The First Career Women on the Frontier

Women had their own way of dealing with struggles that arose on the frontier.  One homesteading claim tells the story of an illiterate widow who refused to admit financial defeat in California and became a squatter (sitting on a piece of land to claim it).  When the rightful claimant (who had killed her husband over this same issue) came and tried to drive her off the land with his gun in hand, she took out her own pistols and dared him to shoot her in the head.  He couldn't and she retained the land where she lived the rest of her life. :)

On the Iowa frontier, one man planned to support his family by doing carpenter work.  Writes one daughter, "Mother had other ideas and during Father's absence, she accumulated 9 cows and was able to support the family quite nicely until Father returned.  He didn't take to milking cows so one week from the time he returned, there was only one cow left.  Not the end to the story though as it seems the women used her inheritance money to purchase more cows.  With these proceeds she bought winter clothing and supplies for the entire family.  The family, by the way, ended up raising stock as a business after all.  I guess carpentry just didn't pay that well!

Other women dealt with economic hard times by taking wagon covers not needed anymore and making shirts to sell to the Indians and gloves for the military stationed nearby.  The sale of butter and eggs provided steady income for many family in the early days of settlement.

Lavina Porter, whose husband found it hard to earn money for the family because of his fondness for whiskey, patiently waited until her husband was gone and then loosened the barrel - by the time he returned the barrel was empty.

Women on the frontier were resourceful and used what they had to solve economic problems for their families.  I guess they could be called the "first career women."

Next time...child bearing on the frontier.

Arriving on the Homestead

The period of adjustment to new surroundings was always a trying time for women.  Physical exhaustion from the journey along with meager family resources made confronting the reality of the frontier kind of like being hit broadside!

By the time a family arrived at their homestead, there were little supplies left, the family was worn out, and the work had just begun.  Add to that the lack of friends and family to help and you have what one woman wrote, "As long as I live I'll never see such lonely country".

A family just arriving, even if lucky enough to have a homestead, faced the reality of no house, no capital, hunger and poverty that loomed as large as the sky overhead.  Many a pioneer woman told herself that if they could just get to the homestead it would be alright - only to find they hadn't even begun yet.

One woman noted the following story in her journal some years later.  At the time, she was a child...
"During the trip, father saw 2 stumps standing a few feet apart and he laughingly told mother that she might live there -  to which mother insisted that father clean them out, put on a roof and we moved in - a family of eight."

Home Sweet Home?  Not quite yet...

Next time - New Home Challenges

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