Women of the West

[Bugscuffle]

I didn't want to hijack Shotgun Franklin's thead about black cowboys so here is a new one to argue over.
Firstly, I am sick to death of television and movies that prtray women of the west as gunfighters and hard cases that could fistfight with the strongest men, outride a Comanche and outdrink the town drunk. Come on now,they couldn't even VOTE! That'snotto say that they weren't tough. They had to be to survive all that the West threw at them and have babies too. I'm just saying thayt the portrayal of themisall wrong.
Secondly, During WW II many women went to work to do the job of the men that were overseas fighting the war, ala Rosie the Riveter. Many of these women then lost their jobs when the men returned home. Many left work to have children and start families. Remember the "baby boom"? But then again, many kept their jobs because of the trajic loss of so many men due to the war. Is that the case during and after the Civil War? Did women take men's jobs during and after the Civil War? I'm sure that this would have been more prevalent in the North in that it was much more industrialized than the more agrarian South, but was it the case?

[Ima Sure Shot]

We do not think of it as being a "man's" job today but......The ladies that took up nursing the injured and dying during the civil war were considered very brave.  Both North and South, it was at that time considered a job for men.  Women were too delicate, and faint of heart. Think Clara Barton. Dr. Mary Edwards Walker (the second woman in America to earn an MD degree) worked as a surgeon and was awarded the Medal of Honor for her work. She designed her own uniform, a short dress and pants underneath as it was more practical for working and riding with troops when the field hospitals were moved. Just two examples I can think of off the top of my head.Celeste

[Tascosa Joe]

There are many 1st Person accounts/biographies of women in the west spanning the width of society.  Libby Custer wrote a book about army life for women.  The Blutcher Collection that Del has so many pictures cataloged show women on the plains of Nebraska.  Most women did not dress like or act like Calamity Jane, but she seems to be the pattern of the women characters in many modern movies.   The accounts of the "real not reel" ladies of the west are out there you just have to dig.  My wife and I have 6 or 8 books on the subject but I am not at home to get titles.

[Ima Sure Shot]

 As the previous poster noted, most women doing men's work did not get much documentation.  They surely would not want to be photographed doing so. Similiar to being photographed while pregnant. The one's that did get the attention to be documented were more "colorful". While we all know that women at home must have done much of the work that had previously been done by fathers, brothers, and husbands not many actual photographs . Just as we all know women must have been pregnant. Not many actual photographs....  Another well documented woman that did what some would have considered "man's" work during the civil war was Ms. Grenbow a spy.  Also Kate Warne was the first female detective. Kate was a Pinkerton Agent and played a major role in smuggling President Lincoln into Washington to foil the Baltimore Plot. She continued to work as a Pinkerton agent after the war. Well documented and photographed Harriet Tubman did work (smuggling slaves to freedom) that most persons of the day would have thought "men's" work. I think most would say Tubman's work predated the Civil War. Just as most would agree Clamity Jane post-dated the civi lwar as well as Annie Oakley a market hunter and sharpshooter/showman.  The subject you asked about was during the civil war. ....Have you ever heard of Sue Munday and the role Sue Munday played in the Civil War? (Man or Woman?)Celeste

[JimBob]

Concerning the role of women during the Civil War,many women played an important part in war production in the North.They were employed in large numbers in the factories producing paper cartridges.Some were killed in explosions.It was mentioned at the time that women were more adept and faster than their male counterparts in producing cartridges which were turned out by the hundreds of thousands by hand for the most part.

[joec]

Then there was the one the TV/Movie stereo type is based on Martha Jane Cannary (or Canary) Burke (May 1, 1852 – August 1, 1903), better known as Calamity Jane. She was pretty close to the stereo type from what I've read on her. Other than her I've never bought the type as show on some shows. Now I'm sure the western woman had to be strong, based on the life they must have have to live in those days just to survive. I know the photos I've seen of them they seem really no nonsense in their appearance and rarely see pictures where they look happy even.

[Will Ketchum]

The "Time Life" series "The Old West" has an entire volume devoted to the Woman of the West.  There is some very interesting reading there.

Will ketchum

[Ima Sure Shot]

Pioneer Women published by the Kansas Historical Society has some interesting reading as well.  There are interviews with women that lived on the plains.  There  are Women's Studies classes now in most colleges, with collections of information at most libraries. In bygone years there was perhaps one paragraph here in this book and another there in another book. I have found a wealth of information on the Web by looking at Women Studies.  I have a plains dress and bonnet that I made of cotton print with wooden buttons that I wear to shoots sometimes along with a white apron in memory of my grandmother. At a local Sass match a shooter friend said to me,"I have been shooting for about 10 years now, and you are the first woman I have seen that will wear a plain cotton dress and bonnet to a shoot. You remind me so much of my grandmother that raised me, she never went out of the house without her bonnet. I think more women should wear them to shoots." Not all women during nor after the Civil War were well off with a large wardrobe of silk dresses  and fancy hats.  There are also many photos in the Library of Congress that may be accessed on the web for free.  Celeste

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Hi,

I have been reading this with some personal interest ...until she passed, one of the women reenactors used to reenact the persona of Charlie Parkhust ....

And here is an article I found on her:

http://www.sptddog.com/sotp/parkhurst.html

TTFN,

[Bugscuffle]

I completely forgot about Charlie Parkhurst. Yep, the one eyed coach driver that was the first woman to vote in the U.S. I also never thought of the idea that women of that period wouldn't want to be photographed or written about doing "man work". Thanks for that thought. Clara Barton,Calamity Jane, AnnieOakly and Dr. Mary Edwards Walker I knew about and remembered and they were just about the only women that I remember as being notable from that period. Thanks all of you for the enlightenment.

Hi,

I have been reading this with some personal interest ...until she passed, one of the women reenactors used to reenact the persona of Charlie Parkhust ....

And here is an article I found on her:

http://www.sptddog.com/sotp/parkhurst.html

TTFN,

[Ima Sure Shot]

There was also Mary the stagecoach driver, former slave.  Took bets on knocking men down with one hit with one fist. That was after the Civil War.  Also the former slave that served in the Buffalo soldiers- Cathy Williams -after the civil war. I think most would say they did men's work.  One of the problems is what was men's work?

[Delmonico]

Get a copy of "Old Jules" the biography of Jules Sandoz by his daughter Marie.  The man would be put in jail today for what he did to his three wives. (No not at the same time.)

[Delmonico]

  Similiar to being photographed while pregnant.

Never say never:













A lot of why you don't see a lot of pictures of women working is that photos were expensive and could not stop action so they were all posed.  They just for the most part want to pose working, but rather holding babies and looking as pretty as they could.

Although the lady in the 3rd picture is an exception, pregnant and working.  Known as "The Buffalo Chip Lady"  all I've ever been able to find out is that it was in Kansas and most likely before 1875-76.

[Delmonico]

Well I'll be durned, it pays to keep checking:

At the age of 21, when most young women were
considering more traditional roles, Ada wanted to
learn how to operate a camera. Her younger sister,
Lora, was interested in becoming a teacher.
The McColl family had moved to Medicine Lodge in
1876 from Iowa. By 1884 the family became unhappy with
their prairie farm and decided to move to Florida. After a
short time, William and Polly McColl moved their family
back to Kansas and homesteaded near Lakin City in Kearny
County. Here, Ada helped her father with the chores of
raising cattle and farming.
In answer to their daughters' career choices, the
McColls sent Lora to school and Ada to a photographer in
Garden City, where she served as an apprentice.
H. L. Wolf, who operated a photography company
in Garden City, served as Ada's mentor. Wolf also recommended
the camera – an 1890 model made by the
Rochester Optical Company, which Ada received from her
parents in 1892. Wolf advised Ada that she should be able
to purchase a good camera "for not less than $15 to do
good work."
"I think the reason she got interested in photography was
because they did not see their relatives in Iowa sometimes
for years," recalled Ada's daughter, Erma Pryor, in a letter to
the Historical Society. "They would have pictures taken and
send them."
Pryor inherited Ada's camera and gained an appreciation
for the technology. "It sat on a tripod and had to be level,"
Pryor said. "She had to put the plates into the camera
where no light could touch them. You just didn't touch a
button and there was your picture. You had to hold a pose
for 6 to 8 minutes so that is why no one ever smiled in a
picture."
In 1893, when it came time to create the famous
photograph, Ada's mother Polly operated the camera so
that Ada could pose. Three-year-old Burt sat nearby on the
wooden camera box. In later years he would often be
mistaken for a girl. A lesser-known image, with Polly as
the subject, was created at the same time.
"I asked my mother why she had her mouth open in
that picture of her and the wheelbarrow full of cow chips,"
Pryor recalled, "and she said she was telling her mother
how to take the picture."
With her camera, Ada created family portraits and
documented the Kansas prairie. Her images depict life on
nearby Kearny County farms. In her account book, Ada Brows e | Kansas Memory
kept careful records of photography expenses and numbered
or named all of her photographs. Since Wolf processed the
photographs, he may have received credit for some of
Ada's work.
During 1893, Ada took a trip to visit relatives in Iowa.
There she met her future husband, Henry J. Thiles. The
couple was married in Iowa in 1895, where they raised
their family.
In a letter dated March 30, 1895, Wolf told Ada that he
would continue to store her photograph collection. "I have
your negatives and they are not in my way. Should you
want them any time will send them to you," Wolf wrote.
Apparently, Ada never claimed this collection.
"I distinctly heard Mr. Wolf tell my mother that when he
sold out in Garden City and moved he had left her plates in
the studio," Pryor said, "and the man that bought him out
got them."
In the 1890s numerous copies of the cow chip
image were printed and H. L. Wolf was identified as the
photographer. As the mystery grew, attempts were made
to identify those involved.
In 1980 the Finney County Historical Society published
the image in its newsletter, The Sequoyan, and asked for
help in identifying the subjects. Finally in 1984, Ada's
granddaughter, Rochelle Danner, contacted the Kansas
Historical Society and provided the missing details.


Goes to show you can't always trust lables, hard to tell a cow chip from a buffalo chip in a photo.  And desite seeing it listed as a pregnant woman she was just pot bellied.

[Ima Sure Shot]

I did not say never.  There are photo's of, just not many. There is one from the civil war era that shows two women sitting side by side with their hands on each others knees, one appears to be pregnant.  That one is posted on the Qauntrellsguerillas webpage.  It does not say she is pregnant, but like the lady with the wheelbarrow she appears to be. Could be just another case of potbellied.Celeste

[liten]

or a case of not cutting the fat off those big buffalo steaks

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

"Google" frontier women;

http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&cp=13&gs_id=1e&xhr=t&q=frontier+women&pf=p&sclient=&fp=99c07380901d4792

P.S;  And then on Vancouver Island there was COUGAR ANNIE!  Homesteader, and professional cougar hunter with a tally of over 70 cougars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cougar_Annie

[jplower]

J.P. Lower, famous Denver gunsmith, sharpshooter and businessman, married Fannie T. Norris in 1858, during his rise as a traveling gun salesman for G.C. Grubb in Philadelphia.  Fannie was an accomplished shot by the time they settled in Denver in 1872.  There is a Ballarld rifle in Colorado somewhere engraved with her married name and of course was owned by her.  She accompanied her husband on many hunts and to several shooting competitions.  Her death in 1888 devestated J.P. and he never got over it.

JP

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

A recent offer on abebooks. PIONEERS IN PETTICOATS;

https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#inbox/138fc907201890a1