American Grit: A Woman's Letters from the Ohio Frontier (Ohio River Valley Series) [Hardcover]

Emily Foster (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Ohio River Valley Series | Publication Date: February 28, 2003

" In 1826 thirty-year-old Anna Briggs Bentley, her husband, and their six children left their close Quaker community and the worn-out tobacco farms of Sandy Spring, Maryland, for frontier Ohio. Along the way, Anna sent back home the first of scores of letters she wrote her mother and sisters over the next fifty years as she strove to keep herself and her children in their memories. With Anna's natural talent for storytelling and her unique, female perspective, the letters provide a sustained and vivid account of everyday domestic life on the Ohio frontier. She writes of carving a farm out of the forest, bearing many children, darning and patching the family clothes, standing her ground in religious controversy, nursing wounds and fevers, and burying beloved family and friends. Emily Foster presents these revealing letters of a pioneer woman in a framework of insightful commentary and historical context, with genealogical appendices.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Provides tantalizing glimpses into the life of an Ohio homesteader." -- Ohioana Quarterly

"Researchers in the fields of women's history, the sociology of rural life, folk medicine, and the history of childhood will find this a valuable resource made truly accessible in this work." -- Lee N. McLaird, Northwest Ohio History

About the Author

Emily Foster is the editor of The Ohio Frontier: An Anthology of Early Writings.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky (February 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813122651
• ISBN-13: 978-0813122656
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,655,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine work enhanced with brief annotations for clarity, April 15, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Grit: A Woman's Letters from the Ohio Frontier (Ohio River Valley Series) (Hardcover)

Compiled and edited by Emily Foster, American Grit: A Woman's Letters From The Ohio Frontier is an inherently fascinating collection of correspondence from the first half of the nineteenth century, written by Anna Briggs Bentley, a devout Quaker wife determined not to lose contact with her mother and sister. Filled with emotion, a willingness to work, love for her family and her many children, and a great deal more, American Grit provides contemporary readers with a compelling and enjoyable look through a kind of "window of time" at daily life in rugged terrain. A fine work enhanced with brief annotations for clarity, American Grit is very highly recommended for Women's Studies and American History Studies collections and reading lists.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like hearing from your pioneer ancestor, July 12, 2010

By 

karen baerkircher (chillicothe, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Grit: A Woman's Letters from the Ohio Frontier (Ohio River Valley Series) (Paperback)

I found this book in my local library, but it is so good and contains so much information, I intend to buy it.

Anna Bentley's letters are the unwritten, unsaved letters that all of us whose ancestors crossed the mountains before the Civil War wish we had. Covering the years 1826 through 1881, they tell of experiences common to most pioneers--from the cabin in the wilderness to the dispersion of children to the West. Some of the letters are repetitious--the yearning to see her mother and siblings back east, the sicknesses of her family and neighbors, the scarcity of goods and cash, the success and failure of crops and livestock, the cooking, sewing, washing and preserving. But all the while life is moving on as Anna and her family change and age.

Emily Foster has done a wonderful job of making these letters accessible to the casual reader. In addition to deciphering Anna's handwriting, she provides explanatory notes that identify people, places, unusual terms and historical references. These are located after the letter in which the explanation is needed so the reader does not have to flip to the end of the chapter or book. In addition, at the end of the book, there are lists that help in keeping the large families straight. A lengthy bibliography identifies sources,and there is a detailed index.