Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party

The Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party consisted of ten families who migrated from Iowa to California prior to the Mexican-American War or the California Gold Rush. The Stephens Party is significant in California history because they were the first wagon train to cross the Sierra Nevada during the expansion of the American West. In 1844, they pioneered the first route at or near what was later named Donner Pass. The crossing was a year before Fremont, two years before the Donner Party and five years before the 1848-49 Gold Rush.

The 50-member Stephens group left near present-day Council Bluffs, Iowa on May 22, 1844. They departed with a larger group of Oregon-bound settlers in a train of 40 wagons. Fifty travelers left Iowa; 52 arrived in Sacramento with the Stephens party, as there were two births along the way. Elisha Stephens was elected captain of the wagon train because he had spent several years as a mountain man and beaver hunter in the Pacific Northwest. He also had skills as a blacksmith. He had worked at the Potawatomi Council Bluffs US Indian Subagency before resigning to go to California.

Dr. John Townsend, his wife Elizabeth, and her younger brother Moses Schallenberger, were also going west. A man of vision, Townsend wanted a chance at grand adventure and opportunity in California. He would become the first licensed physician in California.

The largest family group in the party was headed by Martin Murphy, Sr. His family had 23 members. As Irish Catholics, the Murphy family, along with the Martin and Sullivan families, were seeking religious, economic, and political freedoms in the West. The group included James Miller (1814–1890), an Irishman, who would marry Martin Murphy, Sr.'s third daughter and settle at Rancho San Pedro, Santa Margarita y Las Gallinas near San Rafael.

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