James Reed Forty-six-year-old James Reed organized the trek from Illinois to California. He was born in the north of Ireland and came to the United States as a boy. Settling in Illinois, he prospered as a businessman, but in 1846 looked to the West for a better life. His sickly wife, Margaret, their four children, Margaret's seventy-year-old mother and two servants traveled in three wagons. One of these was a custom-built double-decker home on wheels. The trip was relatively uneventful until they reached the Humboldt River in present-day Nevada. The wagon train had been underway for over five months. The emigrants had anticipated they would be in California by now. Nerves were frayed and emotions explosive. While urging his oxen forward while climbing a steep hill, the frustrated wagon driver, John Snyder, began to beat his oxen with his whip. Reed rushed forward to intervene. A violent argument ensued with the result that Reed attacked and killed Snyder with his knife. Reed was banished from the wagon train and went on ahead to California leaving his invalid wife, children and mother-in-law behind to travel to California with the Donner Party.