I don’t know why, but lately I’ve been enthralled by mail-order brides. No, I’ve not been “studying” them, or “researching” them—yet. I’ve just been wondering why this became such a practice—and a successful one—among women of all walks of life, or so it seems.
What would make a woman leave everything familiar to her and travel to “parts unknown” to marry a man she knew nothing about? What’s scarier than online dating? Being a mail-order bride! Once they’d made the commitment to leave their homes behind—much to the consternation of many family members and friends, in some cases, I would imagine—the die was cast.
Here's one of the first mail-order bride stories I wrote--FOUND HEARTS, penned for the PRAIRIE ROSE PUBLICATIONS 2014 Valentine's Day anthology, HEARTS AND SPURS, and later released as a single sell story.
BLURB:
Southern belle Evie Fremont has lost everything—except hope. When she answers an advertisement for marriage to Alex Cameron who lives in the wilds of Indian Territory, she has few illusions that he could be a man she might fall in love with—especially as his secrets begin to unfold.
Ex-Confederate soldier Alex Cameron needs a mother for his two young half-Cherokee sons more than he needs a wife—or so he tells himself. But when his past threatens his future on his wedding day, he and Evie are both forced to acknowledge their new love has come to stay—along with their FOUND HEARTS.
http://www.amazon.com/Found-Hearts-Cheryl-Pierson-ebook/dp/B00R3MWEUC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1455685920&sr=1-1&keywords=Found+Hearts
A woman would have to be certain in her own mind that what she was going to was better than what she was leaving behind. She would have to be resourceful enough to plan some kind of “exit strategy” if things didn’t work out. And I suppose, many times, women resigned themselves to the fact that they would become a soiled dove—the lowest of the low—in order to survive.
Here's a wonderful collection of mail-order bride tales from Prairie Rose Publications, LASSOING A MAIL-ORDER BRIDE. Take a peek at what's inside:
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A woman would have to be loco to become a mail-order bride...wouldn't she? Leaving everything behind and starting fresh in the untamed west is the answer to a prayer for these ladies! A beautiful socialite needs a husband fast —but her husband wants a bride for life. A pregnant young lady becomes desperate —almost as desperate as her soon-to-be husband, who just inherited his sister's kids. A man is in love with a woman he can’t have —or can he? A woman’s reputation is tarnished and professional career compromised —she runs, but she can't hide. Will they all find love with strangers they've never met who are set on LASSOING A MAIL-ORDER BRIDE?
THESE ROUGH DREAMS—Cheryl Pierson
A pregnant mail order bride. A groom with three orphaned children. Some dreams get a rough start
HER HURRY-UP HUSBAND—Tanya Hanson
A beautiful socialite needs a husband fast —for just one month —but the rancher wants a wife for life!
A PERMANENT WOMAN—Kaye Spencer
He needs a wife to get custody of his grandchildren. She needs a fresh start and a new reputation. Desperate men —and women —sometimes take desperate measures...but can she be A PERMANENT WOMAN?
THE BIG UNEASY—Kathleen Rice Adams
A man in love with a woman he can’t have. A woman engaged to a man she doesn’t love. A secret in common could destroy them all.
http://www.amazon.com/Lassoing-Mail-Order-Bride-Cheryl-Pierson-ebook/dp/B00KREGPI0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1455686282&sr=1-1&keywords=Lassoing+a+Mail+Order+Bride
In spite of all the scenarios we might come up with for a mail-order bride to leave the life she has known behind her for something completely foreign to her, there are, I’m sure, many that we never could have even contemplated. For each story is personal, intimate, and heart-rending in its own right.
One of the most unusual books about mail-order brides is Jim Fergus’s story, ONE THOUSAND WHITE WOMEN—which is not about “mail-order brides” as we think of them, but in a totally different way—a trade by the U.S. Government of 1000 white women to the Indians in order to achieve assimilation into white culture. Interestingly enough, this premise WAS discussed in reality, but not carried through. In the book, however, Fergus shows how the government emptied insane asylums of women and sent them to the Indians…only most of the women were not insane, but had been “put away” by their families for one reason or another.
http://www.amazon.com/One-Thousand-White-Women-Journals-ebook/dp/B0042XA3OE/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1455685348&sr=1-1&keywords=One+Thousand+White+Women
Would you have what it took to be a mail-order bride in the old west? I’m not sure I would, but it’s fun to think about. And for you guys--would you consider "mail-ordering" a bride? What if either of you had habits the other couldn't abide? What if you just didn't "suit" in general?
A MAIL-ORDER CHRISTMAS BRIDE is a collection of Christmas mail-order bride stories that Prairie Rose Publications just released with some wonderful tales of how some women with pasts they needed to leave behind find new beginnings at the most joyous time of the year. These eight stories by Livia J. Washburn, Kathleen Rice Adams, Cheryl Pierson, Patti Sherry-Crews, Jesse J Elliot, Meg Mims, Tanya Hanson, and Jacquie Rogers will provide you many hours of reading pleasure all year 'round.
http://www.amazon.com/Mail-Order-Christmas-Bride-Livia-Washburn-ebook/dp/B0182FEYU6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1455685767&sr=1-1&keywords=A+mail+order+Christmas+Bride
So what about it, y'all? Ladies, could you BE a mail-order bride? Gents, would you consider advertising for a bride? What would be your qualifications?
I’m giving away a digital copy of A MAIL-ORDER CHRISTMAS BRIDE to one commenter! The question is, would you leave your familiar surroundings and go west to be a mail-order bride? Be sure to leave your contact information in your comment!
Thanks for stopping by today!
http://www.prairierosepublications.com/
Enjoyed this post and I wasn't aware that my female ancestors might have been traded to the Indians!
ReplyDeleteAs for being a mail order bride, I would pity the poor soul who tore open his Amazon package and found ME inside.
Vonn, you crazy thing! Any man worth his salt would be thrilled to get a woman like you--with your organizational skills, talent, determination AND good looks, you would go far in that world!
DeleteThanks for stopping by today!
Yeah, what Cheryl said.
DeleteObviously, neither of you have seen my temper tantrums. And after being shipped cross country in a box, I guarantee I'd be throwing a big one.
DeleteWell, that I would like to see, Micki. I bet they'd let you ride the train or the stagecoach--not ship you in a box... LOL
DeleteI probably would have done okay, but pity the man who tried to 'own' me. **GRIN**. While technically not a mail order bride story, the movie "Heartland" with Rip Torn and Conchita Ferrell does a great job of showing what women faced. It does make you wonder why people did what they did. Thanks for a thought provoking post. Doris McCraw/Angela Raines
ReplyDeleteI've never seen that movie, Doris. Now I'll have to find it and watch. I truly CAN imagine many scenarios that would make a woman think being a mail-order bride would be the answer to her problems. I wonder how many broken hearts and lost hopes came from all those dreams of a better life?
DeleteThanks for stopping by.
Cheryl
Given my ancestry, my choices would have been marriage or domestic service. Although there is a certain appeal to the thought of actually being paid to milk, churn, plant, reap, preserve, spin, knit, weave, sew, mop, scrub, cook and do laundry, in the long run marriage in the 19th century offered a slightly greater degree of security.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Shay. Marriage would have been something most every woman would have wanted above all--just for the security, as you say. Thanks for coming by today!
DeleteShay, you are my winner of A MAIL-ORDER CHRISTMAS BRIDE! If you will e-mail me at fabkat_edit@yahoo.com I will see that you get your prize!
DeleteI
Thank you, Cheryl. I'm looking forward to reading it.
DeleteI'd have been the first woman on the wagon. "Let's go!" Women's rights and opportunities were so much greater once you got to the Rockies. But I'd have brought a Peacemaker and an Arkansas toothpick with me.
ReplyDeleteLOL Yes, Jacquie, I can see that right now, in my mind's eye. You WOULD have been the "leader" of the women in your area, I think. No, not like Lottie in Here Come the Brides, but the RESPECTABLE "scion of society" leader...but you'd still know how to use that Arkansas toothpick! LOL
DeleteI've thought about that, what it must have been like to be a mail order bride. What first started me thinking about it long ago was not a Western, but a movie called the "Naked Jungle" based on the short story "Leiningen vs the Ants," which did not have a mail order bride. No doubt, they had to be near desperate in some manner. They were talking a major risk and a serious lifestyle change as we would say today.
ReplyDeleteYes, Gordo. Desperation is the only way to describe the situation many of them must have found themselves in. A pregnancy out of wedlock, or an abusive father, or maybe the dismal prospect of being married off to a brute where she lived currently...so many things that could make a woman want to run TO being a mail-order bride. Desperation can make all the difference. I will look up "Leiningen vs the Ants" and read it. I love stories that make you think.
Delete"Leiningen vs the Ants" is a pretty good story. I had seen the "Naked Jungle" with Charleston Heston when it came out in 1954. Later in junior high we read "Leiningen vs the Ants" and I made the connection. I've a DVD of the movie. The mail order bride in the movie was not in the short story. Even though I was a kid I remember thinking, Why on earth is he throwing out Eleanor Parker? Gotta be touched in the head...
DeleteI think I've seen that movie many years ago...need to watch it again. I always like Charleton Heston in anything he ever did. I know it made a big splash when it came out.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAND THE WINNER OF A FREE DIGITAL COPY OF A MAIL-ORDER CHRISTMAS BRIDE IS...
ReplyDeleteSHAY!
Shay, if you will e-mail me at fabkat_edit@yahoo.com I will see that you get your prize!
Thanks so much to everyone for stopping by and commenting!
Why only the feminine gender commenting on this blog?
ReplyDeleteI wrote two books about Women in the West. Romance but nothing heated in any way. One of the books was called MAIL ORDER BRIDE before others started using that title---decades ago. I never edited it, so it was never published.
Women in the WEST were a big deal. Who wouldn't be interested in the subject as a writer of the WEST?
Good luck with all those books!
My thoughts exactly, Charlie! LOL My mind just runs in all directions when I think about the women who gave up everything familiar to take a leap of faith and travel so far to marry a man they'd never met. That must have been so hard. And I think it must have been for the men, too--wondering what kind of woman they were going to get, etc. Though, of course, the stakes were not as high for them as they were for the women, by any means.
DeleteThank you, Charlie, for all your support. And thanks for coming by and commenting!
Cheryl