Title Sex and death on the western emigrant trail : the biology of three American tragedies / Donald K. Grayson

Published Salt Lake City : University of Utah Press, [2018]

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Description 1 online resource (xv, 246 pages) Contents An introduction to sex, death, and disaster -- "A great lamentation about the cold" : a brief history of the Donner Party disaster -- Predictions of death -- "A curious feature of the disaster" -- "The heavens weep" : the Willie Handcart Company -- "Cruel beyond language" : the Martin Handcart Company -- Gendered death? Summary "During the winter of 1846-1847, members of the Donner Party found themselves stuck in the snows of the Sierra Nevada on their journey to California, losing many in their group to severe cold and starvation. Those who survived did so by cannibalizing their dead comrades. Today the Donner Party may be the most famous group of American overland emigrants to struggle through life-threatening conditions, but it is not the only one. Ten years after the Donner Party got itself into trouble, two groups sponsored by the Mormon Church ran into similar difficulties. Unlike the Donner Party, these people were following a well-traveled path, but they were doing it in a novel way, pushing and pulling their goods and children in handcarts some 1,300 miles from Iowa to Utah. In the end, over 200 died along the trail. The plights of these travelers have been addressed by different historians in different ways. This book is the first to examine these tragedies in terms of biology. Grayson shows that who lived and who died within these westward-bound groups can largely be explained by age, sex, and family ties. His investigation reveals what happens when our cultural mechanisms for dealing with famine and extreme cold are reduced to only what our very bodies can provide. These were real people in real danger. Understanding what happened to them helps us get at the core of who and what we all are"--Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on October 31, 2018) Subject James G. Willie Emigrating Company. Edward Martin Emigrating Company. SUBJECT Edward Martin Emigrating Company fast James G. Willie Emigrating Company fast Subject Overland journeys to the Pacific. Donner Party. Biometry. Mortality -- Sex differences. Mortality -- Statistics. Disaster victims -- West (U.S.) Latter Day Saint pioneers -- United States -- History -- 19th century Latter Day Saint handcart companies Biometry biometrics. HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- Southwest (AZ, NM, OK, TX) HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- West (AK, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, UT, WY) Biometry Disaster victims Donner Party Latter Day Saint handcart companies Latter Day Saint pioneers Mortality Mortality -- Sex differences Overland journeys to the Pacific United States West United States Genre/Form History Statistics Form Electronic book LC no. 2017041871 ISBN 9781607816027 1607816024

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