It's March - National Women's History Month

 Post by Doris McCraw

writing as Angela Raines

Photo of Elizabeth Blackwell
from Wikipedia

As a child of the 60s, I grew up with a lot of change in women's status. Those times brought a need to prove that women could overcome whatever was thrown at them. For that reason, we told ourselves stories from both the present and the past of women who had overcome. It was not about man bashing as it has come to be known, but instead calling out the inequities of the situations.

Abzug, and Steinem, were some of the current heroines. Blackwell, Stanton, Mott, and Stone were those heroines from the past. Someone to look up to, aspire to be like was heady wine to the women who wanted to be seen as equals. But, like all history, sometimes the stories told weren't the whole story.

From NPS.gov

I will be talking on other blogs about the film "Roshomon" and its message. Suffice it to say, as the film illustrates, we tell the story we need to tell. (A simplified version of the lesson).

It was true Blackwell was admitted to college as a joke by the males of that all-male college. The part of the story left out by most was Blackwell's thoughts on the subject. In her autobiography, she mentions that what the men in the college thought, she didn't care. It was the way the women in the town treated her that she was hurt by. For me, that takes even more courage, standing up to the remarks of people who should be supporting you.

As women moved west they found new freedoms. While women doctors were shunned, especially back east, those who came west didn't seem to have it quite so bad. In Colorado, the medical society brought up the idea of admitting women in 1876. The American Medical Association admitted a woman to their ranks in 1874. 

As we tell our stories, it helps to know why we tell the story we do. For me, National Women's History Month is important. Each generation that is removed from the original idea, unless they face similar problems, forget what it was like. For me, telling the stories of these people is important as is the challenges they faced.

Have a great March and tell the stories you need to tell.

Doris McCraw

Amache 'Amy' Prowers - Between Two Worlds

Post by Doris McCraw

I took a day off and made a trip to Pueblo, Colorado, and the El Pueblo History Museum. In addition to the amazing "Children of Ludlow" exhibit, there was the "Borderlands of Southern Colorado". It was while wandering around the second listed exhibit that I was reacquainted with the fascinating and sometimes forgotten women of that region. Since March is National Women's History Month, what better time to highlight some of these women. For this post, I will be offering a brief overview of Amache 'Amy' Ochinee Prowers. I confess from the start, I will not be able to do this pioneer of life between Indians, American Settlers, and Spanish, the justice it deserves. I do, however, believe that telling even part of her story can bring others a bit of understanding of the world she lived in.

Amache was born into the Southern Cheyenne tribe sometime around 1846 to a leader in that tribe known as Ochinee or sometimes referred to as 'One-Eye'. On a side note, her father lost his life in the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, and William was quoted as saying he and the family were kept 'hostage' in their home at this time because of his Indian family. They were afraid he would communicate with the Indians at Sand Creek.

John W. Prowers-
Photo from Wikipedia

She married John Wesley Prowers in 1861, at the age of 15 or 16, after what could have been up to a three-year courtship. Prowers at the time was working as a trader for William Bent, at Bents Fort. After their marriage, they eventually moved to Boggsvsille, which is near to the Santa Fe Trail, in 1867. 

The couple had six to nine children, according to some records it says six others say nine. It is interesting to note that Amache spoke English and had lived for a brief time in John's hometown of Westport, Missouri, where she learned the tradition of white women wives. Although this may have been a trying time for Amache, these skills also helped her bridge the gulf between her people and the 'Americans' who were moving into the Colorado Territory. At the same time, she continued the language and customs of her own people. 

Amache 'Amy' Prowers -
Photo from Wikipedia

Amache and William who had been twenty-five at the time of his marriage worked together to build their business, which involved trading and ranching. The family moved to Las Animas, Colorado, in 1873. William served in the territorial and state legislature. 

William died in 1884 and Amache continued with the family business and raising her children. She remarried in 1891 to a man named Dan Keesee. She died in 1905 and was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2018. 

There is so much more to the story of this woman who helped bridge the conflicting and sometimes violent clashes of cultures.  For those who would like to learn more I give you the following links:

Amache Prowers - Find a Grave

Amache Prowers - Wikipedia

History Colorado - Understanding Amache

Post (c) Doris McCraw 2021

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Telling Stories Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books

Website: Angela Raines - author

 

 

WOMEN RANCHERS/HOMESTEADERS

Post by Doris McCraw
writing as Angela Raines

March is National Women's History Month, and March 1 is also National Horse Protection Day. What better to write about than women ranchers. Of course, once I decided to write on the subject the research began. There were women ranchers in the early days of Colorado history, but finding them does take a bit of work. I'll be writing about two of them.

Photo property of the author

I'll start with the one that caught my eye a few years back. In the 1879 Colorado Springs city directory a Mrs. R. Gamble was listed as a stock grower. While not technically a rancher, she piqued my interest. Mrs. Roxanna Gamble was a widow who had been born Roxanna Bentley in 1827 in Monongahela, Pennsylvania to Shesbazzar and Elizabeth Bentley. I've not found where or who she married, but she had a son names Shes and when her son was three, she was living with her parents again. She was only in the stock growing for a couple of years. She died in Colorado Springs in 1888 at the age of sixty-three.

Women like Teresita Sandoval in the early days of Colorado helped start towns, build ranches and leave their mark on the land they inhabited. Teresita married but left her husband for another man. These two moved to Colorado from what is now New Mexico and became part of Fort Pueblo life in the 1840s. In fact, the two of them were instrumental to the success of the fort in its early days. Teresita later ran the ranch her daughter inherited from her husband.   For more on this amazing woman here is a link to her life. Teresita Sandoval

Then there was this article in the Colorado Daily Chieftain in Pueblo, CO. from 1892:


Lastly, I found this information on 'women's work' in the August 18, 1893, Idaho Springs News, in Idaho Springs, Colorado.

How Women are Employed.

According to the last census, there are 110 women lawyers in the United States and 165 women ministers, 320 women authors, 588 women journalist, 2,061 artist, 2,136 architects, 2,106 stock raisers and ranchers, 5,135 government clerks, 2,438 physicians and surgeons, 13,182 professional musicians, 56,800 professional farmers and planters, 21,071 clerks and bookkeepers, 14,463 heads of commercial houses and 155,000 women schoolteachers.

To put it in perspective the population in the United States in 1890 was 62,979,766 of which probably 19,000,000 plus were children.

In the short story, I wrote for "Hot Western Nights", my heroine is managing the ranch her step-father left for his children. Here is a short excerpt:

Miranda Foster climbed the hill overlooking the ranch her stepfather left her to run for his heirs. Clouds flew across the sky. Standing on the hilltop, she watched a storm building, its track headed toward the ranch house. She didn't begrudge her duty, but by the time her step-brother Byron was old enough to take over, she'd be an old maid.

No one knew she wasn't the owner. It was her step-father's way of keeping the ranch safe. She remembered their conversation. "I know I'm asking a lot of you, but you'll be taken care of."

Miranda thought back on that conversation as she caught movement near the leading edge of the storm. Watching, she saw five specks detach and draw closer. The wind was pushing her back the way she'd come, trying to guide her to safety.

Miranda would not be moved. "You may threaten, cajole, or do me harm, but I will not be swayed from my duty," Miranda sent back to the wind as she waited for the oncoming riders, shotgun in hand. She never left the ranch house without it since the coming of Tate Browning. She stood, a calm determination not to give in.

"A woman can't hold such a place as this," the old man said as he rode up, almost on top of Miranda.

Miranda stood her ground, looking each of the men in the eye. "I've been charged with keeping this land safe, to never sell for any reason. Tell Tate Browning, it's a duty I shall discharge to the best of my ability."

Amazon

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books