McGlashan, C. F. (Charles Fayette), 1847-1931

Biography

Charles Fayette McGlashan was born in Wisconsin in 1847 and came overland with his father and sisters, arriving at Placerville in September 1854.

He attended Sotoyme Institute, Healdsburg, California, from 1861 to 1865 and Williston Seminary in Massachusetts, 1868-1870. From 1872, McGlashan lived in Truckee almost continuously. Until 1874 he was principal of the public schools, resigning in October to go to Utah as correspondent for the Sacramento Record. He wrote a series of articles on the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1657 and the arrest of John D. Lee, the accused leader of the Massacre. In 1875 he began the practice of law, in addition to becoming editor and then editor and owner of the Truckee Republican.

In 1878 a subscription to the Republican from a survivor of the Donner Party led to McGlashan's writing several articles on the subject. These resulted in correspondence and interviews with survivors, a series of articles in the Republican, and, in 1879, the publication of his book History of the Donner Party, A Tragedy of the Sierra. A revised and corrected second edition appeared in 1880 and has often been reprinted.

McGlashan was an active man with many and varied interests. In addition to his law practice and newspaper work, he was an amateur entomologist and astronomer, real estate developer, inventor, collector of Truckee area history and lore, and was actively involved in the financing and construction of the Donner Summit Memorials. He died at Truckee in 1931.

From the guide to the Charles Fayette McGlashan Papers, 1847-1931, (The Bancroft Library)