Jedadiah's Mail Order Bride (3 page)

By the time the spring of 1882 arrived, Jed increased his holdings by purchasing land for $1.25 an acre.  It included the former Dixon ranch which had been abandoned when the owner returned to the gold fields.  Jed found a copy of The Matrimonial News in his mail on his next trip into Laramie and checked to see if the his ad was posted.  It was there.  He was number 378.  "I wonder if I'll hear from anyone," he asked himself.  While he waited, he thought, "I might as well look at the ads from women."  There were more of them than there were from men.  He marked three as being of interest to  him.  Among them was one that read, "I am single and 25 years of age.  I am a school teacher.  I weigh 112 pounds and have been told I am attractive.  I would like to communicate with a single Christian male, 23 to 28 years old. Of proportionate size and weight, with marriage as an ultimate goal.  I read and write and I play the piano.  Children are no bar and would like to have a family of my own.  I have no independent means."

He decided to respond.  With the help and advice of John Carruthers, he sent off his reply indicating his interest in ad number 412.  He composed a letter to number 412, identifying himself as number 378  and said, "My name is Jedadiah Elias Barnette .  I am single and have never been married.  I am five feet, 10 inches tall and I weigh 155 pounds as my ad stated.  I homestead a thriving farm and ranch of approximately 1000 acres and a modest herd of 175 head of cattle. My means are modest and my ranch is improving.  I would correspond with you and have an ultimate goal of matrimony and a family.  My address is on file with the editor." 

He addressed the letter to the editor of The Matrimonial News, who would in turn forward his response to #412.  He continued his hard work on his ranch while he waited for a response.

A week later, he was visiting with the Hastings and told them of his placing an ad as well as answering another.  Clara expressed her delight.  "I hope and pray you will find someone who will make you as happy as Luke and I are.  It can be a lonely life and you need someone.  You're a nice man and deserve a loving woman."

"Thank you Clara.  I hope so too," he responded.  Luke expressed his feelings as being much the same as those of his wife.

* * *

Jed's cattle venture had grown to the point where he would be adding some of his to the herd Luke would be taking to the railroad in Laramie for shipment to the Army at Fort Laramie.  Rains had been abundant. The grass had grown.  His cattle had put on weight and he had fifty head that were ready for market.  He now had five bulls that were being used to cover the heifers in his herd.

With the rain, his garden had also flourished.  He had expanded its size and the spring planting had already broken ground.  It wouldn't be too much longer before he could begin delivering more to Asa Thompson for resale to the homes in Laramie. 

Luke decided to add hogs to his livestock with an eye to add to his deliveries to Asa.  From his experience back on the family farm in Lebanon, he knew how to raise  hogs.  He also added a chicken pen to the livestock area and intended to sell eggs, once his supply exceeded his needs.  Standing in his garden, he wiped his forehead with the red bandanna he kept in his pocket, he reflected well things had gone for him. He expected to continue increasing his land holdings in order to have more land for grazing his cattle.

Among his blessings, he counted his friendship with the Hastings as well as his friendships with the Carruthers in Laramie.  Good friends, a thriving ranch, what more could a man want, he wondered.  "A family," he answered himself.  “I want a family.  I want someone I can talk to that doesn't walk on four legs.  I want children to carry on my name.  I surely hope I get an answer soon.”

On his next trip into Laramie, he found he had three responses to his ad.  As he looked through them quickly, he saw that one of them were from #412. 

He read the letters.  Since they had expressed an interest in him, he at least should read them all.  One of the responses expressed a keen interest, but only if he would move to another area.  The further east, the better.  He discarded that one immediately.  He had discovered a keen love for Wyoming.  Another was from a widow in her thirties with three children.  While the thought of children didn't put him off, three was a bit much and he didn't think his ranch was ready to support five people adequately.  He would respond to that one with a polite no, that he didn't feel he had the wherewithal to support four additional persons.  He sent responses back to the paper and waited.  Jed was a patient man.  He could wait longer for the right person.  Clara Hastings had assured him the right girl for him was out there.  All he had to do was find her.

Another month passed.  He loaded his wagon with fresh vegetables and set out for Laramie.  He delivered the vegetables to the store.  Asa, who was also the postmaster told him he had some mail for him.  There were two letters from The Matrimonial News.  Thanking Asa, he walked down to the cafe for some lunch and to read the letters.

In the cafe, he ordered a steak, some potatoes and fresh bread and a large glass of tea.  While he waited, he opened the first of the letters,  It was from a lady of twenty six who lived in Philadelphia.  She expressed an interest in correspondence with him.  She had never been married and indicated she was five feet four inches tall and weighed 145 pounds.  She didn't think she was unattractive and added the thought of living on the frontier didn't frighten her.  He laid this one aside as one deserving a reply. 

His food arrived and as he began chewing his tough steak, he opened the other.  It was from #412.  The editor of The Matrimonial News had forwarded his name and address to her.  The letter was in a handwriting that indicated good penmanship and proper grammar.  She had read his ad also and would like to establish a correspondence with him.

"I am a school teacher and I live in Owego, New York with my parents.  I have been betrothed but never married.  I am not an unattractive woman, but there is a dearth of men in our area, due in part to the horrors of the war.  I very much would like a family.  I can cook and sew.  I have a strong interest in reading and I enjoy teaching the children.  Life on the frontier sounds difficult but I feel I am up to the challenge.  I have no means other than the small stipend I receive for teaching.  My address is contained herein, should you be interested in continuing a correspondence.  I await your response and remain, Sincerely yours, Sarah Grace Harding." 

"What a nice letter," Jed thought.  I am definitely going to respond.  She sounds like a nice lady.  I'm going to talk with John and Grace and ask for their help."  After he finished his dinner, he walked over to the church, where he found John polishing the altar and Grace wiping down the pews.  When they spotted him, they stopped what they were doing and greeted him cordially.  Since he had told them previously of his intentions, they were interested in his progress.

Jed said, "I have now received several responses, and I responded to an ad I read in the last issue of the paper.  Just today, I had two replies, one of which sounds promising but the other is from the lady who placed the ad I answered.  It is a very nice letter I think.  Would you like to hear it?"

"Well of course, silly," said Grace.  "Read it to us please."

Jed read the letter to them.  John nodded approvingly.  Grace said, "She sounds perfect.  Are you going to answer it?"

"I am and if you have some paper, I would like to do it before I go home so that it can get in the mail as soon as possible.  I would like your help with my answer, if you don't mind."

"I don't mind helping, but I think this letter should come from you.  I think it is important the words reflect you and the way you talk, and the way you are.  I'll be glad to read it and tell you what I think,” John said.

"I completely agree with John," Grace said.  "I'll get some paper and a pen."  She left and returned with both shortly.  "You can use the desk in back," she said.

When Jed came back into the sanctuary, he had three pages of his proposed letter.  He told of growing up in Lebanon, going off to the gold fields, and finally his decision to go into ranching.  His letter spelled out his successes and his failures.  It told of his need for companionship.  It  spoke to the rough and dangerous life on the frontier.  After John listened to the reading, he said, "I wouldn't change a thing.  It's perfect."

Grace had tears in her eyes.  "It's beautiful.  You identified the warts along with the perfection.  You couldn't have made it more honest.  I would send it just the way it is."

Jed signed the letter, sealed it in an envelope and took it to the post office.  He returned to his ranch and his cattle.  He intensified his efforts to make the cabin a place suitable to bring a wife. 

It was three weeks before he received an answer.  Sarah Grace Harding  would like to continue the correspondence.  In her return letter, she said, "I feel as if I know you already."

There would be two additional  letters exchanged before they decided to meet.

Sarah stopped by the post office every day to check for answers to her ad.  She wanted to go through the mail before her parents, since she had not told them of her taking out an ad in a matrimonial newspaper.  To her delight, she had received five answers to her ad. 

She sat on a bench in the town square to read them.  Three of them were discarded at once.  There was something about them that sounded dishonest.  Two of them actually frightened her.  It was then she realized the enormity of what he was doing and the potential dangers involved in the process.  If she accepted, she would be forsaking her family and all she held dear to travel half the way across the country and possibly give herself to someone she had never met.  It could be a vicious person or some fat, bald, old man.  By the time she found out, it would be too late.  She would be two thousand miles from home with no money.  She would be stuck  She felt a chill run down her back.

Left with two letters, one of them from a widower with two small boys, in desperate need for a mother to his sons, he was grasping at straws, citing the total lack of acceptable women where he lived.  His letter was a plea for help that tugged at her heart strings.  She laid it aside to answer.

The other answer came from ad #378 which had piqued her interest originally.  This was a three page letter providing the main events in his life leading up to the present.  He asked for a Christian woman.  He identified the dangers of living on the frontier.  He mentioned the Sioux Indians, though quiet at the present time.  He spoke of how rugged life was and the primitive nature of the cabin he had built his own hands, using materials gathered from around his ranch and how he had lived in his barn for over a year during the construction.  He spoke also of the harsh winters.  The letter pointed to an honest man, a man not afraid of hard work.  A man that wanted his potential wife to understand what he was asking of any woman interested in marriage with him.  After reading it through several times, there was no doubt in her mind regarding the man's honesty and sincerity.  She would answer this letter immediately.

Sarah bemoaned her lack of friends since there was no one to whom she could turn for advice.  She certainly couldn't talk with her parents.  She knew just how that would turn out.  The pastor of her church was a good friend of her parents so she couldn't talk to him.  Finally, she decided to talk with Martha, her sister closest to her in age.  They had confided in each other when younger, sharing their dreams, and desires.  Since Martha's marriage, there hadn't been much opportunity to talk.

After finishing with her school responsibilities the next day, she walked to Martha's house.  Over a cup of hot tea, she told Martha what she had done.

"You what?" screamed Martha.  "I don't believe you.  You made that up.  You couldn't be that stupid."

"I knew you would react this way," Sarah said.  “I had to talk to someone and you're the only one I have.  Please, Martha.  Listen to me.  Mother has started asking old fat men to dinner so they can court me.  She had Mr. Stilwell from the bank over the other day.  She spent the entire dinner telling me what security he could bring to me along with vague hints about my age.  He said Father had agreed to his courting me.  The very thought of that old man touching me makes me ill to my stomach."

"My goodness," Martha said.  "I had no idea they were doing this.  What did you say to him?” 

“I told him he was as old as Father and it would be unseemly of him to call on me and I wouldn't have it."

"You told him he was as old as Father?" Martha giggled.  "What did he do?"

"He huffed and puffed and turned really red in the face.  I thought he was going to have apoplexy.  It was mean of me but I had to stop it."

"So tell me just what you did."

"Well," Sarah said, “there is a newspaper called The Matrimonial News where men or women can place ads describing the type of person in whom they might have an interest.  No names are used.  Each ad is assigned a number.  My ad was number 412.  Also, I answered ad number 378.  Your answers are sent to the paper and your information is given to the person that replies, along with your number.  No names or addresses are divulged until the editor is notified it is all right.  I got an answer from number 378 yesterday.  Would you like to read it?  Please?"

"Absolutely.  I want to see what in the world my big sister is up to."

"Okay," Sarah said.  "First, here is his ad and here is mine.  She handed the first to Martha, who read it, and then gave it back.  "This next one is a letter I received from number  378 yesterday.  You notice, there are no names. Because I haven't given permission yet.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I wrote and gave the editor permission yesterday".

She handed the letter to Martha and sat back watching her face intently as she read the letter.  When Martha read it and handed it back, she said, "He sure sounds nicer than Mr. Stilwell, I have to admit."

"It is a nice letter, isn't it?" Sarah asked.

"Yes, it is.  You have no idea where he lives?"

"Yes, I do.  In his ad, he mentioned he lives near Laramie in the Wyoming Territory."

"MY God, Sarah, that's on the other side of the country."

"Yes, I know.  I went to the library and looked it up," Sarah said.

"What are you going to do?" Martha asked.

"Right now, I'm going to correspond and if I feel comfortable or if Mother invites Mr Stilwell back, I'll meet him."

"When are you going to tell Mother?" asked Martha.  Both girls knew who the boss was in the Harding family.

"Probably in the note I write when I leave," Sarah said.  Both girls giggled at this thought.

"Why Sarah, how could you do this to us and what you said to that nice Mr. Stillwell," Martha said mockingly, sounding just like their mother.  The girls convulsed in giggles.  "Sarah, you tell me if there is anything I can do to help," Martha said.

"I might want to tell them I am going to spend the night with you, to give me a head start," said Sarah.

"You have but to ask," Martha said.

"I knew I could count on you, sis," Sarah said.

* * *

Sarah responded to the letter the same day.  She gave the editor permission to reveal her name and address to the correspondent.  Her return letter followed the format of the one she had received, telling how the love of her life, some five years older than she was had been killed at the Battle of The Wilderness.  It told where she lived and that she was a teacher.  It spoke of her desire to have a family.  She expressed an appreciation for the candor detailing the difficulties of life on the frontier but she felt she was up to the task.  She described herself as the oldest of three daughters and her willingness to make the trek to the Wyoming Territory.  After posting the letter, Sarah was eager to read the next letter.

It was three weeks coming.  Using his name for the first time, the letter came directly, without using The Matrimonial News as an intermediary.  Jed told how he had enjoyed reading her letter and felt as if he knew her.  He described his ranch, the proximity of the neighbors and friends.  He told how the preacher and his wife Grace, had helped him compose the ad and original letter but had insisted he write this one.  Finally, he told her he would like for her to come to Wyoming and if she was in agreement, to please advise in the next mail and he would send the funds for the trip and expenses along the way.  Her return letter was posted the same day indicating she would leave on the next train after receipt of the ticket funds.  Excitement was beginning to build, but so was trepidation at the prospect of leaving her portion of the world and all of her family behind and moving to a wild and dangerous part of the country.

Two weeks later, another letter came.  This letter contained a bank draft for her travel and expenses.  In a display of concern and thoughtfulness, Jed wrote, "I appreciate how daunting the prospect must be of uprooting from the only life you have ever known, to meet someone and possibly wed.  In a feeble attempt to allay some of those fears, I have asked my good friend and preacher to vouch for me.  In addition, I have asked my neighbor and hopefully your neighbor soon, to do the same.  You should receive their letters in separate post.  In addition, I give you my word of honor, should the circumstances not meet your approval, I will provide return transportation to New York.  I anxiously await your itinerary.  Further, should your travel information not reach me in time, my friend and preacher, John Carruthers and his wife Grace have graciously agreed to meet your train.  I anxiously await your plans.  Sincerely, Jedadiah Barnette.”  In the same post, Sarah received two other letters, one from Luke and Clara Hastings and the other from John and Grace Carruthers.

* * *

"Martha!  Look at these letters I got today.  His name is Jedadiah Barnette but he goes by Jed.  He's from Lebanon, Pennsylvania but left to search for gold.  He gave that up after a year and now has a ranch near Laramie.  In the letter he says he understands how I might be concerned, so he asked his preacher and also his best friends for references.  Their letters came today.  Both say, "You can't find a better man than Jed."  He's sent a ticket and gives me his word of honor if things don't meet my approval, he will pay for my return trip.”

“Martha, I'm going!  He sent more than enough money for the trip.  I am going to pack and leave tomorrow.  I'll tell Mother I'm spending the night with you tomorrow.  Is that okay?  I hate to lie to them, but I think this might be the best chance I'll ever have and I've got to do it.  I'm really going to miss the kids at school"

"Sarah, if the school board didn't insist all teachers be unmarried, I might feel sorry for them.  With that rule, they don't deserve any consideration.  I don't blame you for going.  I would do the same thing in your place.  I'll go with you to the train station.  Oh girl, what an adventure you have coming.  I'm almost jealous.  I'm going to miss you.  We'll probably never see each other again.  Sister, I love you so much and you're leaving.  Now you get on home and pack your stuff.  Take what you need and if you forget anything, I'll send it to you.  Use that carpet bag we had somewhere around the house.  Be sure to take some nice soap."

"I doubt they're so primitive they don't have soap, Martha.  Maybe not good soap, but that's a good idea.  I'll be back over here in a couple of hours.  Today's Ma's day with her quilting circle so it will be fairly easy to get away with my clothes.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help and support.  No one could ask for a better sister than you.  I'd better get going.  I'll be back after lunch.”