nd that
her brother had reached there in time for the funeral.

Of the seven Donners who had survived the disaster, she was the first
called by death, and we deeply mourned her loss, and grieved because
another little Mary was motherless. The following August, Mr. Houghton
made his first visit to Rancho de los Cazadores, and with fatherly
pride, showed the likeness of his little girl, and promised to keep us
all in touch with her by letter.

Mr. Houghton was closely identified with pioneer affairs, and we had
many friends in common, especially among officers and soldiers of the
Mexican War. He had enlisted in Company A of Stevenson's Regiment of
New York Volunteers when barely eighteen years of age; and sailed with
it from his native State on the twenty-sixth of September, 1846. After
an eventful voyage by way of Cape Horn, the good ship _Loo Choo_, which
bore him hither, cast anchor in the Bay of San Francisco, March 26,
1847, about the time the Third Relief was bringing us little girls
over the mountains. His company being part of the detachment ordered to
Mexico under Colonel Burton, he went at once into active service, was
promoted through intermediate grades, and appointed lieutenant, and
adjutant on the staff of Colonel Burton, before his twentieth year.
Following an honorable discharge at the close of the war, and a year's
exciting experiences in the gold fields, he settled in San Jose in
November, 1849, then the capital city. His knowledge of the Spanish and
French languages fitting him specially therefor, he turned his
attention to legislative and municipal matters. As clerk of the Senate
Judiciary Committee of the first session of the California Legislature,
he helped to formulate statutes for enactment, they being promulgated
in Spanish as well as English at that time. During the period between
1851 and 1860 he held several official positions, among them that of
president of the City Council; and on his twenty-fifth birthday he was
elected Mayor of San Jose. Meanwhile he had organized the Eagle Guard,
one of the first independent military companies in the State, and had
also been successively promoted from adjutant to ordnance officer, with
the rank of lieutenant-colonel, on Major-General Halleck's staff of the
State Militia. Moreover, he had completed the study of law in the
office of Judge W.T. Wallace, been admitted to the bar, and was now
actively engaged in the practice of his profession.

[Footnote 1