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Women lived, loved and survived in the 1800s, just as they do today.
Often, it was a physically harsher life, foreign in most ways to the lives we lead today.
This column presents information about this time period not only because it ís interesting, but because it shows how women adapted and made life better than they found it.
THE SHIFTING FRONTIER
The 1800s were years of a constantly shifting frontier. The United States began in 1800 as a moderately sized country with about five million people on the Atlantic coast of North America with the center of the population 18 miles southwest of Baltimore.
A philosophy called Manifest Destiny pushed its citizens steadily westward. By the end of the century, the United States had spread to the Pacific Coast and increased to seventy-five million people.
The West had been settled, but not tamed. The center of population in 1900 was still only six miles southeast of Columbus, Indiana.

A FRONTIER KITCHEN TIP
Kitchens are pretty universal and we take them for granted today. Whether it was a kitchen in a one room sod house on the prairie or a ten room mansion in Philadelphia, kitchens in the 1800s and what was done in them were much different than those of today.
Take for example a kitchen tip from THE AMERICAN FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE published in 1836:
"Eggs will keep almost any length of time in lime-water properly prepared. One pint of coarse salt, and one pint of unslacked lime, to a pailful of water. If there be too much lime, it will eat the shells from the eggs; and if there be a single egg cracked, it will spoil the whole.
They should be kept covered with lime-water, and in a cold place I have seen eggs, thus kept, perfectly and fresh at the end of three years."
A cold place meant a cellar or ice box. Ice boxes were used throughout the century, since mechanical refrigeration was not invented until 1862. The first electrical power station was constructed in 1882 in New York. An electric range was demonstrated at the Worldís Fair in Chicago in 1893.
WHAT IS "A NECESSARY"?
The "necessary" was a name for an indoor bathroom, a thing unknown for most of the century. Most homes had outhouses, hotels had chamber pots. The Croton Water Works of New York supplied piped water beginning in 1842. Municipal water systems did not begin until after 1850.
However, most families hauled or pumped water from a cistern or well. A few homes had a reservoir in the attic so water could be piped to various locations in the home. Sir John Harringtonís invention of the 1500ís would not be used for a long time. What did he invent in 1589? The flush toilet.
Speaking of bathrooms, the first bathtub was installed in a Boston hotel in 1829. It must have been a hit, because within six years more than 1500 of them could be found in hotels and wealthy houses in the Philadelphia area.
The typical family though, didnít own a built-in tub until near the end of the century. Bathing was a matter of hauling a round, wooden or tin tub into the kitchen for use with warm water from the stove or fireplace.
WHAT ABOUT FAMILES?
Many women who married, raised children and led very successful lives.
There were also famous women in those times, as well as infamous ones. There were the Oatman girls who were kidnapped by Apaches and lived for many years with their captors. There were entertainers and presidentsí wives. Weíll talk about some of these people later.
Look at the average number of children in a typical family: in 1800, a married couple had an average of seven children, by 1850 it was five children and by 1880 it was closer to 4.
SHE MINDED THE STORE
In 1847 Robert and Jane Caufield came across the Oregon trail from the east. After six months of hard travel they arrived in Oregon City and set up a store.
Shortly afterwards, gold was discovered in California and Robert departed, leaving his wife in charge of the store. Jane discovered she had talents she had not known about. She bought wheat from local farmers, had it ground and sent the flour to California.
Because of the great need of food there, she realized great profits. When a ship arrived from London, the captain wanted desperately to get rid of his cargo so he could ferry men to the gold mines.
She bought the entire cargo of hats and bonnets at a very low price and supplied all of Oregon territory with protection for their heads.
Jane's husband returned from the gold field, like many others, penniless only to find that his wife had struck gold in their own backyard.
THE LAW BECAME HER
Mary Gysin was jailed for the murder of her husband until her attorney was able to bring the case to trial eleven months later. The jury found her not guilty, but her time in prison intrigued her about the legal system.
She enrolled to study law in Seattle Washington with the prestigious firm of Struye, Haines and McMicken and was admitted to practice law in Washington Territory. When she wanted to return to Oregon, the Oregon Supreme Court claimed it could not recognize a woman.
She immediately appealed to the legislature. As a result, Senate Bill 50 was introduced and passed in 1885.
When she again applied to the Supreme Court of Oregon, they found an old law that required a one year residency. She fought back by showing that the law had never been applied to men.
Her logic was more powerful than the court. Mary became the first woman attorney in the state of Oregon.
However it was not until much later, ten years after her death in 1912, that another woman was admitted to the Oregon Bar.
And speaking of professional women: The first official training for women doctors was at the Womenís Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1850.
HOW ABOUT MOTHERS?
Finally, an early pioneer, Martha Ann Morrison who went West in 1844 at the age of thirteen, reminisced later about the trip:
"The men had a great deal of anxiety and all the care of their families, but still the mothers had the families directly in their hands and were with them all the time, especially during sickness.
"Some of the women I saw on the road went through a great deal of suffering and trial. I remember distinctly one girl in particular about my own age that died and was buried on the road. Her mother had a great deal of trouble and suffering. It strikes me as I think of it now that Mothers on the road had to undergo more trail and suffering than anybody else."
That's all for the Frontier Woman until next month. Comments, suggestions, requests are welcome. Write to mail@committment.com.