Elisha Stephens
Born in South Carolina of French Hugenot parents, Stephens spent some years as a fur trapper, probably on the upper Missouri. He was working as a blacksmith at the Indian agency in Council Bluffs when the party was organized and he was elected its captain.

After safely leading the party to its destination, Stephens wandered around California, possibly serving as a blacksmith during the Mexican war. He settled on a farm in what is now Cupertino, where "Stevens Creek Park" and "Stevens Creek Blvd." bear his misspelled name. Eventually he moved to the site of present-day Bakersfield, faded into obscurity, and died a pauper in 1884.

Martin Murphy, Sr.
Born in Ireland, Martin Murphy Sr. emigrated first to Quebec in the 1820’s, then to Missouri in the early 1840’s. After his wife and three grandchildren died of malaria on the Missouri frontier, he was anxious to move again. From an itinerant Jesuit priest, he heard about the land to the West called California, where not only was there a more healthful climate but at least nominally, a Catholic government.

After arrival in California, Martin Sr. founded a ranch near Gilroy, which he named after his patron Saint, San Martin. The town by that name sits astride Highway 101 South of San Jose.

Martin Murphy, Jr.
Martin Jr., the oldest of three Murphy sons on the trek, brought his wife and three sons.

Martin established a ranch in the Santa Clara Valley which became the City of Sunnyvale. He prospered, supported many area churches and schools, and was an original benefactor of Santa Clara University. One of his sons, who was four at the time of the crossing, became a four-term mayor of San Jose. His brothers John and Daniel struck it rich in the early days of the Gold Rush where the town of Murphys still bears their name.

John Townsend
Born in Pennsylvania of English descent, John Townsend was the most educated member of the party. He was the appointed secretary for the trip, but his logs and notes, if they ever existed, have never been found.

Townsend was the first licensed physician to practice medicine in California. He was alcalde of San Francisco, where he also served on the town council and the first school board, and where Townsend Street bears his name. He and his wife Elizabeth died within days of each other while treating patients in a cholera epidemic in San Jose in 1850.

Elizabeth Townsend
John’s wife, before the trip, was reputed to be a frail woman, who’s health was one factor in her husband’s desire to find a more healthful climate. Elizabeth—like many of the women on this and other wagon trains—turned out to be a rugged individual.

The Townsend’s son, John Henry, was born after their arrival in California.

Moses Schallenberger
Elizabeth Townsend’s younger brother was six when his parents died and he was entrusted to his married sister. He was 17 when the journey began. His survival of the winter alone in the Sierras is one of the most dramatic aspects of the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy saga.

After clerking in Monterey during the Gold Rush, Schallenberger moved to San Jose upon the death of the Townsends, adopted their infant son, and farmed there until he died in 1909. Schallenberger Road, the site of his home, is now the home of the San Jose Mercury News and KTEH-TV.

Caleb Greenwood
A former fur trapper who had roamed the Rockies during the 1820’s and ‘30’s, Greenwood was hired a pilot or guide by the Stephens-Townsend Murphy party. He brought his two sons by a Crow Indian wife. He was reputed to be 80 years old at the time of the trip.

Eastbound in 1845 to find more work guiding parties to California, the Greenwoods pioneered the Dog Valley bypass around the Truckee River Canyon which became the main route of the California Trail.