The Rev. James W. Brier, Mrs. Juliette Brier, and their three sons, John W. Brier, Christopher Columbus Brier, and Kirk W. Brier, were among the ill-fated Gold Seekers who wandered into Death Valley over Christmas of 1849. Following behind the Jayhawkers, they were able to make their way out of Death Valley and finally straggled into Rancho San Francisco on February 4th, 1850, “nothing but skeletons.” Mrs. Brier, widely credited with pulling her family through, was called the heroine of Death Valley. When her children could not walk any further, she carried them; when her husband was too tired, she helped him rise in the morning, broke camp on her own, urged him on during the day, and set camp in the evening. She also helped Jayhawkers who fell ill or were hurt. The Briers eventually settled in Lodi, where Rev. Brier started the First Methodist Church in town, and in her final years Mrs. Brier frequently hosted the annual reunion of the surviving Jayhawkers.