The Lives of Women in History

The Donner Party has fallen even more behind.  As summer begins to fade into fall and the worry of winter quickly approaches the pioneers know they need to move fast.  They continue to follow the directions of Lansford Hastings and find themselves in the middle of the Great Salt Lake Desert with no water and little hope of making it out alive.  Tempers flair and James Reed is banished from the group to find his own way to California.

James Reed insists on taking the Hastings cutoff when most everyone is warning him not to. The party faces weeks of hardship traveling a path that no one knows and following the advice of a man who himself had not traveled the so-called shortcut.  

Meet James Reed and his family and George Donner and his family, plus several other families and hired hands as they prepare to travel 2500 miles across the country to California.  The journey is full of excitement and danger.  We will watch through the eyes of soon-to-be 13-year-old Virginia Reed as the families find themselves hopelessly lost in the Snow-covered land. 

Pearl Starr Reed moves to Arizona where she makes the decision to find and write her daughter Mamie (Flossie Pearl).  A year after meeting her daughter that was given up for adoption Pearl dies.  

We now transition to the life of the beloved daughter of Belle Starr Pearl Reed.  After her mother's death, Pearl moved to Arkansas to look for work. With limited options for employment Pearl found success.  She owned and operated her own business, bought property, was married three times, and gave birth to three children.

In part 5 of the series on Belle Starr, we learn of Pearl Reed's pregnancy and she quickly is pressured into marrying a much older man whom she has no interest in.  Sam and Belle Starr serve a year in prison for horse theft. Sam Starr is killed on Christmas Eve and Belle wastes no time marrying a much younger man named Jim July whose name she refuses to take.  Belle becomes concerned that someone she knows is going to try and kill her. 

Welcome to Part 4 of the Belle Starr series.  I hope you are enjoying this extended biography.  In this episode, Belle travels to Kansas border towns racing horses.  She meets and marries Bruce Younger and three weeks later moves to Indian Territory and goes from being Bellel Reed to Belle Younger to the legendary Belle Starr.  Also during this time the infamous hanging judge Issac Parker takes the bench in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

We continue the story of Belle Starr.  Belle and her husband Jim moved to California hoping to hide out and start a new life.  But Jim is soon recognized and heads back to Indian Territory to hide out.  Belle follows and goes back to business as usual in Dallas and Scyene. 

We continue our multi-episode series on Belle Starr.  In this episode, Belle marries Jim Reed and she gives birth to her daughter Pearl.