Synopses & Reviews
Looking over the great prairie in the early 1880s, Nellie Buchanan said, and#8220;I knew I would never be contented until I had a home of our own in the wonderful West.and#8221; Some were not so sanguine. Mary Cox described the prairie as and#8220;the most barren, forsaken country that we had ever seen.and#8221; Like the others whose stories appear in this book, these women were describing their own thoughts and experiences traveling to and settling in what became Colorado. Sixty-seven of their original, first-person narratives, recounted to Civil Works Administration workers in 1933 and 1934, are gathered for the first time in this book.
The First We Can Remember presents richly detailed, vivid, and widely varied accounts by women pioneers during the late nineteenth century. Narratives of white American-born, European, and Native American women contending with very different circumstances and geographical challenges tell what it was like to settle during the rise of the smelting and mining industries or the gold rush era; to farm or ranch for the first time; to struggle with unfamiliar neighbors, food and water shortages, crop failure, or simply the intransigent land and unpredictable weather. Together, these narrativesand#8212;historically and geographically framed by Lee Schweningerand#8217;s detailed introductionand#8212;create a vibrant picture of womenand#8217;s experiences in the pioneering of the American West.
Review
“Mollie is the best and most readable western journal I know this side of Francis Parkmans. . . . It is important as a document of social history, and vital and alive as the record of one honest, sharp-eyed, and appealing pioneer woman.”—Rocky Mountain News Rocky Mountain News
Review
"This collection makes a valuable addition to the published narratives of western women."and#8212;Dee Garceau, Great Plains Quarterly
Review
"[The First We Can Remember is] a vibrant picture of women's experiences in the pioneering of the American West."and#8212;Bob Edmonds, McCormick Messenger
Review
"A welcome addition to the bookshelf of pioneer studies, this work provides a critical primary source for undergraduates in the fields of history, cultural studies and womens' studies and highlights the need for additional work on the history and influence of CWA cultural workers."and#8212;Laura Woodworth-Ney, South Dakota State Historical Society
Synopsis
Mollie is a vivid, high-spirited, and intensely feminine account of city people homesteading in the raw, new land west of the Missouri. More particularly, it is the story of Mollie herself - just turned eighteen when the Dorseys left Indianapolis for Nebraska Territory - of her reaction to the transplantation and to her new life which included rattlesnakes, blizzards, Indians, and the hardships of pioneer life. Mollie describes her nearly three-year engagement to Byron Sanford, during which time she worked as a seamstress, teacher, and cook. Following her wedding Mollies life took a new turn. Catching “Pikes Peak Fever,” the Sanfords crossed the plains to Colorado to join others digging for gold. In mining camps and later, after the outbreak of the Civil War, in forts and army posts, Mollies strength and endurance were tried to the uttermost, but she reports her trials and tribulations with the same gaiety, courage, and common sense that she displayed in living through them. Lillian Schlissels introduction discusses the Sanfords courtship, marriage, and their steadfast loyalty to each other.
About the Author
Donald F. Danker is a professor emeritus of history at Washburn University. Lillian Schlissel is a professor emerita of English and American studies at Brooklyn College-CUNY. She is the author of Womens Diaries of the Westward Journey and the coauthor of Far from Home: Families of the Westward Journey, which is available in a Bison Books edition.