James F. Reed

James Frazier Reed (November 14, 1800 – July 24, 1874) was an Irish-born American businessman, soldier and pioneer in the American West, notable for being an organizing member of the ill-fated Donner Party emigration to California in 1846.

Early life James Frazier Reed was born in County Armagh, Kingdom of Ireland (now Northern Ireland). Reed emigrated with his mother to the United States after the death of his father. Once there, his mother sent him to live with a family member in Virginia, where he worked as a clerk in the family store. In about 1825, Reed moved to Illinois, where he took an interest in mining. While living there, Reed ran several businesses and took part in the Black Hawk War of 1832, serving with Abraham Lincoln.

In 1835, he married Margret Backenstoe ( Margret Wilson Keyes), a widow with one daughter, Virginia Elizabeth Backenstoe, whom Reed did not adopt but who nonetheless went by the name Virginia Reed. The Reeds and Donners left Springfield on April 14 and joined a large wagon train led by William H. Russell on May 19.

While camped in Wyoming, the Reeds, Donners, and several other families decided to split off from the main trail and take a new route called the Hastings Cutoff, which had been advertised as a shortcut across the Great Basin. They elected George Donner captain, creating the Donner Party, and separated from the other emigrants on July 20. The new route proved painstakingly slow and arduous. While crossing the desert west of the Great Salt Lake, Reed abandoned two of his wagons after he lost most of his oxen. The exhausted Donner Party finally rejoined the California Trail on September 26 near Elko, Nevada, having taken three weeks longer than the traditional route.

On October 6, while traveling along the Humboldt River, Reed quarreled with two men and, in the ensuing fight, stabbed John Snyder to death.

In the spring of 1848, Reed joined the California Gold Rush, finding rich diggings in the Placerville area. Returning to San Jose in the fall of that year, he began an active community life. The family settled on a 500-acre (200-hectare) ranch between First Street and Coyote Creek in what is now Downtown San Jose. In 1849, Reed became the chief of police of the San Jose Police Department.

Reed also became a real estate developer and speculated in mining enterprises. The subdivision of the Reed land in 1849 resulted in the naming of Reed, Carrie, Margaret [sic], Keyes, Lewis, Martha, Patterson, and Virginia Streets in honor of Reed family members. The present-day Reed Elementary School is named after Frazier O. Reed, a grandson of James F. Reed. In 1851, during the California statehood process, Reed was a leading proponent of a plan to make San Jose the capital of California, and he donated four city blocks to the cause. A portion of these donated lands became a public park, named Washington Square, which would in 1871, become the campus for the California State Normal School (now San Jose State University).

In 1856, gold was discovered in the nearby Santa Cruz Mountains, and Reed again set out to do some prospecting. Taking two of his sons, Reed leased a mining claim from Rancho Zayante owner Isaac Graham, on a tributary creek of the San Lorenzo River. The area never produced much gold, but the area near present-day Felton nevertheless became known as "Gold Gulch".

Death A widower since 1861, James F. Reed died in San Jose on July 24, 1874, at age 73. His great grandson later established Reeds Sporting Goods Store, a long-term business in San Jose, which became Reed's Indoor Range and is still open today under new management.

Legacy In 1948, San Jose State University's literary journal, then called El Portal, renamed itself to The Reed Magazine in honor of James F. Reed.

In popular culture American Murder Song's ballad "The Cry Of The Banished Horseman" is a musical account of James Reed's murder of John Snyder and subsequent banishment from The Donner Party.

Chris Cooper plays James Reed and Meredith Baxter plays Margret in the 1994 TV movie One More Mountain.

Actor John Anderson was cast as Reed in the 1960 episode, "A Girl Called Virginia", on the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days. Patty McCormack played Virginia Reed, his stepdaughter who proves helpful beyond her years as the Donner Party splits apart.