The Weight of Motherhood

Pregnancy and childbirth on the frontier were referred to as a "time of sickness".  Anything that kept a person from a full day's labor on the frontier was a sickness.  A female ritual, calling for the support of other women was common, as "being confined" was a popular term to describe childbirth.  Women feared going into labor without other women there to help.

Child mortality on the frontier was a fact with 25-30 deaths a year (children 6 years of age and younger) in on Nebraska county in 1861 being the norm.  Mothers pointed to their children as symbols of their lifework, testifying to the importance that motherhood played in their life.

Children were not allowed idleness or indolence.  They were encouraged to be useful at all times.  Children were expected to work and do plenty of it.  Just as being genteel was inappropriate on the frontier, so was the notion that women and children were ornamental...it was a woman's responsibility to teach the children self-reliance and independence.  It was the child's to do as they were told when they were told to do it.

Next time... the beginning of society on the frontier.