Mail-Order Bride

Life on the trail was often a lonely experience. At first, not many females traveled all the way to Oregon. Fool-hardy males were the ones most likely to leave friends and neighbors behind.

In this activity students are to write an advertisement for a prairie or Oregon Territory "Mail-Order Bride" for insertion in an Eastern newspaper. Have students exchange ads and respond with a letter. What benefits would there be to going west? What hardships might be encountered? What questions would a potential bride ask?

Taken from Westward Ho!, Creative Teaching Press, 1992.