The Donners were among the first settlers of Sangamon County, Ill. They
were North Carolinians, immigrants to Kentucky in 1818, subsequently to
the State of Indiana, and from thence to what was known as the Sangamon
Country, in the year 1828.
George Donner, at the time of leaving Springfield, Ill., was a large,
fine-looking man, fully six feet in height, with merry black eyes, arid
the blackest of hair, lined with an occasional silver thread. He
possessed a cheerful disposition, an easy temperament, industrious
habits, sound judgment, and much general information. By his associates
and neighbors he was called "Uncle George." To him they went for
instructions relating to the management of their farms, and usually they
returned feeling they had been properly advised. Twice had death
bequeathed him a group of motherless children, and Tamsen was his third
wife.
Her parents, William and Tamsen Eustis, were respected and well to do
residents of Newburyport, Mass., where she was born in November, 1801.
Her love of books made her a student at an early age; almost as soon as
the baby-dimples left her cheeks, she sought the school-room, which
afforded her great enjoyment. Her mother's death occurred before she
attained her seventh year, and for a time her childish hopes and desires
were overshadowed with sadness by this, her first real sorrow.
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