I am a descendant from one of the surviving Donner Party families, the Graves family. My great-grandmother, Lovina Graves, settled in the Napa Valley with her other surviving siblings, Sarah, Mary, William, Eleanor, and Nancy. Lovina Graves married John Cyrus. They built a home in 1867 on the site of the log cabin that John's father, Enoch, built in 1849. The property remained in the Cyrus/Sherwood family for 137 years. Lovina's sister Sarah finally settled in Corralitos, CA; sister Mary settled in Tulare Co. CA; sister Nancy settled in Sebastopol, Sonoma Co. CA area; sister Eleanor "Ellen" settled in Knights Valley, Sonoma Co., CA; and brother Will C. Graves was an early settler in Lake Co., CA and also lived in Sonoma and Napa counties. I am the caretaker of the Cyrus/Sherwood and extended family plots in the Pioneer Cemetery in Calistoga, Napa Co., CA.

I am a descendant from one of the surviving Donner Party families, the Graves family. My great-grandmother, Lovina Graves, settled in the Napa Valley with her other surviving siblings, Sarah, Mary, William, Eleanor, and Nancy. Lovina Graves married John Cyrus. They built a home in 1867 on the site of the log cabin that John's father, Enoch, built in 1849. The property remained in the Cyrus/Sherwood family for 137 years. Lovina's sister Sarah finally settled in Corralitos, CA; sister Mary settled in Tulare Co. CA; sister Nancy settled in Sebastopol, Sonoma Co. CA area; sister Eleanor "Ellen" settled in Knights Valley, Sonoma Co., CA; and brother Will C. Graves was an early settler in Lake Co., CA and also lived in Sonoma and Napa counties. I am the caretaker of the Cyrus/Sherwood and extended family plots in the Pioneer Cemetery in Calistoga, Napa Co., CA.