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Cabinet Card of Keseberg & Co., Notorious Donner Party Survivor and Cannibal

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Western Americana Start Price:75.00 USD Estimated At:150.00 - 300.00 USD
Cabinet Card of Keseberg & Co., Notorious Donner Party Survivor and Cannibal
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Cabinet card 4.25" x 6.5" that shows two-story brick building with sign "Keseberg & Co." Four gentlemen standing in front of the business. One of these (far left?) is most likely Louis Keseberg, the owner, and a notorious figure in California history. Keseberg was the last person to be rescued of the Donner Party in April 1847. He was also accused of both murdering and eating Tamsen Donner, who had stayed behind with her dying husband when others set out from the camp. Keseberg denied the murder, but confessed to cannibalizing her body.



He went on to Sacramento where he was an early figure in the Sacramento brewing market.



A few facts that help date the photograph:

1859-60 Sacramento Directory-Keseberg & Co. are listed as proprietors of the Phoenix Brewery.

1862-The facility is destroyed by the great flood.

1876-Sacramento Directory-Keseberg reappears and is listed as a distiller.

If this were a pre-1862 picture, the nature of the plate suggests it would be a c.1870 print of an earlier CDV. It's is more likely a c.1876 photograph when Keseberg returned to Sacramento.

Date: c.1876
City: Sacramento
State: California
ID: 21909