Mary Connealy joins us for a chat about hymns, blacksmiths in Wyoming, her favorite books, and her latest release Forged in Love. Don’t forget to enter to win a copy of this great book!
For today’s Pinch of the Past, we’re looking at Old Western terms and quotes.
Women typically responded to advertisements for mail-order brides more out of necessity, and even desperation, than actual romance. Many women answered the call to marry men in different regions to escape hardship, emigrate to another country, and sometimes to seek adventure.
The imagined arrival of brides-to-be at Jamestown. New York Public Library
James Town
In the early colonial days, male settlers would return to England to marry or they would marry Native American women and leave the colony to live with their wives. In 1620 the Virginia Colony sponsored 140 brides for James town. The average age of these ladies was 20 years old. They were sometimes referred to as “tobacco wives” because the men who married them were required pay for their passage by way of reimbursing up to 120 lbs. of leave tobacco. These women had the right to choose who they married, even if that man was too poor to pay the full amount of the passage.
A romanticized depiction of the King’s daughters arriving at Quebec in the mid-seventeenth century. Before Louis XIV brought New France under direct control, it was a poorly administered commercial branch operation whose private interests preferred male indentured servants. National Archives of Canada / C-20126
The French
In the mid-1600s, 800 brides emigrated toNew France which is now a part of the United States and Canada. These mail-order brides were sponsored by the government and known as theKing’s Daughters. In addition to paying for the passage and recruitment of these wives, the government also paid each woman a dowry of at least 50livres.
When New France started their Louisiana Colony in 1699, they requested brides. However, this venture was less successful than the Kings’ Daughter. These women, called Pelican girls, were misled about the conditions of the colony and when word reached France, French ladies refused to go to the Louisiana Colony. At this time France resorted to raiding the streets for undesirables to send. Houses of correction were emptied, and in some instances, women who had been convicted with their debtor husbands were sent. In 1719, 209 women felons were sent to the colony.
These women were known as Correction Girls. Fortunately, this practice was discontinued in the mid-18th-century.
The visa and marriage documents of Tomeno Hamade. Intrigued with the possibility of living in North America, she consented to correspond with a young Japanese Canadian man, Risuke Hamade. They married by proxy on May 2,1927; she emigrated in October of that year, age nineteen. Photos and documents courtesy Tomeno Hamade
Picture Brides
Asian men working in America in the 1800s often worked with agencies to attain mail-order brides from home. Settlements were mostly male and so the demand for wives grew. A system of Picture Brides developed in the early 20th century with theJapanese-American Passport Agreement of 1907. The US barred unmarried Japanese ladies from immigrating. Working with a matchmaker, the men and women developed a system of communication that included the exchange of pictures and ended with a recommendation to marry or not.
These four men in Montana (near Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park) at the turn of the 20th century advertised their want for wives on the side of a cabin. From left-to-right they were: Bill Daucks, Frank Geduhn, Esli Apgar, and Dimon Apgar. Frank, and Dimon eventually married, but not mail-order brides. (Courtesy of Glacier National Park Photo Archives)
Mail order Brides in American
In the 1800s many young men who traveled west found they were want for female companionship. After settling land and making homes, they didn’t have anyone to share them with. Many wrote home back east asking friends and family for help. Others advertised in newspapers and would then begin a correspondence with the intention of leading to an offer of marriage.
Some quotes from Mail order bride advertisements from woman to men and men to women.
Each edition of The Matrimonial News opened with the same positive affirmation for both sexes: “Women need a man’s strong arm to support her in life’s struggle, and men need a woman’s love.”
Here is are actual ads that ran in the paper:
282—A widower, merchant and stockman lives in Kansas, 46 years old, height 6 feet, weight 210 pounds, brunette, black hair and eyes, wishes to correspond with ladies of same age, without encumbrances and with means, must move in the best society and be fully qualified to help make a happy home: object, matrimony.
233—Answer to 82—There is a lad in Missouri with a foot that’s flat, with seeds in his pocket and a brick in his hat, with an eye that is blue and a No. 10 shoe—he’s the “Bull of the Woods” and the boy for you.
266—I want to know some pretty girl of 17 to 20 years. I am 29, 5 feet 9 inches tall, a blonde: I can laugh for 15 minutes, and I want some pretty girl to laugh with me.
214—Respectable young man, with good position in city, 20 years old, desires the acquaintance of a modest young lady, between the ages of 17 and 21, with home nearby. Object: to attend operas and church; perhaps more.
The mothod of connecting marital parties through mail correspondence of some fashion or other have been used throughout the centuries in many different countries. Australia, Belarus, Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombia, Japan, and the United States to name a few. While unconventional to a modern way of thinking, it this was an acceptable and popular method of connecting in the past. A modern study of French Canadians that shows that the King’s Daughters and their husbands were “responsible for two-thirds of the genetic makeup of over six million people”.
If you enjoy a good Mail Order Bride read, here are some Christian titles that might suit your fancy.
The Bride Ship Series byJody Hedlund is one of my favorites. In fact, Jody is a lead author for Sunrise Publishing with Suzy May Warren, so we can expect three more books in that series.
When I asked on our Facebook listeners group, one of our listeners, Christy said she just finished A Bride for Keeps and A Bride in Store, both by Melissa Jagears.
Left with little back in Missouri, Kevin Hunt takes his younger siblings on a journey to Wyoming when he receives news that he’s inheriting part of a ranch. The catch is that the ranch is also being given to a half brother he never knew existed. Turns out, Kevin’s supposedly dead father led a secret and scandalous life.
But danger seems to track Kevin along the way, and he wonders if his half brother, Wyatt, is behind the attacks. Finally arriving at the ranch, everyone
is at each other’s throats and the only one willing to stand in between is Winona Hawkins, a nearby schoolmarm.
Despite being a long-time friend to Wyatt, Winona can’t help but be drawn to the earnest, kind Kevin–and that puts her in the cross hairs of somebody’s dangerous plot. Will they all be able to put aside their differences long enough to keep anyone from getting truly hurt?
The Review
I’m glad to have the opportunity to tell you about Mary Connealy’s latest release, Braced for Love. for years I read Mary’s books because her works always promised me a safe, fun historical read.
In her usual fashion, Mary spins a fun western tale; and while the series is centered around a family of brothers, like many of her other series, this one is different because these brothers appear to be enemies. My favorite thing about this book was the setting. The terrain is described beautifully as frontier life on a cattle ranch. From the ranch to the cattle, the hills, rivers, and a waterfall. I also enjoyed seeing the other minor characters interact and wonder who would end up with whom. Mary always gives hints as to who might star in the next book as the romantic couple.
For our more conservative listeners, you will be happy to know that kisses are sweet not steamy, and the violence is neither gory nor unnecessary.
If you enjoy reading clean, western romance with a little danger, family values, and a marriage of convenience, you won’t want to miss Braced for Love, book 1 in Mary Connealy’s Brothers in Arms Series.
Disclaimer: I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the publisher. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
About the Author
Mary Connealy writes romantic comedy with cowboys always with a strong suspense thread. She is a two time Carol Award winner, and a Rita, Christy and Inspirational Reader’s Choice finalist.
She is the bestselling author of 48 books and novellas.
Her most recent three book series are: Cimarron Legacy, Wild at Heart, Trouble in Texas, Kincaid Bride for Bethany House Publishing. She’s also written four other series for Barbour Publishing and many novellas and several stand-alone books for multiple publishers.
Mary will be a published author for ten years in 2017 with nearly a million books in print. She has a degree in broadcast communications with an emphasis in journalism and has worked at her local newspaper.
Join us for a chat with librarian and award-winning writer, Elizabeth Camden as she shares her wisdom about writing touching love stories, the worth of failure, and the inspiration behind her latest releaseThe Prince of Spies. Find out more about Elizabeth on her website ElizabethCamden.com. If you like historical tidbits and fun vintage photographs, follow Elizabeth on her Facebook page Author Elizabeth Camden.
On the Pinch of the Past we explore the odd and humorous slang employed by Tom Arleth, a secondary character in Grace Livingston Hill’s 1932 edition of Happiness Hill. This crackerjack of a character uses terms right from the era in which the book was written.
Mary Connealy
