EXPERIENCES OF MEN
AND WOMEN IN TEXAS

by

Silke-Katrin Kunze

" ′We are very far, here, from human habitations!′ exclaimed Mable,
... this is, indeed, being on a frontier!"

James Fenimore Cooper, The Pathfinder (1840)¹

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

FOREWORD 4

OVERVIEW 5

COLONIZATION, 1821 - 1835

INTRODUCING M.C.R., M.S.W.H. & A.R.T.C. 7

SETTING OUT FOR TEXAS

INDIAN TRIBES 8

MOVING FREQUENTLY & VISITING FAMILY AND FRIENDS 9

THE REPUBLIC, 1836 - 1846

INTRODUCING D.R.H., R.P.P. & M.A.A.M. 10

INDIAN TRIBES 11

TEXANS VS. MEXICANS & OTHER REASONS FOR MOVING 13

TEXAS TEARS, 1846 - 1869

INTRODUCING M.D.G.W., S.K., R.A.P.B.A., E.I.M. & A.E.H.B. 14

DISEASES 15

FROM SLAVERY TO THE YANKEE SOLDIERS 16

CHILDREN′S ROLES 17

THE LAST FRONTIER, 1865 - 1905

INTRODUCING F.D.V.B., L.C.R., E.E.B.D., M.O.T.B. & M.A.P.B. 18

INDIAN TRIBES 20

COWBOYS 21

WINTER WEATHER: BLIZZARDS & STORMS 23

TEXAS RANGERS 23

SUMMARY & RELIGION 25

APPENDIX: THEN & NOW 27

BIBLIOGRAPHY 28

Foreword

This paper carries the title Experiences of men and women in Texas and is closely related to the subject of the Nineteenth Century American Frontier, the Voices of Frontier Women in specific. The westward expansion connected to the different frontiers in North America brought along new opportunities, of which making a fortune and leading a better life can be mentioned. According to Frederick Jackson Turner′s The Significance of the Frontier in American History, the frontier life many people sought furnished them with traits that dominate the American character today: "That coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and inquisitiveness; that practical, inventive turn of mind, quick to find expedients; that masterful grasp of material things, lacking in the artistic but powerful to effect great ends; that restless, nervous energy; that dominant individualism, working for good and evil, and withal that buoyancy and exuberance which comes with freedom – these are traits of the frontier, or traits called out elsewhere because of the existence of the frontier."²

In the seminar this paper refers to, several frontiers were mentioned and discussed. Among them the Hispanic and the Indian Frontiers as well as the Ranching and Cattle Frontier, all of which seem to play a role in Jo Ella Powell Exley′s Texas Tears and Texas Sunshine. This book forms the basis of the findings following this foreword. In it, sixteen Frontier Women describe parts of their lives, whether it be conflicts with Indians and Yankee soldiers or struggles against natural forces. It covers a time frame from about 1821 until about 1905, thus, of course, including the year 1890 when the Bureau of the Census declared the frontier closed.³ This time frame is divided into four stages, which, as it becomes obvious from looking at the Table of Contents, was transferred here. On a personal note: When thinking about how to approach this topic, I first thought I had to directly distinguish between male and female experiences but reading all these reminiscences of life, I did not find a proper way to do so and finally decided to approach the matter synchronically by focusing on the main recurring themes that in themselves not only show to what extent men or women were concerned but also which problems members of different generations were facing again and again.

Overview

Before breaking the paper into pieces, it might be a good idea to give a general overview of what is to be covered in closer detail in the following pages. The reader is about to enter a world of pleasure and pain providing him with the insights into lives that were once filled with tears and sunshine. As is mentioned on the previous page, the paper revolves around four stages: 1821-1835, 1836-1846, 1846-1869 and 1865-1905. The time frame from 1821 to 1835 presents the years of colonial Texas, the early days when this state started to be settled by Anglo-Americans or people from states such as North Carolina and Louisiana. Whereas some of them were planters, the majority were hard-working farmers that either longed for fertile land or wanted to make a new beginning, or even both. What they did not know beforehand, they were to face problems caused by Indians, mosquitoes and diseases. The Mexicans later added to these hardships.⁴ In the second stage, from 1836 to 1846, Texas existed as an independent nation, for, the Texas Declaration of Independence had been proclaimed on March 2, 1836. Those were the days of the Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna who intended to exterminate the entire Anglo-American population. The men living in Texas had to join the army and served in it until the Mexican resistance was broken. Prior to this achievement, women, children, slaves and old or disabled men were entailed in the so-called Runaway Scrape resulting from trying to escape the advancing Mexican army. Since the Indians were an omnipresent danger, the Texans also fled from them. They had left their homes in a more or less good condition but returned to a burned and looted country.⁵ This time of violence was followed by a time of happiness and sorrow for Texas women, 1846 to 1869. Texas had become a state in 1845 and when the Civil War broke out in 1861, all men capable of fighting had to ride into battle, leaving their families rather unprotected against epidemic diseases or other hazards. Furthermore, because the slaves were freed after the war, some families found themselves in an uncertain condition of affairs. Lacking a husband′s or brother′s help in times when they lacked food, clothing or medical supplies, older children had to support their families in order to survive.⁶ The last stage describes the years after the Civil War, from 1865 to 1905, when warlike Plains Indians were still roaming the country. Therefore the Texas Rangers were reactivated in 1874, to alleviate people′s suffering from Indians and outlaws. What courage and strength must men, but especially women have had to make a living through all of this!⁷ "In spite of dangers, hardships, and the deaths of husbands and children, [frontier] women made homes in the harsh land of North and West Texas. Their reminiscences, although tinged with sadness at times, are full of exuberance and pride in their accomplishments. They had come to a new land - a forbidding and strange land not easily tamed - and with their husbands had made homes for themselves and their children."⁸

Colonization, 1821 - 1835 Introducing M.C.R., M.S.W.H. & A.R.T.C.

[...]

1 Bruck, Peter, ed., The Frontier and the American West – Texts for English and American Studies, Student′s Book. München, Wien, Zürich: Ferdinand Schöningh, 1980, p. 8.
2 Peter Bruck The Frontier 1980, pp. 35-36
3 see: Jones, Mary Ellen, Daily Life on The Nineteenth Century American Frontier. Westport, CT; London: Greenwood Press, 1998, p. xiv.
4 see: Exley, Jo Ella Powell, ed., Texas Tears and Texas Sunshine. Voices of Frontier Women. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1985, p. 3.
5 see: Jo Ella Powell Exley Texas Tears 1985, p. 51
6 see: Exley, pp. 105-106
7 see: Exley, p. 179
8 Exley, pp. 179-180