An article published in The Litchfield Monitor on December 12, 1913, pays tribute to the pioneer women who “have so nobly stood shoulder to shoulder with them (the men) in the work of building up the country and making the desert to bloom as the rose.” The article goes on to tell that often the heaviest burden in moving to this unknown land fell on the women. The author says that these women often left comfortable homes where they were surrounded by friends, family and neighbors that they had known for years. “To our mind these women showed a heroism that has never been appreciated when the history of pioneer life has been written.”
Women generally were not mentioned with their first name at that time, usually as “Mrs.” or wife. One such example appears in The Litchfield Monitor, December 30, 1904, “Mr. C. Wills and wife of Bradshaw, Neb., were in our town this week. Mr.
Wills purchased a farm of Anson Fletcher last fall and he will move onto it in the Spring.”
