Covered Wagon Women, Volume 2: Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails, 1850 - Paperback

by Kenneth L. Holmes (Editor), Lillian Schlissel (Introduction by)

The women who traveled west in covered wagons during the 1840s speak through these letters and diaries. Here are the voices of Tamsen Donner and young Virginia Reed, members of the ill-fated Donner party; Patty Sessions, the Mormon midwife who delivered five babies on the trail between Omaha and Salt Lake City; Rachel Fisher, who buried both her husband and her little girl before reaching Oregon. Still others make themselves heard, starting out from different places and recording details along the way, from the mundane to the soul-shattering and spirit-lifting.

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A courageous young mother, Sarah Davis, counts the graves along the way. Mary M. Colby's record is a reminder of how women contributed to the family prosperity when they reached bountiful Oregon. Lucena Parsons, a bride, provides details about washing and cooking in the open air. Sophia Goodridge, the youngest daughter in a large Mormon family, charts the trip to Salt Lake. Anna Maria Morris travels to Santa Fe with the military unit commanded by her husband.

Author Biography

Kenneth L. Holmes was a professor of history at Western Oregon State College. He edited and compiled Covered Wagon Women, drawing on archives and private sources.

Lillian Schlissel is the author of Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey. She is a professor of English and director of the American Studies program at Brooklyn College.