Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey

by Lillian Schlissel

An expanded edition of one of the most original and provocative works of American history of the last decade, which documents the pioneering experiences and grit of American frontier women.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Biography, Memoir, Womens, Historical

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Lillian Schlissel is professor emerita of Brooklyn College-CUNY, where she was director of American studies. Her books include Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey; Far From Home: Families of the Westward Journey, written with Byrd Gibbens and Elizabeth Hampsten, Western Women, Their Land, Their Lives; and Western Women’s Reader (with Catherine Lavender). Schlissel is a member of the editorial board of Studies in American Jewish Literature and is working on a history of five women of American vaudeville.

(from http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/author/sc...)

Reviews

[Jessaka · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this book, it appeared to me that very few women wanted to leave their homes and go by wagon train to Oregon or California. Then once on this trip, it didn’t seem likely that they could turn around and head back home, not unless they had a lot of other families following. The women went because, well, it was their duty to their husbands. I can think of a lot o biblical scriptures that support this. It was their men who wanted to go for an adventure, for land, or to go to California to pan for gold.

When you tread these diaries of the women who were on these wagon trains, you get a feeling that the trip was more about accidents, sickness and death. They often wrote pages of the of the graves they saw, and it went like this:

June 10th, Passed 4 graves.
June 14, passed 12 graves.
June 20, Passed 10 graves.

And on and on. People were dying of cholera, if not from smallpox or Mountain Fever, which I learned by googling, was Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Fever.

I have always romanized pioneer life, not really realizing many of the hardships. Sure I have read this kind of book before, but this was one the best ones I had read. And for some reason it was more eye opening.

Starvation, maybe being killed by Indians, the lack of water, and so forth, does not interest me. If I lived back then, the furthest I would want to travel west would be to the edge of a town after living in its center. But even so, back then the edge of town may have proved to be too dangerous.

I believe my idea of pioneer life comes closer to being a hippie in the 70s and living on a commune where you did your best to grow your own food and etc, which was a life that if you grew tired of it or it didn’t work for some other reason, you could easily leave and go home or get a job in town.

[Kate Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever wonder why 19th-century American women who were reasonably comfortable in their lives would want to leave loved ones behind, perhaps forever, and endure the considerable dangers and hardships of the westward migration to Oregon or California? Well, they didn't want to--the author quotes their actual words to make the case that most went only because fathers or husbands insisted. Girls, most of whom married in their mid-teens, and their mothers really didn't have a choice. They also didn't get any postponement if they were pregnant or had young children; women were just expected to make do, even when it meant giving birth in open country with no support and traveling on the next day. And it often meant losing a loved one, child or adult, through accident or disease, who would probably have lived had they never set out on the trail. Particularly dangerous were the numerous river crossings and periodic outbreaks of cholera.
The author has woven together the accounts of many women so that, unlike reading a lengthy diary containing much tedium, we get just the highlights and can easily compare one woman's experience with another's. This very readable approach is heightened by the accompanying photographs of most of the women, so we can look into their eyes. These are amazing and unforgettable accounts.

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you just want to read the diaries, you can skip the first 160 pages of feminist rhetoric and read the last 50 pages of the book.

Lillian Schissel has combed through hundreds of diaries to make her point that pioneer women were reluctant to leave their homes in the East, but were forced to succumb to the “outrageous folly thrust upon them by obedience to patriarchal ritual.” (p. 15) There is “girl power” all the way through as she comments offhandedly that the women were less afraid of the Indians than the men. She highlights several women who became financially independent upon reaching California. Yet she is confused that though the women had to be tough as nails to go out west, “they clung almost possessively to their traditional roles.” (p. 4)

The irony is that when you read the actual diary entries that she includes, you see none of her preconceived notions of women who went out West kicking and screaming against male dominance. Yes, they missed their homes and families, but Schissel seems unable to believe that these women could treasure such ties without at the same time resenting their husbands. She doesn’t seem to make the connection that this valuing of community was what caused these women to ensure that there were schools and churches for their children and families once they reached their destination. Even Schlissel is forced to admit that “there was a momentous outpouring of energy and determination [from the women] that went into making settlements out of wilderness.” (p. 149)

Two books that I recommend that are less message-laden are: Hearts West by Chris Enss, and Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinor Pruitt Steward.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love books like this--excerpts from actual diaries of women who traveled to Oregon & California from the east. Plus, the editor had really done her research on these 94 women, to the extent of adding notes that made their difficult situations even more enlightening. For example, when Amelia Stewart White writes of having to climb out of the wagon to make it lighter and stumble for 3 miles through mud, over rocks, and being slapped by branches, she fails to mention that she is eight months pregnant and also carrying her two year old! By the time I finished this book, I swore I would never whine about household inconveniences again.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up because I love reading about history (or Herstory in this case.) The women's diaries were very interesting, but less than half of the book is devoted to them. The first half reads like poorly organized notes for a college paper. I was surprised that it was written by a Professor Emerita. I had to force myself to keep reading until I got to the diaries. I did enjoy the diaries and glimpses into lives that I could only imagine. I know I would not have had the fortitude to make that journey.

[Shara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though uncomfortably silent on the impact westward expansion had on the people already living there, I loved this book. First hand accounts of life on the prairie, carefully edited into a compelling and readable package (because, face it, most people's journals -- my own included -- can be kind of rubbish). A woman's experience of the west is vastly different from what we see in films, and this book is a good reminder that the next time you see John Wayne rock up to the farm house table, you better think about who fed and watered the cow, milked it, and the churned the butter to make those damn biscuits. And who got every morning without fail to feed the chickens that laid the eggs. And who saved every scrap to feed the pig to make the bacon. It's all very well going out on some wild western adventure, but women carried the burden of getting food on the table in the middle of Nowhere-ville, Barely-even-the-usa-yet and it was a monumentally heroic undertaking... And yet their are no monuments.

[Jenifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written more from an anthropological point-of-view than from a diaries themselves, this book makes many interesting observations about the motivations and situations of women who traveled in the overland journey, whether seeking gold in California, land in Oregon, or just moving toward what they hoped would be a better future. They were overwhelmingly young and their lives were made so difficult by the choice (often not theirs) to move and travel in this fashion.

Interesting and informative.

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

Women made the trek possible while men took a lot of the credit.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dry read (felt like I was reading it for an 8th grade book report), but I learned some interesting tidbits. Of particular interest is the attitude towards pregnancy. The women don't even mention the pregnancies in their diaries until the child is born. There seemed to be this weird cult of silence/denial around the dangers of giving birth. A diarist will comment about how a woman died and her baby is just two days old, but they would never come out and say a woman died of childbirth. A defense mechanism to shield themselves from the harsh realities of the time? It was a woman's fate to have a bunch of babies, so why dwell on the danger.

This book is about two-thirds commentary and analysis, and the diaries fall at the end of the book.

[Trudy Stachowiak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first learned about this book when I read the credits from a 10,000 Maniacs CD. An excerpt from the book was the spoken introduction to the Gold Rush Brides.

The diary entries are from Women who traveled with their families west to find a better life. One of my favorite entries tells about how women retold events that happened on their journey different than men did. Men often made the events more dramatic than how the woman saw them.

Loved this book.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look into the experiences of women on the Oregon Trail. To my surprise, it's more commentary than actual diary. The commentary is very interesting and informative - just wasn't what I expected.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely interesting, however the stories got repetitive after a while. New names every page, they started to blur together. Totally appreciate the author’s research efforts to pull together all of these journals of such an incredible journey across the US.

[Einar Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

In her introduction to Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey, Lillian Schlissel wrote, “Some attempt is made to include the experience as a black women, many of whom went west to slaves.” Her attempt was weak at best. She included a photo of Clara Brown and a single paragraph on her remarkable life. But that paragraph overlooked some of the most important, amazing aspects of that life, including owning property and what would become Clear Creek County, Colorado. Otherwise, she focused her attention on white women, but with the mistakes she made on Brown’s life, I wonder what other mistakes are woven into the text.

The book is valuable as a collection of primary sources. The book is not valuable as an interpretation of those primary sources. Countless times she wrote about pioneers’ experiences with “Indians,” suggesting all indigenous cultures were the same. Even the women writing the diary entries distinguished between cultures. Schlissel may not have had that awareness in 1982 when she wrote the book initially, but she should have when she expanded the book initially 1992.

If you read this book, read it critically.

[Cami Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather dense read but a good resource (although perhaps not a great one).

The commentary at the beginning was good and made me consider some aspects of women’s experiences on the trails before—such as wanting to keep their petticoats and aprons neatly bleached and starched when they arrived to hold on to some semblance of traditional femininity.

The photographs and transcriptions of several diaries were an excellent resource.

[Wendy Cushing · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book in the Family Search Genealogy Library where I work and found it fascinating. These women went through so many hard situations in their lives. I love reading about life through the eyes of many different perspectives and really enjoyed these women's views of life on the dusty trail as they search to find a better life for their families.

[Annis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real eye-opener to the perils and conditions of traveling the overland trail in the 1850s and 1860s. Reading these first-hand accounts of women who made the perilous journey showed me again how little we know of women's strength, determination, abilities, and resilience. These women were not just "along for the ride". Reaching the destination was in large part due to their ability and willingness to hold everything together.

The book is in two parts. Part One: explanation and "research" with excerpts; Part Two: Large chunks of actual unedited diaries. Lots of informative footnotes throughout the book.

[Nancy Klarich · Rating 3 out of 5]

All I can say about these stories is that these women were so tough! All they endured during their adventure across country makes us “modern women” seem like babies. So much death, disease, and fear of the unknown. It is amazing that any made it to their final destinations.

While the diary entries were interesting, it could have been presented to the reader in a better manner.

[Sarah Merchant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to learn about personal female experiences during the westward journey, but a very slow read
The last part of the book consisting of individuals diaries was the best part of this read imo

[Gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was interesting and good but minus one star for not more fully exploring what black and indigenous women experienced at the time. I know that’s not the focus of the book but it would have been interesting to know and I wanted more.

[Haley Davenport · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was really slow and took me quite a while to get into. The last part of the book was the most interesting, where I was able to read the women’s diaries!

[Lynsey]

Got when we traveled out to Utah. Great inside view on the travels of women during those years.

[Candice Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was one story in here about a woman who went apeshit on her husband and set fire to their wagon because the Overland Trail was a godforsaken wasteland and it was HIS idea to go to Oregon, not hers. The fact that more women didn’t do the same from 1840-1860 shows their determination to make it work, whether it be farming, caring for their children, or staying with their mostly useless husbands.
Forget the men, it was the women who settled California and Oregon.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In reading their diaries we come closer to understanding how historical drama translates into human experience. Through the eyes of the women we begin to see history as the stuff of daily struggle.
- from the Introduction to Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey

A very random pickup at a library book sale that I thoroughly enjoyed. I appreciated the unedited primary source accounts as well as the authors chapters of synthesis and summation - each making up about 50% of the books length - as both portions filled in blanks left by the other. The picture of the westward journey is well painted by the collage of many (over 100) women's diaries and stories, though a few individuals stand out so strongly that I'd like to find another book on each - these include Rebecca Ketcham, Olive Oatman, and Clara Brown.

This book does contain a lot of raw information, but it is never dry. Its <300 pages are dramatic, exciting, heartbreaking, and fascinating. But do feel free to skip the useless foreward and preface, both written by guests who are clearly not experts in the topic they're writing about other than having read the book you're holding a little bit before you have.

update: I'm coming back to this review after having flipped through the book again and looked at the portions and passages I had highlighted throughout. This book is such a study on gratitude. These women face hardship after hardship, some that came in terrifying short bursts and some that lasted years, but there's a consistent through-line of gratitude for what little possessions and society they could call their own. "There was just enough roof to cover our beds table stove etc. but no queen was ever more happy than I was." - Rebecca Hildreth Nutting Woodson

"Upon the whole I enjoyed the trip, spite of its hardships and dangers and the fear and dread that hung as a pall over every hour. Although not so thrilling as were the experiences of many who suffered in reality what we feared, but escaped, I like ever other pioneer, love to live over again, in memory those romantic months, and revisit, in fancy, the scenes of the journey."
- from Catharine Haun's reminiscences of her own westward journey, some sixty years later.

[NaDell · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seemed to me as though this book took what was written in the diaries of a few women who came West in wagons and then the author twisted what they said to fit into her preconceived idea of how she thought women would have acted. There were several things that she talks about that just don't fit with how women acted back then with modern takes on them, mostly in the childbirth area. She talks about how a woman had a child six-seven months into the journey and how she must have known she was expecting before she left with her family (which at that time may or may not have been true). She decided that just because women didn't write about their pregnancies along the trail, that they just suffered in silence and didn't want to follow their husbands, when the reason many women (pioneers or not), just didn't talk about pregnancies either because they considered it inappropriate in polite company or they didn't want to count on their child living through infancy. That's not covered in her hypothesis though.
She talked often about how sad the women were on the trail and after they got to their new homes, based on what they wrote in their diaries and assumed that that meant they didn't want to go there in the first place, when really a little writing about the disappointments of expectations on the trail is to be expected.
I was disappointed that these diaries didn't take into account the thousands of Mormon pioneers who cheerfully (in general) trekked across the same paths to the West and their perspectives. Many, many more diaries could have been compiled with those included and a different viewpoint and conclusion may have been drawn from that.
I didn't like the set up of the book that has 'diaries' in the title with it mostly being introduction and history and a little section of a few diaries toward the back of the book.

While I did like reading some of the history and struggles many of the people had along the way and when they arrived, I just didn't agree with her conclusions and the way she interpreted the diaries she included in the book.

[Anica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not exactly what I was expecting, based on the title. There are women's diaries of the westward journey, but they're added to the back almost like an appendix (which wasn't clear in the introduction that that was the format). The majority of the book is the author summarizing with occasional excerpts from the diaries, almost like you would when writing a research paper for school.

The order also felt rather mushy. I made it through the first section (75 pages) before I gave up, and there's not a strong narrative throughout. She talks about a general thing, then gives an example of one woman's entire journey with a slight focus on the general thing, before switching to another woman and kind of doing the same thing. (For example, she might want to talk about how about how being pregnant wasn't really mentioned in the diaries, then will tell you about Mrs. Whoever left from this place at this age, saw these things, wrote about this, gave birth on this day, then arrived at this place in this situation. Then it would go to Mrs. Someone Else and the summary of her entire journey, with an extra few sentences on the childbirth part.)

The problem with this is that it doesn't carry that continuous thread throughout and just ends up jumbled. It could have been organized by the different legs of the trail, or more specific for each woman. Actually, organizing it by the subject like she kind of does would have been great too, but then make each section specifically about that thing and focus on it in a clear, easy to follow way. Everything was too summarized and I felt like I was reading the introduction the entire time.

That probably sounds all jumbled too, but that's what this book did to me. ;)

I'm sure the author researched the subject extensively and I don't doubt her knowledge, but her ability to convey that information is severely lacking. 1.5 stars.

[SusanwithaGoodBook · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reads mostly like a Ph.D. dissertation for a woman's studies professor, but it's not terrible. The women whose diaries she's researching were mostly traditional women who fully embraced their roles as wives, mothers, and keepers of the home. I was amused by how shocked she was that these women didn't mention pregnancy in their "private" diaries. Doesn't she realize these women were writing for posterity, children, and family records? Of course, they kept their private stuff private. They weren't modern women who had no shame. lol

In the first part of the book, Ms. Schlissel breaks down the travelers into three time periods to show how things changed (or were the same) over time. She analyzes the content and includes quotes and statistics to show how things were. Then there are a few pages of actual diaries from six women, which give you a true feel for how the diaries actually read. The final section is a table of info so you can compare each of the women she mentioned earlier.

By far the best thing about the book is all the photos. I love seeing the faces to put with the names, so I really appreciated the inclusion of so many photos scattered throughout.

My main takeaway: It's truly amazing what the settlers endured in their quest for a better life in the West, and the women, particularly, who had to deal with pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing all while trying to keep a family clean and fed had it particularly difficult. I found these stories fascinating and inspiring… and I think it's pretty obvious that our society is much weaker and whinier today. Haha

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

How anyone made it across the Oregon Road or Overland Pass is still a mystery to me. These people were incredibly strong willed and determined especially the women. I liked the book, however I would have liked to have read more of the actual diary entries. If your expecting a book containing many diaries you will be dissapointed. The book only contains 4 diaries and the rest you will see small snippets from others explaining certain situation that everyone faced as they made this trek. Their were 3 different migration treks that took places and each one a little different from the previous one. All 3 were very difficult, but in each trek lives were lost, people became sick, accidents were everywhere, and the Indians were a threat to the wagon parties.

[Noel]

Just paged through it and read one of the diaries. Well laid out, great photographs and heartbreaking stories.
It might take me a while to read this, but it is excellent information.

[Linda Boda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purchased this in Oregon while on vacation, as we traveled over the mountains and through the passes which the pioneers risked their lives to cross. Lillian Schlissel not only collected hundreds of diaries written between the 1840s-1860s, but she compared and synthesized them to get a better understanding of what it was really like for the women who came west. The first half of the book is her analysis and observations, and the last half is 4 actual diaries of women who completed the journey. Lots of good primary source material - highly recommend!

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit I finally had to shelve this one. It's very interesting. It reviews the journals of pioneering women. However, the reason I haven't finished it yet was : !. After awhile you need a pick me up from all that hardship, and 2. The author is constantly suggesting that the pioneer women were compelled to go by their thoughtless husbands. While I am sure there was some of that, I'd like to believe that there were some thoughtful, intelligent husbands back then.