Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
198th out of 1,756 books
—
1,736 voters
Letters of a Woman Homesteader
"Peopled with the kinds of characters most novelists only dream of"(Christian Science Monitor), this classic account of American frontier living captures the rambunctious spirit of a pioneer who set out in 1909 to prove that a woman could ranch. Stewart's captivating missives from her homestead in Wyoming bring to full life the beauty, isolation, and joys of working the pr...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
May 15th 1998
by Mariner Books
(first published May 1st 1914)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
2,743)
Right now the Kindle version if free at Amazon.
These letters make for a fascinating narrative and descriptive journal of Mrs. Stewart's life, moving from the city to a Wyoming homestead, marrying and still having the determination to homestead ON HER OWN. She is a very positive, optimistic individual, generous and giving, nearly always seeing the positive in others. Her words and attitude are inspirational.
Whether tidbits are fabricated or exaggerated is a bit of topic of debate. However, the general storylines, characters, and situations ar...more
Whether tidbits are fabricated or exaggerated is a bit of topic of debate. However, the general storylines, characters, and situations ar...more
Jan 03, 2008
Carla Lowe Baku
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who wants some inspiration
This is one of my favorite books of all time, and I have probably read it at least a dozen times. This is the story of a person who followed her heart and worked incredibly hard; the end result is that she built a life she loved. Set in Wyoming at the start of the 20th century, Stewart (a widowed single mother)left the drudgery of taking in wash to work on a cattle ranch and prove up her own piece of land for homesteading.
She writes with wonderful droll humor and remarkable insight to the human...more
She writes with wonderful droll humor and remarkable insight to the human...more
Probably one of my most favorite things to read are the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Aside from getting all atwitter over exact instructions on how to make my own meat smokehouse, I love the parts of the books that focus on the gritty side of life - like having to deal with Nellie Oleson, or the very real possibility of being killed in a freak blizzard, or tornado season. What can I say, I like drama.
Letters of a Woman Homesteader reminds me of a more grown-up, dramatic, and shor...more
Letters of a Woman Homesteader reminds me of a more grown-up, dramatic, and shor...more
Positive delightful! Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart is a collection of highly readable, interesting, informative, moving and occasionally very humorous letters. She wrote epically long letters to everyone that showed the slightest interest in reading them. It is a shame that she settled on this as a medium of displaying her considerable talent. The letters were written to various recipients during the period 1909-1913 and covered many subjects. The letters were first pu...more
A fiercely independent woman, setting off on her own to "homestead" a plot of land in Wyoming in 1909? Sign me up! Elinore was a young widow with a toddler when she decided she wanted her own land and space in a new territory - and she encouraged other women that they, too, could make it. Through her letters to her former employer/friend, she tells of snowstorms and beautiful vistas, and a motley crew of other settlers with their own fascinating back stories. Essentially, she reminded me of an o...more
In the early 1900s, a young woman on her own with a toddler was trying to make it in the city of Denver, CO as a housekeeper. The atmosphere of the big city didn't agree with her, and she dreamed of a home with fresh air and wide-open spaces. She made that dream come true by going out to Wyoming to be a housekeeper for a rancher named Mr. Stewart. Wyoming was still open to homesteading, so she took that opportunity to file her own claim in the same area.
She had a friend in her former employer, a...more
She had a friend in her former employer, a...more
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this series of letters written by a young widow on the Wyoming frontier, sent regularly from 1909 to 1913 to her friend back home in Denver. Since the letters were not originally intended for publication, they are very personal and chatty, and I felt when reading them as if I had stumbled onto a dusty pile of letters from a long-gone great-grandmother and was discovering a piece of forgotten family history for the first time. This is part of the charm of this book; i...more
Reading this book felt like sitting down for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. It was absolutely charming in every aspect. Mrs. Pruitt Stewart writes with a frank, humorous voice about the joys and hardships of homesteading. She has a natural sense of drama, and captures the wilderness in a breathtaking manner while recounting her home life with a warmth and love that makes one think of gathering around a warm fireplace and drinking hot chocolate. The fact that she was a real woman and that these...more
I absolutely loved it! I did this one on audiobook, and it was amazing. These are "genuine letters" to a friend by a woman who staked a claim to land in Wyoming around 1909. The letters are so good it's hard to imagine some industrious female farmer dashing them off after a long day of labor. But so she did, I guess. The letters are all addressed to one particular friend, a former boss in Chicago. The woman homesteader tells stories about her adventures and explorations, her new friends, and her...more
Very interesting read. I really enjoyed this whole book, which is just letters written by a woman homesteader to a friend. The letters read just like a story and not just some random letters. It was easy to get caught up in this short little book. I had a hard time putting it down, as i was constantly wanting to find out what adventure the author was up to. Very interesting read from a historical standpoint and would be great to use in homeschooling. The time period is the early 1900's to nearly...more
Such a fascinating read on the lives of women from another time. Pioneering women, finding themselves in incredibly alien and inhospitable conditions who rise to the challenge of surviving and then move on to creating a productive and enjoyable life for not only themselves but those around them. They were so often driven by the need to provide a good life for a growing brood. I have read similar stories of women in Australia and New Zealand faced with huge challenges and creating wonderful lives...more
Finished with my latest Kindle book, I wondered what I would read next. I wasn't ready to cough up another $10 for a regular book, but I was tired of reading samples. A regular book was out of the question - I was already in bed, and a two-handed read was just too much to consider. (Wah.) So I came upon this, Letters of a Woman Homesteader, for FREE on Kindle. My expectations were low. Free? A series of letters, written by a woman who never had ANY formal schooling, during the late 1800's to ear...more
Here's a little delicious tid bit from Egalia's Daughters in which wim are the dominant sex and poor housebound menwim stay home to care for the children and mop the floors:
This description is of the annual Menstruation Games:
At the front were two big, dark red banners, symbolizing menstrual blood, then came the musicians - a band composed of twenty pregnant wim playing a victory march, followed by a troop of fifteen more wim waving blood towels of various colours, throwing them up into the air...more
This description is of the annual Menstruation Games:
At the front were two big, dark red banners, symbolizing menstrual blood, then came the musicians - a band composed of twenty pregnant wim playing a victory march, followed by a troop of fifteen more wim waving blood towels of various colours, throwing them up into the air...more
This book is a collection of letters written by Elinore Stewart to a former employer, between 1909-1913. Elinore was a widow who left Denver to take up homesteading in Wyoming. The letters are very descriptive of what her life was like, and some of her neighbors where quite colorful characters; at times I felt like I was reading a novel, not just letters. She really draws you in to the story. I was sad when the book ended, because I wanted to know more about her and her family.
At that time, most...more
At that time, most...more
A couple of years ago, I read and enjoyed the young adult book, Hattie Big Sky, which is about a young woman who homesteaded in Montana. This summer, our family visited the Hornbek homestead in Colorado, which was homesteaded by Adeline Hornbek. We also spent a night in the cabin at the Mingus Ranch, which was homesteaded by the Mingus family in 1908.
When I saw Letters of a Woman Homesteader, I thought it would be interesting and downloaded it to my kindle. It far surpassed my expectations. This...more
When I saw Letters of a Woman Homesteader, I thought it would be interesting and downloaded it to my kindle. It far surpassed my expectations. This...more
What a delightful book! I found this book from the free Kindle book list, and after skipping over several better known classics, the title of this book piqued my interest. (You can also find this book in Gutenberg Project).
And I'm glad I found it. The writer was a woman trying to file for her own land in Wyoming somewhere in the 1910s. I was easily pulled into her stories by her lively writing that has quite a modern sass to it. Here was a story of a fiercely independent, assertive, but yet gent...more
And I'm glad I found it. The writer was a woman trying to file for her own land in Wyoming somewhere in the 1910s. I was easily pulled into her stories by her lively writing that has quite a modern sass to it. Here was a story of a fiercely independent, assertive, but yet gent...more
This is a series of actual letters spanning from 1909 to 1913 written by a woman, a single mother, who has settled in the Wyoming wilderness. She is writing to her former employer. She is constantly optimistic and cheerful, looking for the positive in everything. Although bad things happen, she plays them down and often omits them from her narratives. She is mostly fearless and doesn't worry much. She loves natural beauty, the mountains, and independence. She also loves to write, has great wit a...more
Elinore was used to hard work. She was orphaned when she was young and she and her siblings had to find their own way in Oklahoma. She taught herself to read and write due to the absence of schools. She married but lost her husband so once more she had to find her own way. Living in Denver, she worker as a housekeeper and laundress along with tending a furnace. Having fallen ill, she began to dream of life in the fresh air in the mountains of Wyoming that a friend had told her about. She moved o...more
Apr 12, 2012
Phyllis
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
autobiography-biography
This book is really strange! It's a collection of letters sturdy pioneer lady Elinore Pruitt Stewart wrote to a former employer, but as frequently as she seems to be corresponding with her old boss she almost never makes references to the letters she's receiving. What a strangely one-sided correspondence. Either these letters have been edited, they're fake, or Elinore Pruitt Stewart was the most self-absorbed homesteader in American history. I'm really interested in the provenance of the letters...more
I was browsing free Kindle books, and this one popped up. Elinore was a real person, and the "book" is a bunch of letters she wrote to her friend in Denver in the early 1900's. The pictures this woman painted of life as a homesteader in Wyoming are amazing! She was brave, funny, kind, resourceful, and hard-working. I got sucked in, and then I was sad to hear of her encounters with Mormons later in the book--from her perspective, they were strange, destitute, and to be pitied. One letter describe...more
Elinore Stewart's book is a compelling collection of letters telling of her time of living as a homesteader. Her journey from the city to ranching proves her capability as a woman to accomplish whatever she sets her mind to. Accordingly, Letters of a Woman Homesteader shows the excitement of Elinore's life and the friendships she makes and keeps. Friendship is a major part in this story; almost everything she writes about in her letters has to deal with meeting new people or traveling to visit p...more
Elinore Stewart can write and tell a story like she was painting. Surprising only because in her own words there was no time for education in her rather tough early life. Imagine what she could have done with more time and direction. A book made up of her saved letters sent to a former employer, its a picture of a time and place long forgotten. Wish we had both sides of the correspondence. Her daughter Jerrine would be in her 90s now if she was alive. Would love to hear her side of things. Elino...more
In 1909, widowed Elinore Pruitt, working long hours in a Denver boarding house and hospital, wanted a better life for herself and 5 year old daughter Jerrine. Alert to the news that the rough and ready state of Wyoming offered a better life for women on their own who were ready to work hard and file claims to their own properties, Elinore answered an ad in the Denver Post from a bachelor in Burnt Fork, WY who was looking for a housekeeper. Over the next 5 years, Elinore (who promptly married her...more
I love true stories, and I especially love them to be told in the voice of people who actually participated in the action. This book is a compilation of letters that (I believe) begin in 1909 and span approximately six or seven years. The woman writing these letters, called Elinore, was a washlady in Denver, CO. She received some advice to become a housekeeper for a ranch owner in the remote Wyoming wilderness (called "homesteaders" back then). These letters are written to a friend of hers, and...more
I have an interest in how women lived in the 1800's and before. I am particularly interested in women who were pioneers or homesteaders at this time, carving out an existence with beauty and happiness in the wilderness of the west.
Elinore Pruitt Stewart homesteaded near Green River Wyoming, which is where my dad and his family are from. She was not a Mormon which was also a different twist on the pioneer/homesteader experience in this area at the time.
This is a true story put together from the...more
Elinore Pruitt Stewart homesteaded near Green River Wyoming, which is where my dad and his family are from. She was not a Mormon which was also a different twist on the pioneer/homesteader experience in this area at the time.
This is a true story put together from the...more
This book is a collection of letters written by a woman most would probably consider ahead of her times. She made the decision to become a homesteader in 1910 and moved West on her own. It provides an interesting glimpse into what life was like on the frontier at that time, both materially and culturally. There are a couple of passages that are a little jolting now since they're blatantly racist, but you have to remind yourself that it was a different time then, and overall she was probably more...more
What an absolutely amazing read. In 1909 widowed Elinot Pruitt Stewart took her little daughter west to Wyoming where she filed a land claim and started a ranch. The story is told in a series of letters written home to a woman for whom she worked as a "washer-woman." Her descriptions of the realities of frontier life and the people she encounters are absolutely captivating. In one unforgettable letter she tells of having a "day off" from all her chores so she packs up her daughter and heads off...more
On a trip to Alaska we met a wonderful woman homesteader at the Homer Museum. She gave us interesting examples of what life was like for her, her family and the community of homesteaders. This book is about a young widow and her 2 year old child who set off for Wyoming to improve their station in life. She marries and has more children and develops and loving group of friends. The whole story is told in the form of letters to a friend (employer lady) back in Denver. I enjoyed hearing about the o...more
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Mrs. Stewart's story from her own words! She was a woman ahead of her time...the kind of friend I would like to meet and get to know. Her straightforward way of writing mimics a private journal. Oh, to have been the recipient of her letters must have thrilled the proper turn of the century lady and made her long for a simpler life like that led by her friend, Elinore Pruitt Stewart.
Be advised that the letters reflect some of the prejudices of the time. Ms. Stewart,...more
Be advised that the letters reflect some of the prejudices of the time. Ms. Stewart,...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Share This Book
4 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“My brother Calvin is very sweet. God had to give him to us because he squealed so much he sturbed the angels. We are not angels so he dont sturb us.”
—
1 person liked it
More quotes…
31. Mai, 20:27 Uhr
01. Juni, 04:30 Uhr