Laura Elizabeth Ingalls aka Laura Ingalls Wilder

(7 February 1867 - 10 February 1957)

Author and Pioneer

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls was born 7 February 1867 in Pepin County, Wisconsin, to Caroline Lake Quiner and Charles Phillip Ingalls. Laura had an older sister, Mary, two younger sisters, Caroline "Carrie" and Grace, and an infant brother, Charles Frederic, who died just before he turned 10 months of age in 1886.

The family lived in several locations, including Montgomery County, Kansas (Indian Territory); Walnut Grove, Redwood County, Minnesota; Winneshiek County, Iowa; and settled in DeSmet, South Dakota.

Laura, as Laura Ingalls Wilder, wrote a beloved series of children's books lovingly referred to as "The Little House Books". The books were based on her family's pioneering adventures settling "the West". One book focuses on the children of her husband, Almanzo Wilder, and his family in Malone, Franklin County, New York.

Laura and Almanzo Wilder were married 25 August 1885 in DeSmet, Kingsbury County, South Dakota.Their daughter, Rose Wilder, was born 5 December 1886 in DeSmet. Rose would become known as Rose Wilder Lane, a well-known writer of her time. Their unnamed infant son was born 1 August 1889 and died 12 August 1889 in DeSmet where he is buried.


Additional information to follow.


Helpful links:

Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum - Mansfield, Missouri

Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society - DeSmet, South Dakota

Little House Books

Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum - Pepin, Wisconsin

Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum - Walnut Grove, Minnesota

Book - The Last Gunfight

by Jeff Guinn

The Real Story of the Shootout at the O. K. Corral - and how it changed the American West

The shootout actually took place at a location near the O. K. Corral (a small horse corral) in a vacant lot next to a photography studio.


Tombstone, Arizona Territory
26 October 1881

A deadly shootout erupted between lawmen Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp, Virgil Earp, Doc Holliday, and cowboys Billy Claiborne, Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury, Ike Clanton, and Billy Clanton.

Virgil Earp was the Town Marshal, his brother Morgan was the Assistant Town Marshal, and their brother Wyatt had been named temporary lawman. They were aided by friend Doc Holliday whom Virgil had designated a temporary marshal.

The cowboys were two sets of brothers, the Clantons and the McLaurys, and their friend Billy Claiborne.


The book includes family backgrounds as well as the settlement of Tombstone.

The author attempts to separate the myths from facts of this famous incident which lasted about 30 seconds.

It also includes photographs of early Tombstone and of the members of the Earp, Clanton, and McLaury families, plus Doc Holliday. A map of Tombstone and a general location map are also included.

 Tombstone, Arizona Territory

1881

Tombstone Historic District

Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990)

Queen of the Frontier
stars as notorious Jessica Drummond of Arizona Territory
in

 Forty Guns (1957)

First Daily Newspaper Published by a Woman

Elizabeth Mallet was said to be the first person to publish a daily newspaper. In March 1702, Miss Mallet established and published the Daily Courant in London, England.

She founded the newspaper for the purpose of doing greater justice for women through the elimination of impertinences in the other newspapers of the time.

New Orleans States

New Orleans, Louisiana

7 September 1921

Page 6, Column 2

Tips for Stagecoach Travelers, 1877

Scenes from The Big Valley, "Last Stage to Salt Flats", Season 2, Episode 12

Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Long, and Lee Majors

Tips For Stagecoach Travelers


The best seat inside a stage is the one next to the driver.  Even if you have a tendency to sea-sickness when riding backwards you’ll get over it and will get less jolts and jostling.  Don’t let any “sly elph” trade you his mid-seat.

In cold weather don’t ride with tight-fitting boots, shoes, or gloves.  When the driver asks you to get off and walk do so without grumbling, he won’t request it unless absolutely necessary.  If the team runs away...sit still and take your chances.  If you jump, nine out of ten times you will get hurt.  In very cold weather abstain entirely from liquor when on the road, because you will freeze twice as quickly when under its influence.

Don’t growl at the food received at the station...stage companies usually provide the best they can get.

Don’t keep the stage waiting.  Don’t smoke a strong pipe inside the coach.  Spit on the leeward side.  If you have anything to drink in a bottle pass it around.  Procure your stimulants before starting, as “ranch” (stage depot) whiskey is not “Nectar.”

Don’t lean or lop over neighbors when sleeping.  Take small change to pay expenses.  Never shoot on the road, as the noise might frighten the horses.  Don’t discuss politics or religion.

Don’t point out where murders have been committed, especially if there are woman passengers.

Don’t lag at the washbasin.  Don’t grease your hair, because travel is dusty.  Don’t imagine for a moment that you are going on a picnic.  Expect annoyances, discomfort, and some hardships.

                                    ---- Omaha Herald, 1877

Courtesy of the El Dorado Historical Museum, Placerville, California

Nannita Regina H. Daisey

also known as Kentucky Daisey

(1855 - 1903)

An Oklahoma Land Run Pioneer Woman

Nannita Regina H. Daisey was born in Pennsylvania and orphaned at a young age.  She was educated by and lived in the Sisters of the Good Shepherd Convent in St. Louis, Missouri.

She worked as a teacher in Kentucky and began a journalism career there fighting against the common gender discrimination against women seeking professional careers at the time.  Eventually she moved to Oklahoma and participated in four Land Runs.  She was active in the Guthrie, Oklahoma, where she resided, helping to initiate schools in new towns and assisting other women to claim homesteads.

Kentucky Daisey married a Scandinavian immigrant and United States Army soldier, Andreas E. J. Ueland Svegeborg.  They were no children born to the marriage.

On 4 July 2007 (Independence Day) the town of Edmond, Oklahoma, unveiled a statue of Nannita Daisey, depicting her leaping from the cowcatcher at the front of a train. The statue, named "Leaping into History", was sculpted by the local artist, Mary Lou Gresham. It's estimated cost was $250,000 and was funded by the Edmond Parks Foundation, Inc., plus some centennial money and private donations.   The statue stands 13 feet tall and 26 feet long and is made of bronze and Oklahoma red granite.

Additional info to be added soon.

Books about Women in the Old West

Read about the women of the American Wild West

Frontier Women

by

Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith

96 pages

Barnes & Noble Books, New York, USA (1996)

ISBN 0-7607-0102-4

Daughters of the West

by Anne Seagraves

175 pages

Wesanne Publications, Hayden, Idaho, USA (1996)

ISBN 0-9619088-5-8

America’s Wild West

by the Editors of  Time-Life Books

Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, USA

Trails:  Toward a New Western History

Edited by Patricia Nelson Limerick, Clyde A Milner II, and Charles E. Rankin

University Press of Kansas, USA (1991)

ISBN 0-7006-0500-2

Euphemia A. Hill - Rancher of Calaveras County, California

Euphemia Ann Hill and her husband, Hugh Lawson White "Lawson" Hill established, in 1855, a prosperous ranch in Camanche, Calaveras County, California, not far from Stockton.  The town closest to the ranch was originally called Limerick before the Hill family moved there.  By 1849, it was renamed Camanche.

She and Lawson arrived in California with their young son, Jesse, from Arkansas where Jesse had been born.  Euphemia and Lawson were natives of Warren County, Tennessee.  Also moving west with them was Euphemia's brother, Pleasant H. Hill.

Euphemia was a daughter of Cornelia Smart and Jesse Pleasant Hill.  Lawson was a son of Elenor Hyman Morgan and Ervin Hill.  Euphemia and Lawson were first cousins once removed.

The children of Euphemia and Lawson were:  Jesse Jerome Hill, born in 1850 in Lawrence County, Arkansas; John H. Hill, born in 1855 in Calaveras County, California; and Francis Irving Hill, known as "Irving", born in 1857 in Calaveras County, California.

Lawson Hill was murdered in 1861.  He is interred in Pioneer Cemetery, San Andreas, Calaveras County.

After the death of Lawson, age 35 years old, Euphemia took over the care and running of their enormous estate, Hill Ranch.  She was about 30 years old with small children under age 12.


Hill Ranch was not far from the Shenandoah Valley, home to the oldest Zinfandel vineyards in the country.  It existed from 1855 until 1931, was over 1,000 acres in size, and the Mokelumne River ran through the expansive Hill Ranch.

Euphemia, who ran the ranch, became known as "Auntie Hill".  Buhach, an insect powder made from a plant, was manufactured on Hill Ranch.  She entered into a contracted partnership with G. N. Milco to cultivate the Chrysanthemum Turreanum plant to be sold as "Milco's Universal Insect Exterminator".  After the termination of the partnership, Euphemia ran the business for many years.  Her surviving child, Irving Hill, remained with her on the ranch into old age.

Her older sons died in young adulthood:  Jesse died in 1874 at age 25; John died the following year in 1875 at age 19.  Euphemia died in 1910 at age 81, and son Irving died in 1932, circa age 75.  Jesse and John were originally buried in Dorsey-Holman-Ostermann Cemetery, Camanche, Calaveras County, California,  but were removed and re-interred in Lodi Memorial Cemetery, Lodi, San Joaquin County, California, in February 1962.  Euphemia and Irving were originally buried in Hill Cemetery, Comanche, but were later re-interred in Lodi Cemetery.


Today, the Hill Ranch property lies at the bottom of Lake Camanche.  The ranch's history is noted in a California state historical marker located in Camanche South Shore Park, at Camanche Reservoir.


The Barkley family of television's The Big Valley (1965 - 1969) was reportedly based on the Hill family of Hill Ranch.  The fictional Barkley Ranch, vast in size, was supposed to be much larger than the real life Hill Ranch.

Elizabeth Simpson of England, twice-widowed, crossed the American West on foot

Elizabeth Simpson was born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, daughter of Ann Briggs and Thomas Simpson, of the clockmaking Simpsons, inventors of the grandfather clock.  She was christened at the Bolton Parish Church on the 10th of February 1808.  The Simpsons had originally hailed from Yorkshire, but settled in Lancashire where they owned large clock and timepiece factories.

Elizabeth and her brothers and sisters were orphaned at an early age, and their childhood history has been lost to time.

Elizabeth married her first husband, William Haigh, in 1836, in England.  She bore two children:  Sarah Ann Haigh and Samuel Haigh.  Tragically, her husband died in 1840, leaving her alone with two youngsters.  Not long following the death of her husband, she converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), and was abused and persecuted by relatives and friends for joining the religion.

She met and later married another LDS member, Richard Bradshaw, on 11 March 1844.  Elizabeth gave birth to  more children:  Robert Bradshaw, Isabella Jane "Bella Jane" Bradshaw, Jonathan Bradshaw, suffering the loss of one son at birth.   Elizabeth lost her second husband to death circa December 1849 or January 1850.  The twice-widowed mother gave birth to another son, Richard Paul Bradshaw, sometime after the death of husband number two.

In May 1856, after much work and long waiting, Elizabeth and her children (ages 6 - 19) set sail aboard the Horizon for America.  The ship docked in Boston, Massachusetts, where she and the children boarded a train to Iowa.  It was here that she put her belongings into a handcart and began the long, 1300-mile trek to Utah, on foot, with more than 560 other like-minded individuals.

Along the way, they buried many of their follow trekkers, including children, made camp in the open, hiked through snow, forged waterways, experienced exposure, and disease.  They arrived in Salt Lake City on November 30th, 145 members fewer than when they started out.  Elizabeth and all her children arrived together and stayed in Bountiful, Utah, for six years, before moving to Hyrum, Utah, in 1862.  Elizabeth Simpson Haigh Bradshaw died there on 24 October 1872 and is buried in the Hyrum City Cemetery.

You can read more about this courageous and determined woman and her family at these links:

As told by Elizabeth's granddaughter, Sarah Astle Call

I'll Never Let Go

On The Road To Zion

Elizabeth's Find A Grave Memorial

Cattle Queen of Montana

 Barbara Stanwyck as Sierra Nevada Jones

Cattle Queen of Montana (1954)
Starring
Barbara Stanwyck
Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan and Barbara Stanwyck

Stanwyck plans Sierra Nevada Jones, a woman who must fight to save her property and cattle business against ruthless neighbors, landgrabbers, and hired killers.  An American western with lots of cowboys, Indians, bad guys, and an undercover agent played by Reagan.

Watch the trailer 

Brief Summary of Women Who Tamed the West...

and some who terrorized it.

Here's a link where some famous and infamous women of the Old West are listed and briefly described.
 
Women of the West

In honor of Barbara Stanwyck, who loved westerns

In Memory of

Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990)

First Lady of the Frontier

"The Big Valley" (1965-1969)

In memory of Barbara Stanwyck, who always wanted to portray the strong, courageous women of America's Old West days.  In her honor, and in remembrance of women who were early settlers of the West, this site is dedicated.

Barbara Stanwyck portrayed the rugged Victoria Barkley on the ABC TV series, The Big Valley, for four years, 1965 - 1969.  The series also starred Richard Long, Peter Breck, Lee Majors, Linda Evans, Napoleon Whiting, and Charles Briles (1965-1966).

Miss Stanwyck also starred in western movies and a few western episodes of her anthology TV series, The Barbara Stanwyck Show (1960-1961), plus episodes of the anthology series, Zane Grey Theater (1958-1959) and an episode of Rawhide (1962).  Her western movies included:  Cattle Queen of Montana (1954), The Violent Men (1955), The Maverick Queen (1956), and Forty Guns (1957).

The first season and half of the second season are available on DVD.
The Big Valley is currently airing weekdays on Me-TV.

Books Concerning the Future

Exo-Vaticana
by Thomas Horn and Cris Putnam
Published by Defender, 2013
Crane, Missouri, USA



Petrus Romanus:  The Final Pope is Here
by Thomas Horn and Cris Putnam
Published by Defender, 2012
Crane, Missouri, USA


Petrus Romanus Free Library DVD Set
Bonus CD from some sellers with the purchase of the book Petrus Romanus
includes Kindle and PDF books, plus video & audio files


The Harbinger
by Jonathan Cahn
Published by Front Line, 2011
Lake Mary, Florida, USA

Spychips:  How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Purchase and Watch Your Every Move

by Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntire
Published by Plume (Penguin), 2006
New York, New York, USA



1984
by George Orwell
Published by Harcourt Inc., 1949
Signet Classics, New American Library, Penguin Group, July 1950
(continuous ongoing printings around the world)



We
by Eugene Zamiatin (Yevgeny Zamyatin)
Published by E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1924, 1952, 1959
New York, New York, USA



Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
Published by Harper & Brothers, 1932
Perennial Classics, 1998
New York, New York, USA



Brave New World Revisited
by Aldous Huxley
Published by Harper & Row Publishers, 1958
Perennial Library, 1965, 1989
New York, New York, USA