Marriageable females were as valuable as gold to the western male. The men that traveled west were anxious to find a wife for a variety of reasons. A companion to share conversation and the challenges of the rugged open spaces was one reason men wed. The laws also promoted the state of marriage and the expansion west.

The Donation Land Act of 1850 in the Oregon Territory provided a husband and wife with more land than a bachelor would receive. In addition to being a helpmate for the arduous labor of day-to-day living, children could come from the union. Commencing at an early age, children were put to work doing chores around the family homestead. In a word, a woman fulfilled her traditionally stated role as spouse, companion, mother and homemaker.

Women brought the ceremony and social interaction of weddings to the West. The wedding gave women the opportunity to join together for a social event. The relative isolation and daily grind of hard work did not allow for the frequent social calling done back East.

By the late 1890s, the wedding ceremony had taken on a more standard proceeding. A couple had their wedding in the local church decorated with flowers, ribbons and an organist. Upon receiving their marriage certificate, it would be displayed in the home. Some marriage certificates could be quite fancy. Photographs of the bride and groom could be placed on the certificate, colored flowers and pictures might also adorn the certificate.

The challenges facing a frontier wife were numerous. A woman might be separated from her family and friends. Isolation was a common circumstance. Children were born at home, sometimes without the support of another woman. The children that survived to the age of schooling did not have access to schools and churches. The frontier wife battled the ever-changing weather conditions (droughts, blizzards, dust storms, and heat) in conjunction with the backbreaking work.

Some of the chores for a frontier wife would include sewing, cooking, washing, feeding the chickens, tending the garden, and being a mate to her husband and mother to her children.

In general, the frontier wife took the demands of her life in stride. There was no time to consider your labor nor was it proper to drown in self-pity.

Home Cures for Illness

The woman of the frontier had to become knowledgeable in medicinal care for her husband and children. Doctors might not be accessible nor may they have any additional knowledge than their patient. In some circumstances, a woman recalled the folk wisdom of her youth and employed the "cure" to her own family.

Historians have found remedies for a number of ailments written in the diaries of frontier women.  By today's standards, the cure was worse than the affliction.  Rattlesnake bites could be attended to by drinking a teaspoon of ammonia diluted in water.  A sore throat would be soothed by dampening a teaspoonful of sugar with turpentine.  

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