The West was full of promise for women. To succeed they had to fight off Indian raids and endure starvation, privation and the aching sense of being alone in an endless, empty land. But as partners to their menfolk they performed labor worth more than all of the West’s gold by pressing for schools and churches, law and order. Here are a few interesting facts about those brave women of the Old West.
In 1890 there were fewer than 600 women physicians in the United States.
In 1842, Nancy Kelsey became the first white woman to cross over the Sierras and she did so barefoot and carrying a one-year-old baby on her hip.
Madam Jessie Hayman’s palatial bordello was one of the most popular businesses in San Francisco in 1906.
Many westward pioneer women believed carrying an onion in your pocket prevented smallpox?
The first woman hanged in the state of California was Juanita. She was sentenced to the gallows for murder on July 5, 1851.
Famous gambler Madame Moustache aka Eleanora Dumont got her start in the business in 1850 in San Francisco.
Award winning frontier actress Maude Adams began her stage career on August 1, 1873 at the tender age of nine months.
Mark Twain’s favorite entertainer was Adah Menken aka The Frenzy of Frisco. He saw her perform numerous times in 1864 in Virginia City and reviewed her work for the Humboldt Register.
From 1868 to 1870, former slave Cathy Williams disguised herself as a man in order to join the Buffalo Soldiers and fight against warring Indians in the Southwest.
Visit www.chrisenss.com to learn more about the women who helped settle the untamed frontier.
