The Lives of Women in History

Young Martha Canary had a rough early life and didn't make things easier on herself as she grew into womanhood.  She traveled from place to place looking for somewhere that she could call home.  She quickly found that she preferred men's work to women's work and forgetting was in a bottle. She tried to be respectable but after years of living a life as Calamity Jane, it was hard to settle down and change.  She had a heart of gold and a soul meant to wonder. 

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Pocahontas was the daughter of Chief Powhatan. She was around 11 years old when the English came from England to try and build a colony they would call Jamestown.  Many myths surround the short life of Pocahontas, and many if not most of them are due to John Smith.  In this episode of The Lives of Women in History I do my best to factually tell the story of this young Powhatan woman and how she came to be such an essential part of Native American history. In this episode kidnapping and rape are mentioned.  

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Etta Place was the love interest of Harry Longabaugh aka the Sundance Kid. She was and where she was from is a mystery to this day.  The Pinkerton Detective Agency described her, in 1906, as having, "classic good looks, 27 or 28 years old, 5'4" to 5'5" [163–165 cm] in height, weighing between 110 and 115 lb [50 and 52 kg], with a medium build and brown hair."

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Delta Moore, aka, Annie Rogers, was a soiled dove in Hell's Half Acre, in a brothel owned by Fanny Porter.  This short episode tells all that we know about Annie.  A well-read, intelligent, beautiful woman who kept the company of a brutal outlaw.

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Laura Bullion was born in Texas in 1876. Her father was an outlaw who died too soon and her mother was a wild lady who like to live it up with random boyfriends.  Often dropped on the doorstep of her maternal grandparents Laura learned to fend for herself.  Finding love in the arms of two infamous outlaws.  

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Only half of the Donner-Reed party survived that horrible winter at Truckee Lake and Alder Creek and most of them were women and girls.  Those that did survive went on to create a good life for themself in California.  Most achieved their goals and obtained land, opportunities, and prosperity.  That horrible winter shadowed them and made them famous insofar as fame existed at that time. Still, they did not let it rule their lives.  Each survivor had their own life to live and outside of their family, they did not keep in touch with one another.   

James Reed and Aquilla Glover each lead a rescue team into the deeply snow-covered mountains in hopes of rescuing the remaining pioneers.  For many, it was too late but for the survivors, the rescue parties were a sight for weary eyes. The pioneers at Truckee Lake and Alder Creek had both reached the deepest darkest depths of desperation and given in to the last resort of cannibalism.  James Reed was reunited with his family and thankful they were all still alive. 

Episode Cover Art: Tamsen Donner

The Donner and Reed parties find themselves trapped near Truckee Lake. It is only November but winter snow has come early and trapped the pioneers in what can only be called hell.  Freezing and starving the families struggle to survive while clinging o the hope that a rescue party is not too far away.   A group of pioneers known as Forlorn Hope take the chance and go for help.  Off in the distance, the Paiute quietly watches in fear as the white settlers face death and an uncertain future.

Cover Art image of Mary Ann Graves

James Reed has been banished from the group and had to leave his wife and children in the care of the others in the Donner Party. Just when the group thinks things are about to get better it starts all over again.  Teachers desserts to traverse with no food or water.  Then steep rocky mountains put the pioneers into even more danger. The snow begins to fall and the Donner-Reed party is trapped.