Where Did The Tradition of Big Belt Buckles Come From?

By Jennifer Uhlarik

 

If you’re a fan of country music, cowboys, or any sort of western culture, you’re probably very familiar with the large and glitzy belt buckles worn by those in that world. But have you ever wondered how the ornate buckle became synonymous with cowboys and western life? I did, so I thought I’d share what I found with you.

Notice the waist cinch and suspenders.

Early on in American history, pants weren’t made with belt loops. In fact, these utilitarian strips of fabric didn’t make an appearance on pants until 1922, when Levi Strauss began including the feature on his denim jeans. Prior to that, many trousers came equipped with a small cinch across the back that could be tightened to help the waist fit better—or people used suspenders to hold up their pants.

 

An unknown Union soldier with prominent belt buckle.

But in 1861, the Civil War broke out, and belts with a prominent brass buckle were part of the uniforms worn by both sides. The belts often held an ammunition box, a sword’s scabbard, pistol holster, or other necessary items. The buckles were usually emblazoned with “CSA” for Confederate States of America or “US” for the Federal soldiers—or some had eagles with their wings spread wide. At the war’s end, many men continued to wear parts of their uniforms, since supplies were scarce—so the belts became a bit more common.

Robert E. Lee with a belt and buckle.

 

Belts and their buckles became more mainstream as the American west opened up—and people needed a reliable way to carry a sidearm. Many of the Texas Rangers converted their uniform belts into gun belts, and the belts, buckles, and holsters began to transition to a more ornate style. No longer were the belts just simple straps of leather with a brass buckle. In this era, leather workers began tooling the leather with intricate patterns, both on the belt and the holster, and silversmiths developed more ornate three-piece buckles. Loops were sewn into the belt to carry extra bullets, and a whole new style developed.

William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, who led one of the best-known Wild West Shows.
Notice his large belt buckle.

 

In the 1870s, the Wild West show became prominent. Actors and notable figures of the era donned western-styled costumes and regalia to entertain and wow audiences with feats of horsemanship, shooting, and reenactments of western events. In turn, this gave way to moving pictures. The first western movies—a series of silent reels—was put out by Thomas Edison’s studio in 1894, and the popularity grew from there. Many of the early western movies gave moviegoers quick snapshots of what life on the frontier was like. As actors portrayed life out west on stage and screen, the ornate gun belts and large buckles that held them in place became a common sight across America. The belt and its buckle was becoming mainstream.

John Wayne in a 1930s-era movie,
sporting a belt and gun belt.

 

Then, enter the rodeo. As I wrote about in an earlier post, the rodeo has a long history dating back to early ranch life. But as the rodeo became a professional group of sports with a union and set rules, along with that came trophies—in the form of ornate belt buckles for the top-placing competitors. The higher one placed in a given event, the larger the buckle one could win.

 

So there you have it—the history of the western belt buckle. From a non-existent object to a utilitarian bit of metal, all the way to a wearable trophy, this fashion statement has embedded itself into America’s history and culture.

It's Your Turn: Do you like the big, glitzy western belt buckles as a fashion statement? Why or why not?

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered western novels at twelve when she swiped the only “horse” book from her brother’s bookshelf. Across the next decade, she devoured westerns and fell in love with the genre. While attaining a B.A. in writing from the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. She has finaled in and won numerous writing competitions and appeared on various best-seller lists. Besides writing, she’s been a business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, a historical researcher, a publisher, and a full-time homemaker. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband and fur children.

 

 

Love and Order: A Three-Part Old West Romantic Mystery

Wanted: 

Family, Love, and Justice

One Old West Mystery Solved Throughout Three Short Romantic Stories

Separated as children when they were adopted out to different families from an orphan train, the Braddock siblings have each grown up and taken on various jobs within law enforcement and criminal justice.

 

Youngest child, Callie, has pushed past her insecurities to pursue a career as a Pinkerton agent. Middle child, Andi, has spent years studying law under her adoptive father’s tutelage. And the eldest and only son, Rion, is a rough-and-tumble bounty hunter. 

 

When the hunt for a serial killer with a long history of murders reunites the brother and sisters in Cambria Springs, Colorado, they find themselves not only in a fight for justice, but also a fight to keep their newly reunited family intact. How will they navigate these challenges when further complicated by unexpected romances?

 

 

 

 

 

Courts of the Old West

By Jennifer Uhlarik 

If you’re anything like me, watching western movies as a kid led to the belief that the western territories and states were a completely lawless land. Sure, I knew there were lawmen—sheriffs, marshals, and the like—and even a plethora of bounty hunters. Western movies, shows, and books were filled with those. But so many westerns, whether on the big or small screen, or in print, conveyed the idea that things were dealt with by vigilante justice rather than in an actual court of law. People took matters in their own hands, rather than seeking out a lawyer, a judge, or a court, right? Turns out, nothing was further from the truth.

 

In researching for my newest release, Love and Order: A Three-Part Old West Romantic Mystery, I had the pleasure of ferreting out whether there was the court system in Colorado Territory in the 1800s and how such an animal might have operated in that time and place. 

Judge Roy Bean, a Justice of the Peace, dubbed himself the "Only law west of the Pecos."

So, the court system in the western territories was typically set up with a Territorial Supreme Court, comprised of three justices who were each appointed by the President of the United States. These justices were not only the highest judges in the territory—but often, they were the only judges. (Yes, there might have been Justices of the Peace who were in charge of hearing small local matters, but these JP’s were not typically part of the Territorial Court system that would try cases dealing with the Territorial laws. An example would be Judge Roy Bean).

 

Each territory was segmented into three parts, and each Supreme Court Justice became the traveling judge who oversaw cases in one of those territorial districts. Each judge had a U.S. Marshal working closely with him to schedule trials, who acted as bailiff during trials, and helped with other court matters. If a lawman or prosecutor wished to bring a case to trial, he would contact the Marshal, get the case on the judge’s docket, and then would have to wait until the judge and his traveling court continent made it through the circuit to the nearest town to hear that case.

 

In most places, there wasn’t a dedicated courthouse in which to host a trial. So where did the proceedings happen? Anywhere they could find a place. Court cases might have been held in an open field if the weather permitted, in a schoolhouse, a church, a meeting hall, or a saloon. And the cases were often seen as a great source of entertainment, so people would often take off work to witness the spectacle. And a spectacle it often was! 

An Old West Saloon

Though the judges had garnered the attention of the President to receive the appointment as territorial justice, many of them saw this as a punishment. They viewed it not as an honor, but as being banished to the uncivilized territories. Thus, many of them took a very lackadaisical attitude toward their jobs. Judges were sometimes known to come into court drunk (or to become so as the day went on—especially when the venue was a saloon). They also often lent only half an ear to the proceedings while they trimmed their nails or took care of other personal grooming tasks. And often, lots of shenanigans went on because the judge would allow the audience too much power. For instance, in one case I read about, held in a local saloon, many of the townsfolk who were in attendance would holler out, asking for a recess, so that they could get a refill on their alcoholic beverages—and the judge permitted it. I’m sure you can imagine the wild and wooly spectacle such a trial might have been.

 

Certainly, some of the judges would’ve taken their jobs seriously, but many didn’t treat it with the respect it deserved. So if the outcome of a trial was in question, the defendants and their attorneys could always ask for an appeal to the Supreme Court. But wait…! Keep in mind that the judge who just heard the case was one of the three Justices of the Territorial Supreme Court, and an appeal required two of the three Justices to agree to hear the case. If the original judge ruled no (which they often did), and he could convince a second Justice to deny the request, then the appeal would go nowhere. The initial judgment stood.

 

I mentioned earlier about the court contingent that the judges traveled with. Interestingly, each territorial judge had a whole group of people they would bring along on their circuit—a slate of prosecutors, defense attorneys, a court reporter, investigators, and more. Everyone the judge would need to try a case was in that company, except for the defendants and witnesses. Now, that’s not to say that every trial lawyer traveled with the judge around the territory. In fact, one of the many interesting facts I discovered through my research was that the topmost profession in the 1800s western territories was that of attorney. So not all attorneys could travel with the itinerant court system. In fact, attorneys were so prevalent in that day that most of them had to have a second job to pay the bills, which tied many of them to their local towns. They might also own a saloon (great if the court used their venue for its cases!), ran cattle or horses on a ranch, or operated a local store. Some were miners, land surveyors, or had some other kind of business to help make ends meet. Really, the only attorneys who made a living from their law practice were the ones who were part of the traveling court system. 

By Jonathunder -
Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3899115

 

So if a defendant didn’t have a private attorney, a traveling defense attorney would be assigned his case. Same with the prosecutors. If a local prosecutor wasn’t bringing the case, a traveling one was assigned. These attorneys could prepare for their cases before arriving in the town where the trail was to take place by writing letters, sending telegrams, reading up on any reports or testimony that had been gathered (if there was any), and could break away from the traveling company to go and meet with a defendant or other witnesses in between other cases they were assigned. But I’m sure you can imagine, expecting a traveling attorney to mount an airtight defense under such circumstances could be a risky thing. So it was in the defendant’s interest to retain his own attorney so that he could expect a better defense. (Surprise, surprise…not a lot has changed in that aspect between the courts of old and courts of today).

 

(If you’re interested in learning more about how one became an attorney in the Old West, I wrote a post on the topic several years ago. Please find it here.)

 

Lastly, as I mentioned earlier, when the court rolled into town, it was usually quite a spectacle. Often, there was as much excitement for the court proceedings as there might be for a traveling circus, medicine show, or other form of entertainment. And sometimes, there’d be some very interesting happenings in the proceedings. In one case I read about, a widow sat quietly through the trial of her husband’s killer, waited for the verdict, and then calmly left her seat, approached the defendant, and feet from the judge, leveled her dead husband’s pistol at the killer’s belly. If my memory serves, not only the U.S. Marshal bailiff drew down on her, but so did the judge, the defense attorney, and several who’d come to watch the proceedings.

 

So yes, there was a court system in the western territories of the 1800s. But I should add one other fact. The movies, TV shows, and novels I took in during my teens did have it partially right. Because the traveling courts could take months to reach a town and try a case, it often did lead to the prevalence of vigilante groups bringing justice outside of the courts—especially since jails of the Old West tended to be rather “leaky.” (That’s a tease for next month’s topic…)

 

It's Your Turn:

Were you aware that there was a robust court system in the western territories of the 1800s? What did you find surprising about how these courts operated?

 

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered western novels at twelve when she swiped the only “horse” book from her brother’s bookshelf. Across the next decade, she devoured westerns and fell in love with the genre. While attaining a B.A. in writing from the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. She has finaled in and won numerous writing competitions and appeared on various best-seller lists. Besides writing, she’s been a business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, a historical researcher, a publisher, and a full-time homemaker. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband and fur children.

 

 

Available now

 

Love and Order

 

Wanted: 

Family, Love, and Justice

One Old West Mystery Solved Throughout Three Short Romantic Stories

Separated as children when they were adopted out to different families from an orphan train, the Braddock siblings have each grown up and taken on various jobs within law enforcement and criminal justice.

 

Youngest child, Callie, has pushed past her insecurities to pursue a career as a Pinkerton agent. Middle child, Andi, has spent years studying law under her adoptive father’s tutelage. And the eldest and only son, Rion, is a rough-and-tumble bounty hunter. 

 

When the hunt for a serial killer with a long history of murders reunites the brother and sisters in Cambria Springs, Colorado, they find themselves not only in a fight for justice, but also a fight to keep their newly reunited family intact. How will they navigate these challenges when further complicated by unexpected romances?

 

Cool Comfort: How Wild West Pioneers Obtained Ice

In the rugged heart of the Wild West, where sun-baked plains met untamed mountains, pioneers faced a host of challenges—fierce weather, predatory wildlife, debilitating illness, and the ever-present struggle for comfort. Among the most unexpected luxuries sought by these intrepid adventurers was an ice-cold drink. Let’s embark on a journey to learn how Wild West settlers obtained and used ice, a touch of cool sophistication amidst the frontier's grit and glory.

The Ice Harvesting Adventure

Long before refrigerators made their debut, folks longed for ice, especially in the searing heat of the western frontier. The story begins in the frigid lakes and ponds of the Northeast, where hard-workers ventured onto frozen lakes and ponds to harvest winter's gift. They cut huge blocks and stored them in insulated ice houses. From these locations, the frosty treasure traveled far and wide to keep foods fresh, chill ice cream, and cool beverages.

"Ice cutters, Longueuil" by Maurice Galbraith Cullen, Circa 1923 *Oil on canvas

By the mid-19th century, the Boston Ice Company and other thriving companies had turned the harvesting and distribution of ice into a thriving industry. But as settlers pushed ever westward, the ice industry faced the challenge of long-distance transportation.

Transporting Ice Across the Frontier

For people living in frontier towns and mining camps, obtaining ice proved a remarkable feat, made possible by the railroad networks and steamboats of the era.

Imagine the excitement as an ice shipment from the northeast or midwest arrived. The local saloon or general store would buzz with anticipation while workers unloaded the precious cargo.

Crafting Ice in the Wild West 

Some settlers cut and stored their own blocks in ice house they built near ponds or rivers. The ice, salted and wrapped in straw, helped them survive the scorching summer months. This labor of love became a vital part of frontier life, making life more bearable and even luxurious. 

Brrr!!! Imagine venturing onto this lake in winter to cut ice.

And then there were the ice-making machines, an exciting innovation! Although they didn’t become widespread until the late 19th century, these machines marked a significant shift in ice production. Inventors like Alexander C. Twining, with his groundbreaking ice machine, paved the way for the on-demand ice production of today.

The Impact on Frontier Life 

The arrival of ice provided more than sweet relief from the heat. It brought a touch of refinement to the frontier and a reminder of civilization in the untamed landscape of the West. Gatherings often revolved around ice deliveries, mingling laughter, a sense of community, and perhaps a bit of storytelling with the clink of ice in a glass.

Wrapping Up Our Journey

The history of ice on the frontier tells a story of perseverance, innovation, and a touch of romance—much like the Wild West itself.

Your Thoughts

Did you know that western pioneers had access to ice? What do you think it would be like to cut ice on a frozen lake in the winter? Have you ever made ice cream by hand? Comment to continue the conversation. 

About Janalyn Voigt

Janalyn Voigt fell in love with literature at an early age when her father read chapters from classics as bedtime stories. When Janalyn grew older, she put herself to sleep with tales "written" in her head. 

Today Janalyn is a storyteller published in the western historical romance and medieval epic fantasy genres. Romance, mystery, adventure, history, and whimsy appear in all her novels in proportions dictated by their genre.

 

Discover Montana Gold!

 

The Montana Gold series explores faith, courage, and love in the Wild West. And now, you can read the first four ebooks for half the price of the individual ebooks. Purchase the Montana Gold series boxed set.

The Montana Gold series is also available in print. Claim your paperback copies of the Montana Gold books.

1. Hills of Nevermore – Can a young widow hide her secret shame from the Irish preacher bent on protecting her?

2. Cheyenne Sunrise – After her wagon journey goes terribly wrong, a woman disillusioned in men must rely on a half-Cheyenne trail guide.

3. Stagecoach to Liberty – A young Hessian girl must decide to trust a handsome Irish stranger or remain with her alarming companions.

4. The Forever Sky – Can a young widow with no faith in love hope for a future with the man who broke her heart?

5. The Promise Tree – A preacher’s daughter shouldn’t encourage a troublemaker’s advances—no matter what she promised him.

6. The Whispering Wind – A beautiful woman can have her pick of suitors but never the man she wants.

10 Facts about the 1872 Owens Valley Earthquake in California

 by Edwina Kiernan

At 2:30am on March 26, 1872, the sleeping town of Lone Pine, California had a rude awakening. The Owens Valley Earthquake was one of the largest Californian earthquakes in recorded history, in which 27 people were killed and 56 were injured. Here are ten facts I discovered as I researched it for my latest book...

1) The quake was felt as far away as Sacramento and Los Angeles.

2) The Diaz family, who had emigrated from Chile in the 1860s, operated a successful cattle ranch until the earthquake hit. A natural spring filled the quake basin, turning the ranch into a lake, named Diaz Lake to this day.

3) At the time of the earthquake, Mt. Whitney was known as Fisherman's Peak.

4) 27 inhabitants of Lone Pine were killed - more than 10% of its population.

5) The quake generated a fault scarp more than 2m tall, with the ground shifting 5m to the right. The scarp can be followed for more than 40 miles north and south of the epicenter. The ground fissures can be followed for more than 225 miles.

Lone Pine fault scarp

6) The earthquake's estimated magnitude was between 7.4 and 7.9.

7) The interest in seismology that this earthquake sparked led to the formation of the first permanent seismic observatories in the United States.

8) Numerous eyewitness accounts survive to this day, including one from the Scottish naturalist, John Muir. He described the shocks as being so violent and so closely following one another that trying to walk was like trying to balance on a ship tossed at sea. He also had an optimistic outlook during the event - part of his account says: "...Though I had never before enjoyed a storm of this sort, the strange, wild thrilling motion and rumbling could not be mistaken, and I ran out of my cabin, near the Sentinel Rock, both glad and frightened, shouting, "A noble earthquake!" feeling sure I was going to learn something." You can read his full account here.

9) A series of aftershocks continued for months afterwards, causing even more buildings to collapse due to their already weakened structures.

10) A number of the victims are buried in a mass grave. It was registered as a California Historical Landmark in 1953, and a new memorial was established in 1988 on the 116th anniversary of the tragedy.

The original marker of the 1872 Lone Pine Earthquake victim's common grave

1988 memorial, detailing some of the victims' names and nationalities

Did You Know?

My new release, Heart of Integrity, features the Owens Valley / Lone Pine earthquake of 1872. Susan and Ifor have each traveled miles across the world to escape their pasts and build new lives. But when a devastating earthquake throws them into a state of upheaval, long-buried secrets soon shake loose with devastating consequences...

Not all fault lines are hidden in the earth...

Find out more here: EdwinaKiernan.com/integrity

About The Author:

Edwina Kiernan is an award-winning author of Christian Historical Romance. She lives in rainy Ireland with her husband and son, and uses her pen to point people to Jesus - the Living Word. She also drinks more types of tea than most people realize even exist. Find out more at EdwinaKiernan.com, and sign up for her weekly newsletter for lots of fun, fiction, freebies and faith.

Mail Order Brides and Romance by Post—with Giveaway by Donna Schlachter

“Matrimonials,” The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, CA), February 7, 1909, 44. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.

When non-historians sit around with a cup of coffee and discuss American history, there are at least three favorite topics: Pony Express, orphan trains, and mail order brides.

The interesting thing about that is that they seem completely unconnected. And yet, as we consider the three, perhaps they have more in common than we first think.

The Pony Express lasted about eighteen months, while orphan trains relocated more than two hundred thousand orphaned and abandoned children in the seventy-five years the system operated. As for mail order brides—well before the United States Postal Service was formed, men sought women in America, bringing them over from England, Ireland, Scotland, and other countries in Europe. In fact, folks are still finding spouses from other countries.

Prior to the 1800s, connections between a man seeking a wife, and a woman willing to answer, came in the form of personal introductions or family or business connections. It wasn’t uncommon for parents who were close friends to betroth—or promise—their children would wed.

In the 1800s, once newspapers and printing houses were established, advertising for a spouse became much easier. Papers printed ads, and respondents indicated their interest by writing a letter in care of the newspaper. Magazines operated in a similar fashion, sometimes allocating several pages for these advertisements.

 

Mary and Elkanah Walker married in 1838.
Portrait of Mary Richardson Walker and Elkanah Walker, Cage 57, Elkanah and Mary Richardson Walker Papers 1830-1938, Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

Between the Civil War and the 1830s, a new phenomenon called “the love match” took over Western Europe and America. The idea grew that love was now necessary for a successful marriage. Perhaps perpetuated by the increase in romance novels—or perhaps the novels were a result of the notion—but either way, parties to marriage often considered love was more important. In the past, couples recognized other benefits to marriage: shared duties and responsibilities; combining businesses or land; continuing a family legacy or bloodline; and, of course, children.

 

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, photo HPF 9871.

There is no evidence that love trumps loyalty, honor, family, or faith, however. Many mail order couples—and indeed, most of the marriages of the time—were not based in love. No doubt many grew to love their spouses over the course of the marriage, but overall, this love match idea was slow to take hold, particularly among older families. There is no evidence available to suggest that those who married through the mail order system were any happier, or their marriages any more—or less—successful, than couples introduced in the conventional way.

The process varied, but usually one party placed an advertisement, registered with a marriage agency, or provided information to friends and family that they desired to marry. The other party responded, which began a time of exchanging letters. This might go on for as little as a month—one letter each way—or for a year or more. Arrangements were made for the woman to travel to the man, which he paid for. Sometimes a commitment was made in writing, but occasionally it didn’t happen until they’d met and deemed each other suitable. There is an account of one couple who married four hours after they met in person, although they knew each other through family connections and had corresponded for over a year.

And then there’s the story of a woman who rejected the man after meeting him because he had red hair. In her experience, red-heads were always “cross”—angry.

Some mail-order brides never even arrived at the station. Rather, they accepted the travel fare and pocketed the money. “Mail Order Marriages: Two in Spokane Turn out Differently,” East Oregonian (Pendleton, OR), March 23, 1911, 6. Historic Oregon Newspapers.

Scams were likely, and an untold number of men lost their potential mate, their money, and their pride when she never arrived. If the phrase “once bitten, twice shy” is true, many of these poor fellows likely lived out their lives as bachelors. Or chose a woman who lived nearby.

Fast forward to today, and we see that a slightly different version of marriages still takes place. Common in World War II, soldiers still bring wives home from foreign lands. The internet has opened the world to those seeking a mate. In fact, I am an internet bride. We just celebrated our twenty-third anniversary. But that’s a story for another time.

In my upcoming release, The Freedom Stage: Book 2 of Mail-Order Romance, planned for December 31st, 2022, my heroine runs from her past—straight into the arms of a stranger.

In Book 1 of this series, The New Hope Train, strangers meet on a train and fall in love, and must decide whether to fulfill their commitment to another, or to break their word and marry each other.



Giveaway: Leave a comment, and I will randomly draw one name to receive an ebook copy of The New Hope Train. Include your email so I can contact you. Comments without an email will not be included in the drawing. Please cleverly disguise your email address so the bots don’t find you. For example: donna AT livebytheword DOT com



About The New Hope Train:

October 1895

Mary Johannson has scars on her body that can’t compare with the scars on her heart. She is alone in the world, with no family, no prospects, and no home.

John Stewart is at his wit’s end. His wife of three years died in childbirth, leaving him with a toddler and an infant, both girls. Theirs was the love of fairy tales, and while he has no illusions about finding another like her, his children need a mother.

Though separated by thousands of miles, they commit to a mail-order marriage. But on their journey to New Hope, they meet and realize the life they’d planned would be a lie. Can they find their way back from the precipice and into the love of God and each other, or are they destined to keep their word and deny their heart?

Check it out here: https://www.amazon.com/Hope-Train-Mail-Order-Romance-Book-ebook/dp/B09BBQTD7M



About The Freedom Stage:

A young woman runs from her past, straight into the arms of a stranger. Was she going from bad to worse? Or did God hold her in His hands?

A death-bed promise, a family legacy, an unexpected wife--how can he turn his back on them to fulfill a vow?

Preorder here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BLZMWNTD



About Donna:

A hybrid author, Donna writes squeaky clean historical and contemporary suspense. She has been published more than 50 times in books; is a member of several writers groups; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; ghostwrites; edits; and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, traveling extensively for both, and is an avid oil painter.

www.DonnaSchlachter.com Stay connected so you learn about new releases, preorders, and presales, as well as check out featured authors, book reviews, and a little corner of peace. Plus: Receive a free ebook simply for signing up for our free newsletter!

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/DonnaschlachterAuthor

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Resources:

https://postalmuseum.si.edu/research-articles/go-west-young-woman/

https://postalmuseum.si.edu/research-articles/go-west-young-woman/when-where-did-mail-order-brides-live

https://postalmuseum.si.edu/research-articles/go-west-young-woman/how-did-couples-find-each-other

https://postalmuseum.si.edu/research-articles/go-west-young-woman/why-did-men-and-women-marry-spouses-they-had-never-met