Lewis, Martha J.

Martha Jane [Reed] Lewis (1838-1923) came to California in 1846 as a nine-year-old survivor in the 1846 Donner party, daughter of James F. Reed. By the 1880s, she was in Santa Cruz as a hotel manager, and later managed hotels in Capitola. Son Frazier Lewis became a confectioner in Capitola and Santa Cruz. The Donner Party ordeal was the subject of a 2001 historical novel by local writer James Houston, titled Snow Mountain Passage.

• The Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture (4th ed. 2023), Chapter One , entry (36), page 22
• Riptide CPL14 ("Mattie J. (Patty) Reed")