Place and Time

Meanwhile in California, Minna and John Balbach had a total of nine children together, one of which was my great-great-grandfather John Balbach Jr. He in turn also married, although his wife’s name is not in the family records. They had two daughters, one of which died when still an infant as the result of a misguided ear operation. Shortly afterwards their mother also died. John Jr. remarried and relocated to Seattle, leaving the surviving daughter behind to stay at the Balbach mansion with her grandfather. Mysteriously, no reason is given for John Jr.’s abrupt abandonment of his only daughter.

            According to my grandmother’s records, John Jr.’s daughter Clara May Balbach was related in some way to the Reed family, another clan of the infamous Donner party. I have been unable however, to establish the nature of this relationship, since there is very little information available on John Balbach Jr. or his anonymous wife. Clara May is pictured below in her youth.