A Woman Homesteader--part one

by Martha Hutchens

image by LillGraphie, deposit photos

Elinore Pruitt was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas. She was the oldest of nine, and when her parents died, she managed to keep her family together. At one time she was a high school student, care-taker of her brothers, and a part-time employee of the transcontinental railroad.

She married at twenty-two, to a man who encouraged her writing talents. She regularly contributed to a newspaper, the Kansas City Star. However, her husband died just four years into their marriage, leaving her with a newborn daughter.

She decided she wanted to own her own plot of land, and gradually drifted west in pursuit of this dream. In Boulder, Colorado, she answered a Colorado ad looking for a housekeeper to move to Wyoming.

image by ggkuna, deposit photos

Clyde Stewart placed this ad. He offered “a good permanent home for the right party.” More importantly to Elinore, he offered knowledge of the Wyoming area she was eyeing for her own homestead claim. When he met Elinore to interview her, she described him as “standing inspection admirably.” She loved his Scottish accent, and respected his ability of forming his own sheep ranch.

Elinore chose to claim land that bordered on Clyde’s. It seems unlikely that either was planning matrimony from the beginning, but after six weeks acquaintance they married.

image by hayatikayhan, deposit photos

As I was reading Elinore’s story in a compilation of mail-order bride stories (Hearts West, by Chris Enss), I enjoyed the quotations from her letters. In fact, I started to wonder if her letters were publicly available. Didn’t I feel silly when I learned they were available in a book titled Letters of a Woman Homesteader. A book that I had on my kindle AND on my bookshelf. I haven’t managed to finish reading it yet, but I can already tell that it is worth the time. But more on that next month.

Elinore’s description of her wedding is humorous. She said that they had to “chink their wedding in between planting the oats and other work that must be done early or not at all.” They sent for a license by mail, and when it arrived, Clyde rode over to see his friend, Mr. Pearson, who happened to be the justice of the peace. Clyde asked that his friend come to his home the following Wednesday. Elinore had no time for new clothes, but did have a new pair of shoes. She adjusted one of her dresses in preparation for the big day. When it arrived, it came with heavy snow. Her visitors arrived, and by the time she got them inside and warmed up, she forgot to change out of her work shoes and even her apron. She told this story two years later, with the air of fond memory over everything that went wrong with her wedding to the right man.

Elinore and Clyde’s first-born son died at one year of age due to complications of a skin infection. They went on to have three more sons and were married for twenty-four years before Elinore died of complications from a farming accident.