Many strong and sturdy women accompanied their husbands and children on the Oregon Trail in the 1840s
and 1850s only to find themselves on isolated farms far from any neighbors once they arrived. What happened if the marriage was less than stable? If a handsome male drifter passed through offering a potential alternative path? If the wife simply could not take the pressures of frontier life? Join us to learn more about the unique and challenging conditions confronting Euro-American women in the early years of Oregon Territory’s history and how one woman took matters into her own hands.

Presented by :
Lissa Wadewitz, Associate Professor of History at Linfield College and new YCHS Board Member
Tom Mertes, Competitive Scholarship Advisor and Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Linfield

FREE – DONATIONS GLADLY ACCEPTED