Journal Notes

Hearts West: True Stories of Mail-Order Brides on the Frontier
Chris Enss
Falcon (2005)
ISBN 9780762727568
Reviewed by April Sullivan for Reader Views (7/06)

Around the 1850s, pioneering American men left the east and headed west to uncharted territory like California, Oregon, and Wyoming to find gold or claim land. But what happened when they got out there and realized there were no women to share their land or riches with? How did they entice women to the wild west? And what type of woman was likely to make that journey across America? Hearts West tells us these stories.

Hearts West relays the true stories of mail-order brides and bachelors during the late 1800s in Americas wild west. Chris Enss has done her research and provides the reader with accurate information collected through journals, newspapers, letters, photographs, and other historical documents. She adds just the right amount of fictionalized commentary to draw the reader in, but not intrude upon the facts. This book is appropriate to use as a textbook or for research since it is so well documented. But it is also a good read for anyone interested in the topic.

Many methods were used to bring women to the west. Matrimony magazines and newsletters were the most common method. Men and women both wrote ads and answered by letter to find a suitable mate. Samples in the book were surprisingly similar to todays online dating service ads. More innovative methods include renting boats and shipping groups of women across country.

This book is filled with short anecdotes that tell a much larger story and provide a historical viewpoint of relationships. This is a viewpoint that we dont often get enough of. Without these brave men and women many of us wouldnt be here today. I found that there were two overwhelming themes in this book  the power of survival and the power of love. After only a few letters passed between them, a man and a woman were brave enough to decide to meet and marry. Why would they take this risk? For many of the women it was a chance to make more of their life. Stuck in poverty, dead-end servant jobs, or just the thought of spinsterhood drove them to take that plunge. While some of these matches ended in disaster, others ended in long happy relationships. Hearts West provides a good mix of humor, disaster, sweetness, and sadness to give an overall picture of what our American ancestors went through, all for the sake of love and survival.

I doesn’t appear that I’ve had many visits to my site yet. I guess I’ve got to give it some time. I would really appreciate the chance to be able to dialogue with other authors. If you stop by this page, sign the guest book and let me know if you’d like to talk about writing – specifically writing historic non-fiction books. Tune into KAHI Radio tomorrow at 9 a.m.. I’m doing an interview with Loyce Smallwood about the new book and getting your work published.

At the request of some of the people I’ve met while doing book signings, a guest book section has been added to the website. I hope everyone who visits will take a moment and sign the book and let me know what interests you about the subject of women of the Old West. I will be giving away a free copy of the new book Tales Behind the Tombstones to the first five people who signup. I look forward to hearing from you.

I spent the day in North Lake Tahoe. I was a speaker for the monthly historical society meeting and it was a sincere honor to have been invited to do so. The staff at the Gatekeeper’s Museum where the event was held were kind and the museum itself was filled with a wonderful Indian basket collection. Tahoe was breathtaking. Being able to talk about the books I’ve written at venues like that is the best part of the job.

So many times when I’ve been doing research for one story I happen onto interesting facts about a seemingly unrelated person’s life. Such is the case with the book about schoolmarms of the Old West and the chapter I’m writing on Sister Blandina Segale. This dedicated nun and school teacher kept a diary that described her life in the Southwest. While working in Trinidad, Colorado she met Billy the Kid. Her description of the outlaw and his actions at the time are fascinating. According to Sister Blandina, Billy had “steel-blue eyes, which tell a set purpose, good or bad.” I’m looking forward to learning more about this remarkable woman and about the many legendary characters she met in ther life.

One of my favorite magazines about the Old West is Chronicles of the Old West. It’s not only a well edited newspaper, but the folks that handle the publication are quality individuals. Sunny and Dakota Livesay are two of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet and are quite knowledgable about Old West history. There are some historians that behave as though they have a copyright on what happened in the Old West and seek to destroy anyone who writes about it. Sunny and Dakota want nothing more than to help any writer working on books or articles about that period of history and are generous with their time and own research on the subject. They are a real joy and I’m proud of the work they do.

I stopped by the local bookstore today and was pleased to see a copy of Tales Behind the Tombstones on the shelf. I hadn’t seen it in it’s final form. I’m grateful to have another book on the market and hope that it is well received. I dedicated it to a good friend of mine, Chris Navo. He and his wife and children have been an inspiration to me and he is one of the key players in the Christmas in Bethlehem program that is produced at our church. He also hosts a haunted house every year and people from all over the county stop by to visit. If anyone would appreciate a book about tombstones it’s Chris Navo.

It’s amazing how many different accounts are written on one historical event. And everyone insists their version of the event is accurate. Many historians out there claim to be the experts on a subject and are offended should you bring up another version of the story. In the “letter to the editor” in the most recent edition of True West Magazine a distant relative of Soapy Smith took writer Cathy Spude to task about an article she had written about the famous character. I really liked her response. She said, “Like horse racing, differences of opinion make for better Western history.” I agree that it makes for better Western history, but dealing with all the differences of opinion can be a giant pain in the backside.

Started writing about the death of western entertainer Dora Hand today. I think this story is going to be a fascinating one to put on paper. It’s sure been a joy to research. I love the Old West. Think I was born 150 years too late.

Tales Behind the Tombstones is due out today. I haven’t seen a copy of the book in its completed form yet. It’s always a treat when the finished product arrives. This book is filled with photographs and I hope it is well received. Writing the piece made me aware of the many cemeteries across the country that are in a state of disrepair and of the many tombstones that have been vandalized. It’s unfortunate the lack of respect some people have for an indivdual’s final resting place.