A Life of Her Own: Five Tales of Homestead Women

by Mae Schick

A tar paper shack sits on 160 acres of partially cultivated land. Beside the shack stands a solitary woman, surveying the land she has yet to till. In five years she can own this land…if she can make it productive. And if she can outlast the acts of nature, the violent intruders, and jealous homesteader wives who threaten her claim. Inspired by the true stories of brave, single women who claimed frontier land as part of Abraham Lincoln’s Homestead Act of 1864. Follow the stories of five single women fighting for A Life of Their Own: pragmatic Mirna, scintillating Sophie, bright Nora, bewildered Lizzie, and enigmatic Mrs. Andersson. Will they be able to prove up their land? Can they thrive?

My first story is about Mirna, a single woman homesteader in Montana.
“Mirna watches from her rocker as night approaches. The horses are restless in the barn, and a chill wind blows through the cracks in the walls. She is 21 and the closest neighbor is a mile away. She checks that the cayenne powder meant to stop an intruder is on the shelf by the door.”

In town she overhears a conversation about homesteading, and discovers that thee only requirements for a female to take up land is to be twenty-one years of age, single and head of household. She heads to Montana where she builds a shack and establishes claims her land. The homesteading community immediately likes her so much, even though she is awkward and virtually silent. They seem to read into her what they need in their own lives. She is seen as a good listener, despite the fact that she is really just too shy to talk.
She discovers cloth sacks that have been discarded. She begins to collect and dye them and builds a small loom to make rugs.
A homeless dog appears at her door. He wins her heart when he chases a coyote out of the coop. She calls him Dog.
During the winter the wives come with their husbands curious about how Mirna’s simply crafted loom works. One of the men decides to build a more sophisticated loom, and with this new device she creates tapestries and colorful blankets.
What happens next as she sits in her rocker at night, with her dog at her side and a rifle in her lap?

191 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 30, 2015

About the author

I was born in Missoula in 1946 of parents who were ethnically Germans from Russia whose families left their farming communities north of the Black Sea in the early 1900s to escape the harshness of Czar Alexander, and resettled in and around Harried and Eureka SD. My father was a first generation immigrant, as were my mother’s parents. These farmers spoke German before English and were instilled with German values of hard work, which still persist in the Dakotas. Although the Homestead Acts came to a halt before I was born, I grew up among the “ancients” who had a part in this fascinating era of settling the West. Still today, on my morning walks on a farm road I occasionally meet up with a homesteading descendant who has a story or two about growing up on the ”old place.”

At the heart of my stories are relationships. Family, friends and lovers all have their parts to play. Some are problem-makers, others are gentle and loving, and some are fearful and abusive. As the characters reveal themselves in the stories, our protagonists discover ways to tap into unacknowledged strength and courage, and to seek the lives they are meant to live.

The stories I write arise from my passion to discover how my characters can lead me – and perhaps you, too – to empowerment with vulnerability, to a spirited independence, and to that place we each can call "our own". I love accounts of people who haven’t discovered their strength, and when confronted with challenging circumstances find their voice and power. I call them Hero Stories and believe a hero lies within each of us.

Reviews

[Elinor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compilation of five fictional stories, each published separately as well. The author took inspiration from references to real women homesteaders and imagined an episode from each one's life -- an older woman, a young women escaping from an abusive brother, an adventuresome individualist, etc. It's an entertaining, quick read although I would have preferred one woman's entire story rather than these vignettes.

[Maureenie Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a great read! I have always thought that I should have lived in the pioneer time. I dunno if I could gave started my own homestead, like Mirna did, but her life was interesting and very intense at times. you really get what life on the frontier was like from this book. I have read it twice now, and still love it.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartbreaking Reality

It is hard to read even these fictional tales based in reality and know the tough life that the women homesteaders faced in settling our state. Abuse, mental illness and pain were common. This compilation of short stories is easy to read, but when you see how they are interconnected, it makes more sense.

[Pat Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ebook

Very interesting account of women homesteading inMontana. Makes me want to read more of these stories and I will make sure to check them out.