Career Options in the West

Women went west for an entirely different reason other than duty and economic opportunities - they went west in order to save civilization.  If that sounds a bit over the top - remember that it was general opinion that perhaps woman's best contribution (and the only one), to the frontier would be to "soothe and civilize" the wild west frontier with domestic life.

I guess it would follow then that women would begin to see themselves as a kind of savior to American civilization - a way in ensure that life on the frontier came to model the American way of life in the East.

"Pioneer Mothers" referred to women who went west as volunteers acting as maids in "rearing" the wild frontier of our country. 

Women went as teachers - the schoolhouse was of paramount importance in the attempt to civilize the frontier.Catherine Beecher, author of "The Duty of the American Women to Their Country"  helped to organize 100s of women in the mid 1800s to go west to teach.  In 1854 teaching was the most respectable work for a woman and offered a means of independence over factory seamstress or domestic maid back East.

Female missionaries also saw themselves as part of a national effort to save the western frontier for religious civilization. Over 2500 women came west as missionaries, putting their life on hold in order to help civilize the western frontier.

Next time...the trip was difficult.