Letters From a Woman Homesteader (Illustrations and Annotated with Terms of Reference)

Elinore Pruitt Stewart''s book, "Letters of a Woman Homesteader," is a lovely, delightful, and insightful compilation of letters she wrote to a former employer during the earliest part of the twentieth century. Elinore took whatever work she could find as a house cleaner and laundress in Denver, Colorado, after she, unfortunately, lost her husband in a railroad accident in 1909. Supporting herself and her two-year-old daughter, Jerrine, she soon realized that working as an enslaved person at the minimum wage of the day only guaranteed that they lived below the poverty line and that she would worry forever about rent and food.

      Already dreaming of owning her own land through homesteading, she had a physical breakdown caused by worry and her hard work and was counseled and encouraged by her pastor to post an ad which offered herself as a housekeeper to a homesteader. At the same time, she went ahead and applied for her own homestead. As a result, a Scottish cattleman, Mr. Clyde Stewart, answered her ad, and after her first vetted interview, the two decided it would be a good match. Mr. Stewart took her and Jerrine back to his ranch. There, in southwestern Wyoming, she was able to claim her own homestead adjacent to his.

      Her letters to her former employer tell the story of her new life, her hard work, and her ongoing quest for her own land and security. The letters have been reproduced as they were published in 1914 and include grammatical errors and slang of the day. To help acquaint her stories with modern-day sensitivities, I have included a section in the back, in the form of Terms of Reference, which explain the slang and Elinore''s referrals to particular people or stories of the day. All these references are in italics.

Letters of a Woman Homesteader was followed by Letters on an Elk Hunt by a Woman Homesteader, also part of the Tina Assanti Books Presents a Pioneering Women''s Series.

      Enjoy.