Growing Up with the Country: Childhood on the Far Western Frontier

Histories of the American Frontier Series

by Elliott West

Historians have paid little attention to the lives and contributions of children who took part in westward expansion. In this major study of American childhood, now available again in paperback, Elliott West explores how children helped shape--and in turn were shaped by--the frontier experience. Frontier children's first vivid perceptions of the new country, when deepened by their work, play, and exploration, forged a stronger bond with their surroundings than that of their elders. Through diaries, journals, letters, novels, and oral and written reminiscences, West has reconstructed the lives of the children who grew to become the first truly Western generation.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Westerns, American History

343 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

A specialist in the history of the American West, Elliott West is Alumni Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Arkansas. He received his B.A. from the University of Texas (1967) and his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado (1971). He joined the U of A faculty in 1979. Two of his books, Growing Up With the Country: Childhood on the Far-Western Frontier (1989) and The Way to the West: Essays on the Central Plains (1995) received the Western Heritage Award. The Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to Colorado (1998) received five awards including the Francis Parkman Prize and PEN Center Award. His most recent book is The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story (2009).

In 1995 West was awarded the U of A Teacher of the Year and the Carnegie Foundation‘s Arkansas Professor of the Year. In 2001 he received the Baum Faculty Teaching Award, and in 2009 he was one of three finalists for the Robert Foster Cherry Award recognizing the outstanding teacher in the nation.

Reviews

[Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elliott West’s book Growing Up With The Country was published in 1989, and it remains the most in-depth analytical work on the topic. The chapters are organized by theme, examples: “Child’s Work,” “Child’s Play,” and “A Great School House.” This allows Growing Up With The Country to be the most emblematic text of what one would like to read when searching for a text about childhood on the American frontier. However, the clarity of West’s writing is somewhat challenged by his organization of space. Many of the chapters analyze trends on the trail west, during travel, in conjunction with trends on the established, sedentary frontier. Still, this underscores his point that migration was a re-occurring process, especially across generations. Additionally, West does not focus on geographic divisions between regions of the west. In terms of his social analysis, he divides the frontier into agricultural and mining communities.

One especial fear emerges from West’s study: the fear of the vastness of the territory, and the potential to be lost, left behind, or even taken. While the landscape awed adults, who had a more developed reference for comparison; for children, it was even more overwhelming. This was similar to their fear of death, which surrounded them. “Children knew that in death they would be left behind, alone in a strange land.” By beginning with a chapter on “perceptions,” West is able to frame the experience of going west and living on the frontier in a very relatable way. Though most modern readers cannot truly comprehend the vastness of the space, in a way, they can relate to the experience of being a child in the face of the unknown. Perhaps his emphasis on “universal experiences,” is not just a method for historical comparison but to bring the reader into the narrative. After all, fears are not always rational.

Work provides the main aspect of differentiation for life between children and adults in Growing Up With The Country. Historians (in particular, Philippe Ariès) have long challenged themselves by the distinctions societies make between children and adults, with an eye towards finding what makes a child. For West, the division in labor is the most natural way to draw distinctions between adults and children. Frontier living, especially for agriculturists, necessitated a wide range of tasks. Children were also took up the low-paying roles that adults shunned. This meant that their wages were not merely important to their family’s income, but that children were vital to local economies with labor shortages. West argues that children’s “adaptability” to changing environments and changing work demands was the most important component of their contribution to the family and to the development of the American west.

Children played especially important roles in the care of family livestock. “The lesson of the trails—that children could take on virtually the full care of animals—was taught again and again on the frontier.” West also demonstrates that children explored relationships with farm animals, traditional domestic pets (i.e. cats, dogs), and even the occasional wild animal. In their assigned roles as livestock herders, often on horseback, children were prompted to go out into the vast expanse of the frontier. “Children on horseback had a freedom of movement and sense of power they could find no other way. Their familiarity with the animals and their seasoned skills gave them a special pride.” Therefore children might have a more intimate knowledge of the local landscape than their parents.

One of the most interesting aspects of work explored by West is the gendered and age-specific interaction with the landscape. This has special significance for young girls. After the freedom of their early years, women were expected to take on the more skillful indoors work involved with running a household, such as cooking and sewing clothes.

In the chapter on play in Growing Up With The Country, West responds to what is a very child-oriented topic and makes it serve his argument about work as the dividing boundary between childhood and adulthood. West defines play among four different purposeful categories: exploratory; “making work into play”; formal games that were quite similar to those played by American children across the country; and the play encouraged by adults that had a motive of forming children into model adults who would perform the proper gendered adult roles. This chapter in particular manages to bridge the geographical gap between the Eastern society left behind and the frontier that was being built. West’s argument is convincing; frontier children’s play is a continuation of the values of the homes and societies left back East, but play and the games themselves are transformed because of the resources available to children as well as the different expectations frontier parents had for their children’s futures. West’s chapter on play proves that the intersection between work and play was a part of frontier childhood as well as a necessary part of training frontier children to lead productive adult lives.

[Lisa Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tough topics, kind of long.
Good for school because it's apparent that West uses the sources very diligently, you can tell when something is part of an interview, etc. -- lots of primary sources.

[Caleb Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

My wife and I read this book aloud to each other—imagine, a history book that reads well ALOUD!—and absolutely loved it. West (an ironic name, given his subject matter) is an excellent historian, working original sources and research into an engaging, illustrative narrative about the experiences of the children of America's far-western pioneers, and their importance to American history as a whole. (Warning: Ch. 9, on child mortality on the far-western frontier, is not for the faint of heart.) I hope to read West's The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story (his most acclaimed work) later.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, this one is a must-read for history buffs, especially for Western-frontier history buffs. And even more than that for history buffs who like to get a fresh up-close view of a historical period and place. And you know what-- if you hang around with youngsters or take them on road trips, you could instruct and pretty much thrill them with the information this book provides! It tells exactly what it was like for very young people to leave their settled homes and travel thousands of miles across rough country to the unknown West-- and what their new lives were like when they arrived. What they ate, what they wore, how they worked, played, and learned-- it's all here in fascinating detail.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike the typical social-history book, typically written from an adult male point of view, this book looks at the lives of children and how they experienced their travels and growing up in the frontier. I could read this book over and over again as it is amazing how differently children percieved their lives - especially the younger ones who really didn't remember anything different than what they experienced. A great read for anyone who is interested in the lives of people over a century ago.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A look @ how moving out west formed a new generation of strong, independent thinkers. Children had to be sturdy & resilient to survive both the journey to the frontier, & the difficulties they encountered there.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorites--looking at the settling of the West through a child's eyes is a very different story indeed. This is a classic.

[Virginia Pilegard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating! A book I read over and over again.