseberg won in court, but was only awarded one dollar.[1][34] He was never charged for any crimes. Eddy did attempt to follow up on his promise to find and kill Keseberg, but was persuaded otherwise by fellow survivor James F. Reed.[33]

Immediately after his rescue, Keseberg worked briefly for John Sutter,[35] captaining the schooner Sacramento, taking wheat to San Francisco.[1][36] He later made some money during the California Gold Rush,[36] and in 1851 was able to buy and operate a hotel, "The Lady Adams" in Sacramento.[37] The hotel enjoyed some successes,[34][38] but it burned down a year later.[35][37] In 1853, Keseberg purchased an old bar and restaurant, and converted it to the Phoenix Brewery. Business in the brewery thrived and it is considered the first brewery to introduce lagers to Sacramento. The brewery was destroyed in the Great Flood of 1862. Keseberg then opened a distillery in Calistoga for his friend Samuel Brannan, before returning to Sacramento.[35][39]

Keseberg and his wife would have eight more children, all daughters. His wife Philippine died in 1877.[33][35] In 1879, Keseberg was interviewed by Charles Fayette McGlashan.[36] McGlashan wrote that Keseberg was afflicted by “misery and desolation,” and was struggling to care for his daughters, two of whom suffering from intellectual disability. Keseberg said that he was tormented by the accusations and rumors, and asserted that he was innocent of murder of Tamzene Donner.[38] Keseberg told McGlashan:

I have often been accused of taking her life. Before my God, I swear this is untrue! Do you think a man would be such a miscreant, such a damnable fiend, such a caricature on humanity, as to kill this lone woman? There were plenty of corpses lying around. He would only add one more corpse to the many![2]

McGlashan believed in Keseberg's innocence,[36] and later arranged a meeting between Keseberg and Eliza Donner Houghton, the youngest daughter of Tamzene Donner who survived the Donner Party when she was four. Keseberg swore that he was innocent, and Houghton chose to believe Keseberg.[38] Keseberg eventually would outlive all of his daughters save for one. He became penniless and homeless, and died in the Sacramento County Hospital,[36] a hospital for the poor, in 1895.[33][35] His grave was never found.[40]

Citations[]

  1. ^ a b c Rosen.
  2. ^ a b c JSNHB 2008.
  3. ^ a b c d Wallis 2017, Chapter 17.
  4. ^ Rarick 2008, p. 177.
  5. ^ Rarick 2008, p. 52.
  6. ^ a b Stewart 2013, Chapter II.
  7. ^ a b Wallis 2017, Appendix I.
  8. ^ Brown 2009, p. 83.
  9. ^ a b Wallis 2017, Chapter 29.
  10. ^ Rarick 2008, p. 74.
  11. ^ a b Wallis 2017, Chapter 31.
  12. ^ Rarick 2008, pp. 87–88.
  13. ^ Brown 2009, pp. 105–106.
  14. ^ Brown 2009, p. 79.
  15. ^ Wallis 2017, Chapter 24.
  16. ^ a b Rarick 2008, p. 53.
  17. ^ Rarick 2008, p. 117.
  18. ^ Brown 2009, pp. 123–124.
  19. ^ Wallis 2017, Chapter 38.
  20. ^ a b Wallis 2017, Chapter 42.
  21. ^ Brown 2009, p. 215.
  22. ^ Rarick 2008, pp. 173–174.
  23. ^ Stewart 2013, Chapter XXI.
  24. ^ Brown 2009, p. 222.
  25. ^ a b Wallis 2017, Chapter 43.
  26. ^ a b Brown 2009, p. 239.
  27. ^ Stewart 2013, Chapter XXVIII.
  28. ^ Rarick 2008, p. 218.
  29. ^ Brown 2009, p. 240.
  30. ^ a b Wallis 2017, Chapter 44.
  31. ^ Brown 2009, pp. 247–248.
  32. ^ Rarick 2008, p. 226.
  33. ^ a b c d Wallis 2017, Aftermath.
  34. ^ a b Rarick 2008, p. 232.
  35. ^ a b c d e Brown 2009, pp. 271–272.
  36. ^ a b c d e Stewart 2013, Chapter XXXIV.
  37. ^ a b McGlashan 1947, p. 222.
  38. ^ a b c Japenga 1986.
  39. ^ Robertson 2015.
  40. ^ Japenga 1996.

References[]

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