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History's Hinge - 'Ain Jalut

[Bart]

Women of the West

by Virginia Scharff - Professor of History and Director of the Center for the Southwest,
University of New Mexico




   Women are like water to Western history. Both have flowed through the terrain we have come to call the West, long before the inhabitants conceived of themselves as part of an expanding United States. Both have been represented as scarce commodities in a region where masculinity and aridity have appeared, quite simply, as natural. But just as the West could not have developed without water, the region never could have flourished without important contributions from the women who lived there.

   From the Paleolithic period to the present, women have made essential contributions to the claiming of Western places as homes to families and communities. They have gathered, grown, and processed the vegetables and animals that fed and clothed their families, have constructed and maintained dwellings, and have taken part in the rituals and creative activities that nurture the connections of kinship, spirit, and trade. Once you start looking for it, women�s history is, in fact, everywhere in the West.

   When we examine petroglyphs and potsherds, fragments of archaeological remains at ancient pueblos in New Mexico, we might envision women at work: planting and hoeing corn, harvesting and grinding, cooking meals, storing what isn�t consumed, and communicating the world they see around them. Now imagine the strip malls and superstores and fast-food franchises of Seattle, Sacramento, St. Louis, or San Antonio. Would such a landscape even be possible without wives and mothers piloting automobiles and wielding cell phones, strategizing and navigating their way through an American day? Picture a Wal-Mart or a Wendy�s, and see where today�s Western women gather the necessities of life in the contemporary West of car-culture suburbs.

   From the fields to the franchises, women have worked to sustain their households in the midst of a wider terrain. And at the same time, gendered ideas about the ways humans make and claim homes have shaped social worlds, public life, and political decisions, throughout the history and across the spaces of the American West. The diverse peoples who have occupied the West have, of course, held a variety of ideas about what roles women and men ought to play in social life, and how gender ought to organize social power. Sometimes those ideas lay at the very heart of larger events.

   Take, for example, the epic struggle for control of the continent in the nineteenth century. Out on the Great Plains, clan-based societies of indigenous people practiced polygamy and migrated from summer to winter camps in search of grass and game. Cheyenne and Arapaho women, working alongside their mothers, daughters, sisters, and sister wives, butchered bison and other large game, and tanned the hides, sewed the parfleche bags and tipis, and set up and packed up the camps that marked the seasons and cycles of nomadic life. American trappers and traders who moved out onto the Plains in the first half of the nineteenth century often sought to garner influence among Indian peoples by marrying influential Indian women. The women, in turn, stood to gain access to new goods and power by wedding the Americans.

   For a time, a fluid, culturally hybrid society developed around places like Bent�s Fort on the Santa Fe Trail, in what is now southern Colorado. There, the trader William Bent and his Cheyenne wife, Owl Woman, anchored a far-flung and remarkably diverse social and economic network. Through the gates of Bent�s Fort flowed Bent�s fellow traders and trappers (including Spanish and Mexican men and women), Owl Woman�s Cheyenne kin and compatriots, Ute and Arapahoe and Pueblo people, and transients of all kinds, heading in every direction.

   Bent�s Fort was also a staging ground for American conquest of the Southwest, a process as much social as military. The U.S. government had little use for the mixed and mobile society of the Southwest frontier. Instead, the nation pursued a policy expressly designed to promote white occupation of the continent; the spread of monogamous, male-headed, sedentary agrarian households; and a landscape of fixed fields and sturdy buildings in which (mostly white) women would labor for the good of their families. In 1862, Congress enshrined that vision of domestic order in one of the most influential laws in American history, the Homestead Act. This famed piece of legislation has long been celebrated as a hallmark of the dream of liberty and economic self-sufficiency for all Americans, but it was both more and less than that.

   The Homestead Act represented an attempt to settle one kind of family and un-settle others, to replace footloose frontiersmen (not to mention diverse Indian and Hispano families) with sober and industrious white husbands, wives, and children. Holding out the promise of free land, the government sought to supplant what many Americans saw as the reckless, restless West with order, predictability, and permanence. In the West of the Homestead Act, Americans would settle down, and women and men would know their places.

   Despite the influence of gendered ideas on social life and even federal policy, the West offered women unprecedented opportunities to do what so many men did: to reinvent themselves. Even the Homestead Act provided for single women to claim land of their own, and thousands of women did just that. Others answered the desperate need for teachers in the West, and set out, all alone, to keep school in far-flung communities. Victorian women who took up farming or ranching or teaching in places far from their homes stretched the boundaries of their lives. But at the same time, they could claim, with justification, that they were simply fulfilling woman�s natural duty to domesticate and civilize wild country.

   Other women traversed the vastness of Western spaces with desires distinctly at odds with those of Victorian gentility. Thousands migrated to boomtowns where miners and railroad workers craved lodging, food, and diversion, including sex. We should not romanticize the lives of the laundresses, waitresses, prostitutes, dance-hall girls, and other women who worked their way across the self-proclaimed Wild West. The most infamous of these, Calamity Jane, had a genius for inventing and embroidering her own legend as a cross-dressing, bull-whacking Western hero. But she was also a woman who had been an abandoned and abused child, and she was often obliged to earn a hard living as a prostitute. By the end of her life, she had become a miserable, pitiful drunk, an object of ridicule, and a charity case.

   But somehow, the legend of Calamity Jane lives on. And not every woman with a dream came to a bad end. For thousands of enterprising females, the Wild West afforded the opportunity to make some money, and even to claim unprecedented legal rights. In 1856, Biddy Mason, who had traveled to Utah and then to southern California as the slave of a Mormon convert, sued for and won freedom for herself and her daughters. For decades, Mason�s home would be a center for the African American community of Los Angeles. African American entrepreneur and abolitionist Mary Ellen Pleasant followed the Gold Rush to San Francisco, where, like Mason, she continued to prosper and to work for freedom and civil rights for her people.

   Who could have predicted that in 1869, the chaotic Territory of Wyoming, the harsh and windy home to Northern Cheyennes and Arapahoes, Shoshones and Crows, Utes, and even some Lakotas, would see railroad workers, prospectors, and gold miners come to sweat out their livelihoods, drink up their wages, and elect a territorial legislature that gave women the right to vote for the very first time in American history? And who would have imagined that by 1900, only four states of the Union -- Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and Idaho -- would have enfranchised women? Notably, all four states were in the West. Indeed, prior to 1920, when American women won the right to vote with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, nearly all the states that allowed women to vote were west of the Mississippi.

   In fact, the success of women�s suffrage in the West was no accident. Partly in the effort to �settle� the American empire by attracting more white women to the West, Western territorial and state legislatures enacted measures that led the way in numerous areas of women�s rights, from women�s suffrage, to equal pay, to child custody and divorce laws. And when it came to women actually holding political office and wielding political power, the West was far in the vanguard of the nation. The first woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (Montana�s Jeannette Rankin), the first women governors of states (Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming and Miriam Ferguson of Oklahoma), and the first woman mayor of a major city (Seattle�s Bertha Knight Landes) all hailed from the West. Of the thirty-four women who have served in the U.S. Senate, twenty-two have represented states west of the Mississippi. Today, the states of California and Washington are represented in the U.S. Senate by all-female delegations.

   In the American West today, women run cities, corporations, and day care centers. They work in sweatshops, clean other people�s houses, train for military duty, and fight wildfires. They play tennis and drive minivans and do laundry and shop for school supplies. Some of them get arrested. Some of them make the arrests. Some sit on judges� benches and some sit in the U. S. Congress. Wherever you go, there they are. In ways often unacknowledged, with consequences often unanticipated, in measure large and small, women in the American West have made, and continue to make, Western history and the history of the nation.

http://www.historynow.org/09_2006/historian5.html

[Fleamistress]

Thank you for this.

Is there a way I can upload one of my heroines from my hard drive?

Cyn

[Bart]

She has touching descriptions and perspectives regarding things that were important to her. - Bart

Diary of Mrs. Eliza Spalding, June 15 - July 6, 1836

June 15th Fort Wm. We are camped near the Fort, and shall probably remain here several days, as the Co. are to leave their waggons at this post and make arrangements to transport their goods the remainder of the journey, on mules. It is very pleasant to fix my eyes, once more, upon a few buildings, several weeks have passed, since we have seen a building.

June 19th 1836 Fort Wm. Today is the sabbath, and the first we have spent in quietness and rest, since the 8th of May. This morning an elderly man (an Englishman) came to our camp, wishing to obtain a testament. Said he had seen but one, for four years-had once indulged a hope that he was a christian; but for several years had not enjoyed religious privileges - had been associated with ungodly men - neglected religious duties, and now feared he had no interest in the Saviour. I gave him a bible, which he received with great joy and thankfulness. Mr. S. in compliance with the request of the chief men of this expedition, met with the people under the shade of a few trees near our camp for religious service. A large assembly met, and were very attentive while Mr. S. made a few remarks upon the parable of the prodigal son.

Ft.Wm. June 21st This day we are to leave this post, and have no resting place in view till we reach Rendezvoux 400 miles distant. We are now 2,800 miles from my dear parents dwelling, expecting in a few days to commence ascending the Rocky Mts. Only He who knows all things, knows whether this debilitated frame will survive the undertaking. His will, not mine, be done.

June 25 On the 22nd we left the platte. Our route since that time has been through a rugged barren region. Today we came to the Platte but do not find those beautiful plains we found before we came into the region of the Mts.

June 26 Sabbath noon. Camped on the Platte, and have the privilege of spending the remainder of this holy day in rest, but not in quiet, for the Co are busy in making preparation to cross on the morrow. They are under the necessity of constructing a boat, as the river is not fordable.

July 4th Crossed a ridge of land, today called the divide, which separates the waters that flow into the Atlantic from those that flow into the Pacific, and camped for the night on the head waters of the Colorado. A number of Nez Perce who have been waiting our arrival at the Rendezvoux several days, on learning we were near came out to meet us, and have camped with us tonight. They appear to be gratified to see us actually on our way to their country. Mr. Spalding Doct W. & Mr G. are to have a talk with the chiefs this evening.

July 6th Arrived at the Rendezvoux this evening. Were met by a largo party of Nez Perces men women and children. The women were not satisfied, short of saluting Mrs. W and myself with a kiss. All appear happy to see us. If permitted to reach their country and locate among them, may our labors be blessed to their temporal and spiritual good.

[Bart]

Letters and Journal of Mrs. Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, 1836

Platte River just above the Forks June 3rd 1836
Dear Sister Harriet and Brother Edward.

Friday eve 6 o'clock. We have just encamped for the night near the bluffs over against the river the bottoms are a soft wet plain and we were obliged to leave the river yesterday morning for the bluffs. The face of the country yesterday afternoon and today has been rolling sand bluffs mostly barren quite unlike what our eyes have been satiated with for weeks past No timber nearer than the Platte, and the water tonight is very bad, got from a small ravine we have usually had good water previous to this. Our fuel for cooking since we left timber (no timber except on rivers) has been dried Buffalo dung. We now find plenty of it and it answers a very good purpose simaller to the kind of coal used in Pennsylvania (I suppose now Harriet will make up a face at this, but if she was here she would be glad to have her supper cooked at any rate, in this scarce timber country) The present time in our journey is a very important one the hunter brought us buffalo meet Yesterday for the first that has been seen today to have been taken. We have some for supper tonight. Husband is cooking it no one of our company professes the art but himself. I expect it will be very good. stop I have so much to say to you children, that I do not know in what part of my story to begin, (I have very little time to write) I will first tell you what our company consists off we are ten in number five missionaries, three Indian boys and two young men employed to assist in packing animals.

Sab 4 Good Morn H & E I wrote last night till supper, after that it was so dark I could not see. I told you how many bipeds there was in our company last night now for the quadrupeds - 14 horses and six mules and fifteen head of Cattle. we milk four cows we started with seventeen but we have killed one calf and the Fur Company being out of provision have taken one of our cows for beaf it is usually pinching times with the company before they reach the buffalo, we have had a plenty because we made ample provision -- at Liberty we purchased a barrell of flour and baked enough to last us with killing a calf or two untill we reach the buffalo. The fur Com is large this year, we are really a moving village, nearly four hundred animals with ours mostly mules, and seventy men the fur Com have seven wagons and one cart, drawn by six mules each, heavily loaded, the cart drawn by two mules carries a lame man one of the proprietors of the com. we have two waggons in our com. Mr & Mrs S and Husband and myself ride on one Mr Gray and the baggage in the other our Indian boys drive the cows and Dulin the horses. Young Miles leads our forward horses-four in each team. Now E if you wish to see the camp in motion look away ahead and see first the pilot and the Captain Fitzpatrick just before him - next the pack animals, all mules loaded with great packs soon after you will see the waggons and in the rear our company we all cover quite a space. The pack mules always string along one after the other just like Indians. There are several gentlemen in the Com who are going over the Mountains for pleasure, Capt Stewart - Mr Lee speaks of him in his journal he went over when he did and returned he is an Englishman - Mr. Celan. We had a few of them to tea with us last Monday eve, Capts Fitzpatrick Stewart Maj Harris and Celam. I wish I could discribe to you how we live so that you can realize it. Our manner of living is far prefferable to any in the States I never was so contented and happy before. Neither have I enjoyed such health for years. In the Morn as soon as the day breaks the first that we bear is the word --- arise, arise, then the mules set up such noise as you never heard which puts the whole camp in motion. We encamp in a large ring, baggage and men tents and waggons on the outside and all the animals except the cows are fastened to pickets within the circle. This arrangement is to accommodate the guard who stand regularly every night and day also when we are not in motion, to protect our animals from the approach of Indians who would steal them. as I said the mules noise brings every man on his feet to loose them and turn them out to feed.

Now H & E you must think it very hard to have to get up so early after sleeping on the soft ground, when you find it hard work to open your eyes at seven o'clock just think of me every morn at the word arise we all spring. While the horses are feeding we get our breakfast in a hurry and eat it by this time the word catch up--catch up rings throu' the camp for moveing we are ready to start usually at six travel till eleven encamp rest and feed start again about two travel untill six or before if we come to a good tavern, then encamp for the night.

Since we have been in the prairie we have done all our cooking when we left Liberty we expected to take bread to last us part: of the way but could not get enough to carry us any distance we found it awkward work to bake at first out of doors but we have become so accustomed to now we do it very easy. Tell Mother I am a very good housekeeper in the prairie I wish she could just take a peap at us while we are sitting at our meals, our table is the ground our table cloth is an India rubber cloth and when it rains as a cloak our dishes are made of tin, tin basen for tea cups, iron spoons and plates each of us and several pans for milk and to put our meat in when we wish to set it on the table --- each one carries his own knife in his scabbard and it is always ready for use when the table things spread after makeing our forks of sticks and helping our selves to Chairs we gather arround the table Husband always provides my seat and in a way that you, would laugh to see us it is the fashon of all this country to imitate the Turks Mr Dunbar and Allis have supped with us and they do the same. We take a blanket and lay down by the table and those whose joints will let them follow the fashon, others take out some of the baggage (I suppose you know that there is no [stone] in this country not 2 stone have I seen of any size on the prairie) for my part I fix myself as gracefully as I can some times on a blanket some times on a box just as it is convenient let me assure you of this we relish our food none the less for siting on the ground while eating. We have tea and a plenty of milk which is a luxury in this country our milk has assisted us very much in making our bread since we have been journeying while the fur company has felt the want of food our milk has been of great service to us, but was considerable work for us to supply ten persons with bread three times a day Now we done using it now what little flour we have left we shall reserve for thickening our broth which is excelent I never saw anything like buffalo meat to satisfy hunger we do not want anything else with it I have eat three meals of it and it realishes well Supper and breakfast we eat in our tent we do not pitch it at noon, have worship immediately after sup & breakfast

Noon. The face of the country today has been like that of yesterday. We are now about 30 miles above the forks and leaving the bluffs for the river. We have seen wonders this forenoon herds of buffalo have hove in sight one, a bull, crossed our trail and ran upon the bluffs near the rear of the camp We took the trouble to chase him so as to have a near view Sister Spaulding and myself got out of the waggon and ran up on the bluff to see him. Husband was quite willing to ratify our curiosity seeing it was the first. Several have been killed this forenoon. The company keep a man out all the time to hunt for the camps.

Edward if I write much more in this way I do not know as you can read it without great difficulty. I could tell you much more but we are all ready to move again so fare well for the present I wish you were all here with us going to the dear Indians I have become very much attached to Richard Tak ah too ah tis, the one you saw at our weding he call me mother I love to teach him to take care of him and hear them talk. there is five Nez Perces in the company and when they are together they chatter freely. Samuel Temone the oldest one has just come in to the camp with the skin and a some of the meat of a buffalo which he has killed himself he started this forenoon of his own accord it is what they like dearly to hunt buffalo so long as we have him with us we shall be supplyed with meat

I am now writing backwards. Monday Morn I begun to say something here that I could not finish Now the man from the mountains has come who will take this to the office. I have commenced one to Bro & Sister Hull which I should like to send this time if I could finish it We have just met him and we have stoped our waggons to write a little Give my love to all

I have not told you half I want to we are all in health this morn and makeing rappid progress in our journey by the fourth of July our Cap intends to be at the place where Mr Parker and husband parted last fall. We are a month earlier passing here than they were last spring husband has begun a letter to pa and ma and since he has cut his finger so that it troubles him to write to the rest this is done in a hurry I no not know as you can read it Tell mother if I had looked the world over I could not have found one more careful and better quallified to transport a female such a distance. farewell all

NARCISSA PRENTISS
Husband says stop.

Platte River, South Side, six days above the Fort Laramie Fork, near the foot of the Rocky Mountains, June 27, 1836.

Dear Brother and Sister Whitman: - We were in perplexity when we left Liberty, but it has been overruled for good. I wrote Mother Loomis from the Otoe Agency. We were in still greater perplexity there, while crossing our baggage. Husband became so completely exhausted with swimming the river on Thursday, May 9th, that it was with difficulty he made the shore the last time. Mr. Spaulding was sick, our two hired men were good for nothing; we could not obtain much assistance from the Otoes, for they were away from the village; we had but one canoe, made of skins, and that partly eaten by the dogs the night before. We got everything over by Friday night. We did not get ready to start until Saturday afternoon. By this time the company had four and a half days the advance of us. It seemed scarcely possible for us to overtake them, we having two more difficult streams to pass, before they would pass the Pawnee villages. Beyond there we dare not venture more than one day. We were at a stand; but with the advise of brethren Merrill and Dunbar after a concert of prayer on the subject, we decided to start and go as far as it would be prudent for us. Brother Dunbar kindly consented to become our pilot, until we could get another. He started with us and came as far as the Elkhorn river, then the man Major Dougherty sent for, for us, came Up, and Mr. Dunbar returned. We had passed the river on Monday morning and taken down the rope, when our pilot and his Indian came up. It was with difficulty we crossed him and returned Mr. Dunbar. While on the opposite shore, just ready to leave us, he called to us to receive his parting advice, with a word of caution which will never be forgotten. Our visit with him and Brother Merrill's family was indeed refreshing to our thirsty spirits - kindred spirits rejoicing in the self denials and labors of missionary life.

The next day, in the morning, we met a large party of Pawnees going to the fort to receive their annuities. They seemed to be very much surprised and pleased to see white females, many of them bad never seen any before. They are a noble Indian-large, athletic forms, dignified countenances, bespeaking an immortal existence within. When we had said what we wished to them, we hurried on, and arrived at the Elkhorn in time to cross all our effects.

Here I must tell you how much good Richard, John and Samuel did us. They do the most of driving the cattle and loose horses. Occasionally husband and myself would ride with them as company and encouragement. They came up to the river before us, and seeing a skin canoe on the opposite side, they stripped themselves, wound their shirts around their heads, and swam over and back again with the canoe by the time we came up. We stretched a rope across the river and pulled the goods over in the canoe without much difficulty.

Monday and Tuesday we made hard drives - Tuesday especially. We attempeted to reach the Loup Fork that night, and a part of us succeeded. Those in the wagons drove there by 11 o'clock, but it was too much for the cattle. There was no water or feed short of this. We rode with Richard and John until 9 o'clock, and were all very much fatigued. Richard proposed to us to go on and he and John would stay on the prairie with the cattle, and drive them in in the morning. We did not like to leave them, and so we concluded to stay. Husband had a cup tied to his saddle, in which he milked what we wanted to drink; this was our supper. Our saddle blankets, with our India rubber cloaks, were our beds. Having offered up our thanksgiving for the blessings of the day and seeking protection for the night, we committed ourselves to rest. We awoke in the morning much refreshed and rode into camp before breakfast-five miles. The Fur Company was on the opposite side of the river, which we forded, and, without unloading our wagon much, were ready to move again about noon. We wished to be with the company when they passed the Pawnee village. This obliged us to make a day's drive to the camp in half a day, which was too bad for our horses. We did not reach them until 1 o'clock at night.

The next day we passed all their villages. We, especially, were visited by them both at noon and at night; we ladies were such a curiosity to them. They would come and stand around our tent, peep in, and grin in their astonishment to see such looking objects.

Since we came up with the camp, I rode in the wagons most of the way to the Black Hills. It is astonishing how well we get along with our wagons where there are no roads. I think I may say it is easier traveling here than on any turnpike in the States.

On the way to the buffalo country we had to bake bread for ten persons. It was difficult at first, as we did not understand working out-doors; but we became accustomed to it, so that it became quite easy. June found us ready to receive our first taste of buffalo. Since that time I have had but little to do with cooking. Not one in our number relishes buffalo meat as well as my husband and I. He has a different way for cooking every piece of meat. I believe Mother Loomis would give up to him if she were here. We have had no bread since. We have meat and tea in the morn, and tea and meat at noon. All our variety consists of the different ways of cooking. I relish it well and it agrees with me. My health is excellent. So long as I have buffalo meat I do not wish anything else. Sister Spaulding is affected by it considerably - has been quite sick.

We feel that the Lord has blessed us beyond our most sanguine expectations. We wish our friends at borne to unite with us in thanksgiving and praise for His great mercies to us. We are a month earlier this year than husband was last, and the company wish to be at Rendezvous by the 4th of July. We have just crossed the river and shall leave here to-morrow morning.

Now, Sister Julia, between you and me, I just want to tell you how much trouble I have had with Marcus, two or three weeks past. He was under the impression that we had too much baggage, and could not think of anything so easy to be dispensed with as his own wearing apparel - those shirts the ladies made him just before he left home, his black suit and overcoat - these were the condemned articles. Sell them he must, as soon as he gets to the fort. But first I would not believe him in earnest. All the reasons I could bring were of no avail - he still said he must get rid of them. I told him to sell all of mine, too; I could do without them better than he could. Indeed, I did not wish to dress unless he could. I finally said that I would write and get Sister Julia to plead for me, for I knew you would not like to have him sell them, better than I should. This was enough; he knew it would not do to act contrary to her wishes, and said no more about it.

July 15th When I wrote this letter I expected an opportunity to send it immediately but we did not meet the party we expected and have had no opportunity since. We are now West of the Rocky Mountains at the encampment Messrs. McLeod & McCay expecting to leave here on Monday for Walla Walla. It seems a special favour of Providence that that company has come to Rendezvous this season for we . . . to have gone with the Indians a difficult rou [te and] slow that we should have been late at Walla Walla and [not have had] the time we wanted for making preparations for winter. Hus [band has] written the particulars concerning our arrival, meeting the Indians, & c-to Brother Henry.

One particular I will mention which he did not. As soon as I alighted from my horse I was met by a company of matron women. One after another shaking hands and salluting me with a most hearty kiss. This was unexpected and affected me very much. They gave Sister Spaulding the same salutation. After we had been seated awhile in the midst of the gazing throng, one of the chiefs whom we had seen before came with his wife and very politely introduced her to us. They say they all like us very much and thank God that they have seen us, and that we have come to live with them.

It was truly pleasing to see the meeting of Richard and John with their friends. Richard was affected to tears, his father is not here but several of his . . . and Brothers. When they met each took off his hat and shook bands as respectful as in civilized life. Richard does not give up the idea of seeing again Rushville. I must close for want of room. Please give my love to Deborah and Harriet and all other friends. I hope you will all write us now as husband has given directions how to send. Remember me affectionately Sister Alice. Tell her to write us immediately. We want to hear from you all.

Your affectionate sister, NARCISSA WHITMAN.

Rendezvous Beyond the R. Mountains July 15th, 1836.

Dear Brothers and Sisters.

Last week I filled a letter for father and mother stating particulars up to that time. I said but little about the future. It was undetermined what we should do. We soon heard however that there was a Company from the Columbia river near at hand. Monday the 11th they came within ten miles of us & encamped. On Tuesday Mr. McLeod one of the principle traders in the N West Fur Co. came into our camp & gave us very satisfactory inteligence concerning Mr. Parker. Also a letter from him advising us to go to Walla Walla in company with them in preference to the Indians. Mr. Parker went with them alone last year after he left here. They took a very difficult route on account of finding Buffalo & traveled very slow so that it made his arrival at Vancouver quite late. He came on his way to meet us at Rendezvous to Cooscoosky river little this side of Wallah Wallah with a party of Nez Perces early in May. When there they would not consent to come by Bear river but wished to make the same difficult route they did last fall for the same reason to make meat.

Mr. Parker thot that he would have to encounter considerable snow it was so early & having heard that our Company would be at Rendezvous by the first of July feared he should not arrive in season to go over with them accepted an offer of the H.B. Co. to take passage on board of one of their ships to England. He returned immediately to Wallah Wallah. But before he leaves intended to make another exploring tour up what is called Clarks river between 200 and 300 miles in company with some men of the H.B.Com. He will not leave for home untill September quite probable we shall see him before he leaves For Mr. McLeod's Co. will have to make returns before the ship sails. Mr. Parker will have to visit England for the ship will not enter any of our eastern ports. We highly approve of this plan although we are very much disappointed in not seeing him here It will be much easier for him after having endured the fatigue of a tour over the country After considering the subject we concluded to follow the advise of Mr. Parker & put ourselves under the protection of N.W.Co. Mr. McLeod kindly invited us to return to his camp as soon as practicable Accordingly yesterday we took leave of the Eastern Company who had shown us every kindness possible and removed together with the Nez Perces and Flat Head to his camp On our arrival Mr McL came to meet us led us to his tent & gave us a supper which consisted of steak (Antelope) broiled ham biscuit & butter tea and loaf sugar brot from Wallah Wallah This we rellished verry much as we had not seen anything of the bread kind since the last of May Especially sister Spalding who has found it quite difficult to eat meat some time

We learn from Mr. McLeod much that is interesting about our future home

Mr. Parker has been verry much pleased with his situation at Vancover during the winter he has been as comfortably situated as if he had been at home.

He told us we should not want for supplies at Wallah Wallah. The Company have a verry large [farm] at Vancover which produced three thousands bushels of wheat last year and other crops in proportion.

They have apples pears peaches & grapes in abundance & every kind of vegetables necessary for comfort which we find in our own beloved land. When we arrive at Wallah Wallah we are assured of a treat of ripe watermellons & mushmelons. They have a farm at Caldwell [Colville] also which is on the north branch of the Columbia five days ride above Wallah Wallah where they raise an abundance grain and have a flouring mill. From this post Wallah Wallah is suplied with flour by water. Vancover is 130 miles from the ocean & Walla Walla 250 above Vancover.

We are recomended to a situation on the Coos Coosky river at it junction with the Lewis about three days ride from Walla Walla.

At Fort Hall about fifteen days ride from here they have green peas This establishment belongs to a man formally from Boston.

It will take us 35 days at least to go from here to Walla Walla if not longer

We have succeded in bringing our waggon so far but with considerable difficulty for the last few days. Whether we shall succeed in getting it through is doubtful. We intend to try and go with it as far as we can. We want to take it on for the benefit it will be to us when we get there

While passing the Mountains we came over some verry frightful looking places & the Hill were so steep that it was difficult riding them. The steepest point of Mount pleasant in Prattsburgh would be verry easy decending compared with some of these rugged places. And in crossing rivers we find it not difficult to ford them The Green river is the deepest we have forded on horseback.

Mr. McLeod say the Messrs Lees are doing verry well one of them has been verry much out of health & was advised to take a journey to Oahu He went there last October and is expected to return this fall

Vessels sail from Oahu to Vancouver frequently during the year & we shall have an opportunity of hearing from home through that channel. Letters sent to Mr. Green Boston post paid directed to Columbia river near Walla Walla by the way Oahu & Vancover We should get them regularly & oftener than any other way, There will be no security in sending them over the Mountains by the fur Company possibly we might get them but not oftener than once a year. We have not known what directions to give about our letters Now our friends can write us when they please and send to Boston & in the mean time we shall get them as easy as the sandwich islande missionaries do theirs. For ships come from Oahu to Vancover every two months during the year. My Dearest friends if you want to do us good write to us often You cannot know the comfort it will give us unless placed in like circumstances.

We have improved every opportunity of writing and sending notwithstanding the excessive fatigue of our journey.

July 17th Remember me affectionately to all the Brethren and Sisters in Christ with whom I have laboured in the Gospell long to hear of your faith & labours of love for His sake who has died for us - Is there no more in that church yea in my own dear family that can come & do these benighted souls good Oh that you were all here Father Mother & all.

This is a cause worth living for - Wherever we go we find oppertunities of doing good-If we had packed one or two animals with bibles & testaments we should have had abundant oppertunity of disposing of them to the traders & trappers of the mountain who would have received them greatfully Many have come to us for tracts & bibles which we could not supply. We have given away all we have to spare. When they return from hunting they have leisure for reflection and reading if they have the means, which might result in the salvation of their souls. A missionary might do good in this field one who would be willing to come & live as they do

Oh how many missionaries are wanted who wilt go into the highways & hedges & compel sinners to come in to the feast

Before this reaches you we shall probably be at Walls Walla. We shall write by Mr Parker but it will be some time before it reaches you. We expect to leave here tomorrow for Walla Walla

Brother Judson Husband said when he received your letter that he should write you, but he has not found time yet His hands are full continually The responsibility of every movement rests upon him & besides he has many calls for medical attention He unites with me in sending love to yourself & wife Father Mother Brothers Sisters & friends trust you will not forget to pray for us for we feel that we need your prayers now as ever Sisters Jane Clarissa & Harriet want to know what you are doing How does the Moral Reform cause get along at home the Anti Slavery &c Keep the numbers of the Advocate & send to Boston as you do your letters . . .

Your sister NARCISSA

July 19th

Dear Mother. I have filled this sheet for sending once but since I closed I have heard so much about the West that I thought it best to write another and enclose [with] this. When we get to Walla Walla we shall feel as though we were in England. Most of men of the North West Company are from that country. They are expecting a Clergyman & his Lady from E. to settle at Vancouver. She refused to come by water around Cape Horn but chose to some to NY then to Montreal and join an expedition of the Company to cross the Mountains much to the north of this then down Clarks river to Walla Walla. There is one lady at Vancouver who came from E. in the last voyage of the Com ship.

Mother may rest easy about our wanting for the necessary of life. We have not suffered yet & judging from the hospitality of the Com. we are now with have no reason to think we shall. I am verry well and in great spirits. Pray for your absent daughter

NARCISSA.

Written upon the waggon.

Whether we ever see each others faces again in this world again is uncertain. I often think of my Dear Parents but do not regret coming.

As it will be a long time before you will hear from me again after we leave this place I bid you all My Beloved Parents, Brothers Sisters & Friends an affectionate farewell.

NARCISSA WHITMAN.

[Jesus of Lubeck]

Hello Bart,

Narcissa is a fantastic diarist.  Are you able to tell us what happend to her?

Best Regards,

Lubby

[Bart]

Narcissa Prentiss Whitman: 1808-1847

   Narcissa Prentiss Whitman was born March 14, 1808 to Stephen and Clarissa Prentiss in Prattsburg, Steuben County, New York. She was their third child of nine. As their eldest daughter, Narcissa helped with the upbringing of her younger brothers and sisters. Her first ancestor in America, Henry Prentice, emigrated from England prior to 1640 and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts; it was likely that the Narcissa's grandfather was the one who changed the spelling from Prentice to Prentiss. Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, like her husband, became one of the most known figures of the 19th century. People knew her in a more personal way than Marcus Whitman due to her diaries and letters she sent to family and friends in the east while living in the Oregon Country.

Whitman Mission at Waiilatpu, ca. 1847
Painting by William Henry Jackson, Courtesy National Park Service

   Prattsburg was located about 25 miles south of Rushville, New York, where Marcus Whitman was born. The conditions of the town of Prattsburg were as primitive as those in Rushville. The Prentiss family had moved to Prattsburg in 1805. Early on, Stephen Prentiss supported his family through farming, though he was by profession a carpenter and joiner. He began operating a gristmill, distillery, and sawmill, which supplied him with lumber to build houses in the growing community.

   Narcissa was a product of the same religious re-awakening as her future husband, Marcus. At a revival in 1819, Narcissa Prentiss, at the very young age of 11, had a conversion experience and was received as a member of the Congregational Church. Narcissa read about and was inspired by the life of Harriet Boardman, an American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions (ABCFM) missionary to India. At age 16, she decided she wanted to become a missionary. She later wrote in a letter of application to the ABCFM:

   "I frequently desired to go to the heathen but only half-heartedly and it was not till the first Monday of Jan. 1824 that I felt to consecrate myself without reserve to the Missionary work waiting the leadings of Providence concerning me." (Drury, 1986: 104).

  Beyond assisting her mother with her large family, and being active in church and social activities, Narcissa attended several terms at Prattsburg's Franklin Academy. The education she obtained there and at a female seminary ("normal" or teaching school) in Troy, New York, would assist her in her profession as a teacher. It was perhaps during her time at Franklin Academy that another student proposed marriage to Narcissa. Henry Harmon Spalding, who later became a missionary and accompanied the Whitmans to the Oregon Country, was turned down in his proposal to Narcissa Prentiss. Narcissa went on to teach district school in Prattsburg and also spent time teaching kindergarten in Bath, New York. In 1834, her family moved to Amity (now called Belmont), about forty miles from Prattsburg where there may have been more work in carpentry for Narcissa's father. It was in Amity that Narcissa heard Reverend Samuel Parker speak of the need for missionaries; she answered the call, asking Parker if single women were wanted in the missionary field. Parker wrote the ABCFM regarding Narcissa's request in December, 1834, but it was only two months later that Marcus Whitman, who also had offered himself as a missionary, proposed to Narcissa Prentiss. After becoming engaged to Marcus, he encouraged her to formally apply to the American Board for a missionary appointment. Her letter of application and testimonials were received by the ABCFM and she received her appointment as a missionary in March, 1835. It would be 11 months before she and Marcus were able to be married as he was on an exploratory mission in the West.

   On February 18, 1836, Narcissa Prentiss and Marcus Whitman were married. The next day they began the journey that took them west to a new home and a new life. Upon leaving, Narcissa would never again see her family and would only speak to them through the prolific letters of the next 11 years.

   Narcissa's life at Waiilatpu in the Oregon Country would have been busy, but lonely. She taught school and lessons to the Indians and later to her adopted children. On the journey west, Narcissa became pregnant. She gave birth to her only natural child, Alice Clarissa Whitman, on March 14, 1837, Narcissa's 29th birthday. Alice was the joy of Narcissa's life, but Alice's life was cut short, drowning in the Walla Walla River on June 23, 1839. After the death of her daughter, Narcissa became depressed and introverted, she spent a lot of time in her room writing her family. She did not have any family or female friends nearby to comfort her as she would have had back in New York. When the seven Sager orphans entered the Whitmans' lives in 1844, Narcissa found a reason to come out of her depression. The oldest, John, was a teenager, while the youngest, Henrietta, was an infant. Narcissa was once again a mother, taking care of the Sager children and several half Indian foster children. The Sager girls remembered Narcissa as a loving but firm disciplinarian. They also told of Narcissa's love of nature, the outings and picnics where they would look at various plants and flowers. She had a sense of humor and a beautiful soprano singing voice. The Sagers as well as many others remember these qualities of Narcissa Whitman.

   Narcissa was mother to the Sager children for about three years. In that time she influenced the lives of the three eldest Sager girls greatly, they would carry moral influence of Narcissa through the rest of their lives. Narcissa Prentiss Whitman died on November 29, 1847, a victim of the same killings that ended the lives of her husband and eleven emigrants at the mission. Narcissa is remembered for several "firsts". She was one of the first two white women to cross the continent overland, and she had the first child born of American parents in the Oregon Country. It was her journey that proved that it was possible for women to cross the country on foot, opening the way for the next several generations of emigrants who journeyed down the Oregon Trail. Her letters were published and widely read, influencing an entire generation of girls probably not unlike Harriet Boardman of India, influencing Narcissa herself. Her letters tell us of her life - the joys, sorrows, and dreams that she had during the last eleven years of her life. It is through these letters that we learn of Narcissa Whitman, an ordinary woman in extraordinary circumstances, that make her remembered still today. Narcissa Whitman's memory is preserved at her last home near Walla Walla, Washington, as well as her first home in Prattsburg, New York.

   By 1847, Waiilatpu had grown to a community of 50 to 75 persons including a number of orphans left with the Whitmans. Word of threats against the settlement reached Whitman, but he refused to evacuate. On November 29, Tilaukait and Tamsuky of the Cayuse called Whitman into his kitchen and killed him with a tomahawk. The Cayuse then embarked on a killing spree catching whites at their places of work. Narcissa Whitman was wounded in the shoulder by a bullet. Narcissa and others barricaded themselves into a second floor room, then surrendered when they were assured that they would be safe. Cayuse warriors renewed the attacks and killed Narcissa and other prisoners. Those whites who did not escape were taken hostage. Some of the wounded hostages were killed later. The hostages were ransomed with blankets, shirts, guns, and ammunition supplied by the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Walla Walla.

[Jesus of Lubeck]

Hello Bart,

Thank you for posting the fascinating but tragic biographical information on Narcissa.  Very useful and poignant insights of the frontier from a valuable perspective.  I do not want to take without giving something in return so here is a brief excerpt from The Sketches, Letters and Journal of Libby Beaman, Recorded in the Pribiloff Islands (1879-80).  Mrs. Beaman was one of the first American women to sojourn in these Islands, the former preserve of the Russian American Company fur seal rookeries.

Libby�s Husband John was sent to the Pribiloff Islands to serve as the junior of two agents established in the fur seal rookeries by the U.S. Treasury Department in the years succeeding the purchase of Alaska from Tsar Alexander II.

Here is Mrs. Beaman�s description of a Western-style coastal whale ship working in loose coordination with indigenous skin-on-frame watercraft (baidaras).  As I wrote in a response to the HH post on Aleutian archaeology, the traditional Aleutiiq watercraft technologies were found to be an indispensable complement to Western sea craft technology. In the following excerpt, Mrs. Beaman describes the hunt progressing against an Orca whale:

I should have written down our conversation as soon as it was over.  But when I came in to do so, I heard shouting and much running about on deck.  John (Libby�s husband) came to the door (of the cabin) to announce that we had come into the wake of a company whaler that had sighted or already had harpooned a huge Orca gladiator.   One of the largest of all whales and known as the �killer whale.�  I hastened on deck to watch the excitement.

The monstrous mammal, with its giant dorsal fin just above the surface of the water, seemed as big as the sturdy little ship that was either chasing it or being towed by it.  We were not yet close enough to see.  The whaler was going at a tremendous clip toward a black, perpendicular cliff with only a narrow shelf of beach under it.  W could see her sailors frantically tacking and taking in sail to slow the vessel�s headlong plunge toward disaster.

�That whale is almost as big as the ship,� I exclaimed.
�That�s why they have to run it aground,� Captain Erskine said.

He had joined us on the foredeck to watch. �They can�t take it aboard or even drag it alongside as they do sometimes. There are probably natives on this island who can help with the killing and flensing.  We�ll stand by for awhile and make sure our friends don�t get into trouble.�

We could hear shouting from the cliffs and could see natives waving to the men on the ship.  Two bidarrahs (sic.) (large skin boats) carrying six men each came from around the cliff; our captain explained that there was probably a village and low landing on the other side of the island.  The whale, which had been harpooned, was thrashing about furiously in the shallower water, fighting the cornering maneuver of all three boats.

�It�s big enough to capsize them,� I said.
�And so it could,� one of the men explained.  �But whalers know their business and won�t let that happen.  Even if it doesn�t yield as much oil as its next largest cousin, an Orca is a prize � especially for the natives � because of its great supply of meat.  Helping to corner it is sport for them, and they know the company will pay them for their labor.�

If the Orca lashed out in one direction, a bidarrah with full sail and each man paddling like mad, dashed directly at him.  He would veer and thrash in another direction, only to be confronted by the other little boat and the whaler.

�If they get him nearer shore or wedged into that cove,� our captain said, �they can shoot him in the eye and finish him off.  The greatest problem is the reefs.  Believe me, there�s no time to study carts.  Last year�s could be different anyway, and there�s still a lot of ice.�

The whale, exhausted from loss of blood and energy, was giving less fight.  We watched men throw the harpoon lines to the Aleuts, who could run them ashore with their light boats.  They were not strong enough or numerous enough to haul the monster onto the narrow ledge of shore.  But they could secure the lines around great boulders to hold Orca as close as possible until the ebbing tide ran out from under him and left him high and dry.  Then they�d have to work fast, before a rising tide, to get him flayed and sectioned in small enough portions to remove for further processing.  They had a whole night�s work ahead of them in the light of whale-oil fires. (pp. 55-56)

Work cited for these comments:  The Sketches, Letters, and Journal of Libby Beaman, Recorded in the Pribiloff Islands 1879-1880, Betty John, ed. (Independent Publishers Group: Chicago, 1987)