"This book tells of Burton?s search to solve the mystery of Tamsen Donner for herself. A graceful mingling of history and memoir, Searching for Tamsen Donner follows Burton and her husband, with their five daughters, on her journey along Tamsen?s path. From Tamsen?s birthplace in Massachusetts to North Carolina, where she lost her first family in the space of three months; to Illinois, where she married George Donner; and finally to the fateful Oregon Trail, Burton recovers one woman?s compelling history through a modern-day family?s adventure into realms of ultimately timeless experiences" --Cover, p. 2.