You haven't asked about my wedding or what I wore : poems of courtship on the North American frontier / by Jana Harris.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Harris, Jana, 1947- author.

Contributor:

University of Alaska Press, publisher.

Caroline F. Schimmel Collection of Women in the American Wilderness (University of Pennsylvania)

Schimmel, Caroline F., donor, associated name.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women pioneers--Poetry.

Women pioneers.

Marriage--Poetry.

Marriage.

Courtship--Poetry.

Courtship.

Frontier and pioneer life--West (U.S.)--Poetry.

Frontier and pioneer life.

Frontier and pioneer life--Canada, Western--Poetry.

Western Canada.

West United States.

Genre:

Poetry.

Penn Provenance:

Schimmel, Caroline F. (donor) (Schimmel Collection copy)

Physical Description:

xvi pages, 2 unnumbered pages, 142 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Other Title:

Poems of courtship on the North American frontier

You have not asked about my wedding or what I wore

Place of Publication:

Fairbanks : Snowy Owl Books, an imprint of University of Alaska Press, [2014]

Summary:

"Nowhere / on these parchment leaves do I find / myself, my likeness, my name, / not a whisper -- Cynthia -- not one / breath of me." For thirty years, poet Jana Harris researched the diaries and letters of North American pioneer women. While the names and experiences of the authors varied, Harris found one story often connected them: their most powerful memories were of courtships and weddings. They dreamed of having a fine wedding while they spent their lives hauling water, scrubbing floors, and hoping for admirers. Many married men that they hardly knew. Based on primary research of nineteenth-century frontier women, Harris uses poetry to resurrect a forgotten history. She captures the hope, anxiety, anger, and despair of these women through a variety of characters and poetic strategies, while archival photographs give faces to the names and details to the settings. Harris's meticulous research and stirring words give these pioneer women a renewed voice that proves the timelessness of the hopes and fears of love and marriage.

Contents:

The Gift of a Found Half Moon / Mary Hallen, Western Ontario, Canada, 1850 Canada, Mary Hallen, Western Ontario, 1850 1

Typus Orbis Terrarum / Lucy Thompson, Second Wife of Rev. Jason Lee, 1839 Lee, Lucy Thompson, Second Wife of Rev. Jason, 1839 2

(A Mighty Fortress Is Our God) 6

Considering Her Answer to a Letter Sent By Emigrant, Addressed: "Catherine Sager, Somewhere in Oregon" 7

Catherine Sager Pringle, age 19, December 21, 1854, Salem, Oregon Territory

While Preparing to Ride to a Cayuse Village of New Converts Inundated by Measles, Dr. Marcus Whitman Inventories His Pack Horse's Bags While Considering: Which Sermon, Which Psalms, Which Prayers near Ft. Walla Walla, Oregon Country, November 1847 14

Lament of the Slatted Sunbonnets Kate Thomas (b. 1841) 16

(Every Stormy Wind That Blows) 24

Cloth / Elizabeth Millar Wilson (b. 1830), The Dalles, Oregon 25

The Doll / Marianne Hunsaker Edwards D'Arcy (b. 1842), Oregon City City, Marianne Hunsaker Edwards D'Arcy (b. 1842), Oregon 30

The Stove: Martha Gay Masterson Remembers October 28, 1852 Eugene, Oregon Territory 33

Brother Churchianity's Garden / Matilda Sager Delaney (b. 1839) Delaney, Matilda Sager, (b. 1839) 37

An Answer for Mr. Anderson: Sarah Jane Sturgess, age 13 1/2, 1851, near Ft. Vancouver, Oregon Territory 42

That Long Looked-For Day: Elder Edgerton's Confidential Advice to Courting Gentlemen, Western Ontario, Canada, 1862 45

"Verbena Tea and Dill Hinder Witches of Their Will": The Jottings of Granny Wintersteen, undated 47

Cynthia, Judge Stafford's First Wife: Auburn (Baker County), Oregon, March 24, 1863 48

About These Trumpeters That Line My Walls / Elizabeth Shepard Holtgrieve (b. 1840) Holtgrieve, Elizabeth Shepard, (b. 1840) 53

Mrs. Darby, Third Cousin to a Royal Confectioner, Gives Advice on Baking a Wedding Cake Modeled after the Spire atop London's St. Bride's Church-for Fifty Guests including Keepsakes, Spokane, Washington Territory, 1859 56

The Brides of Christ Consider the Hunger of 100 Children, the 40 Sick, and Many Old Men Who Linger without Relative or Memory: Mother Joseph of the Sacred Heart to Sister Mary of the Precious Blood, Mission of the Sisters of Providence, Ft. Vancouver, Washington Territory, 1864 58

The Widow: Her Song without Words, sans Piano / Elizabeth Paschal Dillon Gay (b. 1838) Gay, Elizabeth Paschal Dillon, (b. 1838) 63

At First, Judge Bacon was Reluctant to allow his Daughter to be Courted by the Son of a Blacksmith 67

(Jesus et Marie, ma force et ma gloire) 68

The Matter of the Raspberries: Mother Veronica of the Crucifix Petitions the Bishop of Montreal, St. Mary's Academy, Portland, Oregon, 1865 69

(Je Mets Ma Confiance) 72

How We Got On / Reverend T. L. Jones (b. 1841), Portland, Oregon Oregon, Reverend T. L. Jones (b. 1841), Portland, 75

The Grass Hunter / Justin Gibson, 1867 Gibson, Justin, 1867 79

On the Second Through Train: The Widow Jones (Sarah Ann Givens) Recalls Her Honeymoon, May 10, 1869 84

The Gift of Granny Wintersteen: New Harmony, Kansas, 1869 86

Lucy Ann Shows Off Her Scrapbook and Talks about the Art of Regulating Temperatures / Lucy Ann Henderson Deady (b. February 26, 1835) Deady, Lucy Ann Henderson, (b. February 26, 1835) 87

Kelp: Lucy Stevens, Ocean House, Newport, Oregon, 1875 92

Gifted to Miss Lydia Corum upon her Marriage to Anderson Deckard: Amanda Gardener Johnson (b. 1833, Slave State of Missouri), Albany, Oregon 95

As Granny Wintersteen Unpacks Her Midwife's Case, She Realizes That She Has Forgotten Her Collapsible Shovel Used for Sterilizing Linens by Fire: Boise, 1877 99

Kloh-Kloh: Lotta Gilham's Mother Talks about the Early Years, Tillamook Country, Oregon, 1870s 100

Cutting Her Out from the Flock: Wagonwheel George, Cold Creek, Montana 1888 104

A Good Many Brides Today Are a Pampered Self-Indulgent Lot: Fidelia Munson, near Boise, 1893 107

Ida Mae Recalls the Broken Plates of Her China Anniversary: Mrs. William Dutton (b. 1860), Heppner, Oregon 109

(How Firm a Foundation) 113

You Haven't Asked about My Wedding or What I Wore: Belle Bishop (b. 186-), Pendleton, Oregon 114

(Abide with Me) 117

Brown Cloth-Covered Diary of Memoranda & Cash Accounts: Emily French, Denver, 1890 118

A Bridesmaid's Tale: Minnie Griffith Gupton, 1893 121

If No Impediment Shall Be Alleged: The Gift of Aunt Rebecca Miller, 1893 124

(Oh Promise Me) 126.

Notes:

"These dramatic monologues -- part biography, part history, and part invented memoir -- are my interpretations of how 'average' nineteenth-century women and children felt about matters of courtship and marriage"--Afterword.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 141-142).

Local Notes:

Schimmel Collection copy presented to the Penn Libraries in 2016 by Caroline F. Schimmel.

ISBN:

9781602232358

1602232350

OCLC:

870210939

Publisher Number:

40024021463