For fun or matrimony

One of the short stories I’m polishing up is about a mail-order bride in the Old West. Researching this story was a lot of fun.

The high number of mail-order brides in the Old West was due to two main factors. The first was that an awful lot of single men had headed west to seek their fortunes, but most of the women who went west were married, so there was a disproportionate number of single men out west. The second reason was the Civil War, which had not only taken a toll on the male population, but had also created a number of widows.

This map was created in 1874 using data from the 1870 census. It clearly illustrates the problem…

1874 map of predominating sex in the U.S.

It was time to take action!

Newspapers began to run regular “matrimonial columns” in which both men and women could take out advertisements. Specialized newspapers were created just for these ads – the Matrimonial News and The New Plan were among the more reputable of the bunch.

A man or a woman would place an advertisement including a brief description about himself/herself, and would list out any parameters desired – or required – in prospective partners. Letters went, at least initially, go through the paper. Interested parties would correspond by mail, and possibly exchange photos. If things got far enough, the woman would make the journey out West to meet her prospective husband.

Deciding to get married wasn’t a done deal – there are numerous stories of couples finally meeting in person, only to have one person realize the other had been dishonest. The newspapers even contained warnings advising their readers to be careful so as to not be deceived. Deceit happened anyway, of course. One young lady was traveling to get married, only to have her stagecoach robbed. One of the robbers had a very distinctive scar on one hand. After the robbery she continued on to her destination, met her soon-to-be husband…and realized he had the same scar!

Here are a few advertisements from papers at the time:

“An intelligent young fellow of 22 years, 6 feet height, weight 170 pounds. Would like to correspond with a lady from 18 to 22. Will exchange photos: object, fun and amusement, and perhaps when acquainted, if suitable, matrimony.”

“A Blonde, 20 years of age, has an extensive bank account, but no beauty, would like to correspond with some fine-looking gentlemen, with a view to matrimony. Is willing to exchange gold for a husband. Letters containing photos noticed particularly. Address, Miss Golden, Box 319, care editor.”

Boys, you’ll enjoy receiving my letters, for I’m a jolly girl. Age, 24; weight, 130; height 5 feet 5 inches; brown eyes; blonde hair, nationality, French; Catholic religion, occupation, stenographer, income, $1,000; play violin. Will write for fun or matrimony. Catholic preferred.

In reading through advertisements like these, a few things stood out to me. The language is a little different, of course, and when I write a story set in the Old West I try to make the characters sound as though they’re from that time. (Another thing I’ve found very helpful in getting the right feel for the language/vocabulary is reading memoirs written by people in the place/time I’m writing about.) The physical descriptions seem a little odd, but they make perfect sense when you think about the fact that this was all being done by mail. Some people did send each other photographs, but some didn’t. (I personally would have insisted on photographs…) The disclosure of financial worth also makes sense, but I find it a little off-putting. I’d worry that my prospective husband was interested in me only for my money – assuming I had money, of course!

The short story I ended up writing is titled “Object: Matrimony.” The protagonist, Lily, was careful. She and her prospective husband corresponded for many months, exchanged pictures, and she went out to Wyoming prepared to go back home if anything was amiss. But nothing was wrong – Edward was a perfect gentlemen. It wasn’t until after they were married that she discovered she wasn’t the first bride he’d ordered by mail…

2015-07-03 First and Second Flatiron Trail

Keep them doggies movin’

My first introduction to the American Old West was when my family briefly lived in Kansas. I don’t know exactly how long we lived there – I was three when we arrived and four when we moved away. The most important things that happened during our time there was I got a baby sister (who, to my surprise, was not up for playing games with me), I learned how much fun Slip ‘N Slides can be, and we took a trip to Abilene where I got a cowgirl hat and my first toy horse.

Like most girls I knew at the time, I loved horses. Loved, loved, loved them. My first horse was made of plastic, and sadly did not last long, but I still remember getting my first Breyer horses – and, thanks to Google, I can reminisce by looking at this image. Amazingly, I even recognize the box they came in. I named the stallion Favorite, and he was my favorite for years until one of his legs broke off for the zillionth time and was no longer able to be glued back on.

Breyer horses

Of course, my horses didn’t look as pristine as the ones in this photo for very long. In the books I read, stallions fought each other – so naturally mine had to have skirmishes as well. I’m not sure how long it took me to realize this was a bad idea. I do remember that Favorite, who fought his rivals valiantly, ended up with some pretty unpleasant-looking scars. I soon had a whole herd of horses that ran back and forth across plains covered in red shag carpet.

When I was in third grade I got a copy of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie books. I read them over and over, just like I read the Sherlock Holmes books many times, and Lord of the Rings. I loved watching The Wild Wild West (the TV series, of course), but I loved watching Star Trek too. I took horseback riding lessons, then moved on to guitar, painting and other fun things. The Breyer horses became steeds for my Barbies. The old West was interesting, but not overly so.

Years later I started writing my first novel. It’s a ghost story set in the early 2000s, but the ghost, Emma, was murdered in the late 1800s. I wanted Emma to feel like a character from a different age, so I began doing research on what life was like in the western U.S. in the late 1800s. I initially thought that I’d get some basic facts, use them to make sure my story was realistic, then move on. Instead I found myself so interested that I now have a surprising number of books related to the time period, including everything from history books to memoirs to books about the clothing people wore. I love stopping at historical museums and ghost towns, and I even subscribe to True West Magazine.

I initially thought this fascination with the place and time would fade away after I finished my novel, but not only did it stick, I’ve found I really enjoy writing historical fiction set in this time period. I’ve written several short stories this year set in the late 1800s, and another appeared in my short story collection A Little Bit of Love. I’m currently doing market research to see if there are any short story magazines that might be worth submitting to. I also have at least one novel idea that’s set in this time period. I won’t work on it for a little while – I have plenty of things to finish first! But I occasionally get ideas and make notes about what I’d like to write when I do get to it.

My two doggies love living in the West, and while they certainly won’t ever have dogies to move, they do a great job keeping me movin’. 🙂

2015-06-25 Dakota Ridge

Making things up

I spent last weekend in San Francisco and Napa Valley. It was beautiful, fun, and I learned that sharing wine tastings is a good idea if you’re going to visit a lot of wineries in one day.

The Golden Gate Bridge peeking through the fog.
The Golden Gate Bridge peeking through the fog.

I didn’t come up with any new stories, but I did get some glimmers that might turn into a story later on. I put things like this in my idea file, and occasionally I’ll find a sentence or two I jotted down years ago has become a story I want to write. Here’s a rough overview of how I worked through potential ideas on the trip.

There are several types of things that typically trigger story ideas for me. The most common are:

  • setting
  • time period
  • character
  • predicament/problem faced by the character

On this trip, I found myself thinking about these potential settings:

  • San Francisco
  • Napa Valley
  • the town of Napa

That let me to think about time periods that might be interesting to write about in those settings:

  • Present day
  • San Francisco in the 1800s
  • San Francisco before/during/after the earthquake in 1906
  • 1930s

I wasn’t able to come up with an idea in the present day in any of the settings, so that went to the bottom of the list.

I really liked the idea of setting a story in San Francisco in the 1800s, and decided to do some research on that down the line so that I had a better feel for what the town was like. In particular, I was intrigued by what it must have looked like before buildings were built on all of the hills, and of course I love cable cars so I liked the idea of setting a story when the cable cars were first going into service. (On a previous trip I went to the Cable Car Museum, which I highly recommend.)

There are many possibilities for what to write before/during/after the earthquake in 1906, but nothing jumped out at me.

The 1930s appealed to me because I found myself thinking a lot about the climates in both San Francisco and Napa Valley, and about how the weather must have seemed to people who were from less balmy areas. I have some relatives who moved from near Pittsburgh to California around the 30s, which may have triggered this line of thought.

At this point I had narrowed my ideas down to two main possibilities:

  • San Francisco in the 1800s
  • a town in Napa Valley in the 1930s

Both options would require historical research to make sure I was accurately representing cultural/location/historical details. I would also need to narrow down the timelines to a particular year. For example, I might find that something interesting happened in 1926, or maybe 1943, that I wanted to reference in my story.

I needed at least one main character, and that character had to have some problem to deal with. That’s where I stalled out. I couldn’t come up with a good enough predicament for any of my potential protagonists.

And so these ideas go into the file … at least for now.

Snuggling on the drive to the trailhead.
Snuggling on the drive to the trailhead.