Frontier Society Beginnings

Women are social creatures - it's just our nature.  Frontier women were no different.  They liked to visit with neighbors and talk of things women today talk about - parenting, fashion, recipes, crafts, marriages, education, religion and most certainly settlement politics.  Women attempted to dress in style even on the frontier, as a symbol of their intention to remain feminine on a frontier where femininity was not an easy thing.

When friends did visit, they stayed. Nearby neighbors stayed at least through a meal and if they had to travel far, for the night.  It was good manners.  Visits provided relief from work and offered the opportunity for mutual support and sharing of experiences.  Women on the frontier might go weeks between neighborly visits, and years between family visits.

Women attempted to attract friends and family to come out west for a visit to aid in the task of building a frontier society, but in reality it was just too costly, and too stressful  to make the trip very often, so societies were built on whoever settled down the road.

Pioneers were beginning to compare their new life on the frontier to their old life on the frontier.  The East was starting to  fade in their memory and a "lady" as the heart of the home was surviving, but along with that - the role as a helper and partner was emerging.  The Western Frontier was becoming civilized!

Next time...Women Contribute to the Community