George Willis Read (b.1819-d.1850) was a Pennsylvania doctor assigned by the Jefferson-California Company to serve as surgeon and captain of a wagon train that embarked from Independence, Missouri on May 1, 1850. This group of pioneers crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains by way of Carson Pass and arrived in Hangtown (Placerville), California on August 18, 1850. After arriving in California, Read settled in the Sacramento Valley and operated a grain and fruit farm near Yolo. He also was a partner in a gold mine operation. Read kept a diary of his overland journey which his daughter Georgia Willis Read published in 1927 in her book "A Pioneer of 1850: George Willis Read, 1819-1880."
From the description of George Willis Read diary, 1850 May 2-August 19. (State Historical Society of Iowa, Library). WorldCat record id: 682172493
