Mail-Order Bride Stories, Why We Love ‘Em! And a Give Away!

Hi, Kit Morgan here. As some of you may know, I have a lot of books out. 84 at present, most of which are, you guessed it, mail-order bride stories.
So why do I write so many? Because there are readers out there who can’t seem to get enough of them. They LOVE stories of two people thrown together and marrying that very day or within days (at times a couple of weeks depending on circumstances) and starting a new life. Scary, right? You betcha!
But I’m not the only author who’s delved into this realm. Many of the other fillies here at Petticoats and Pistols have too! And, like me, I’m sure while researching this fun and interesting topic, they’ve discovered that becoming a mail-order bride wasn’t all it was cracked up to be back in the day. In fact, it could be downright dangerous. 

     

Chris Enss, a wonderful author who writes about women in the old west, wrote a fantastic book on the subject entitled Hearts West. I remember buying my copy in the gift shop at Crater Lake in Oregon (we were camping nearby) taking it back to the campsite, starting it that night and finishing it the next day. I was fascinated by all the stories of love gone wrong, but also the many that went right. Still, the women braving such an endeavor were taking a huge risk. Often times their grooms never met them at the train station or stage stop. Worse, the man was horrible. One look and the poor bride wanted to tuck tail and run! The terrible truth was they had nowhere to go in a lot of cases. Of course, these historical facts make for some good storytelling as my fellow fillies can all agree. We love to take things that happened in the past and make them our own. My personal favorite is to have a mail-order bride show up and the poor groom had no idea she was coming! All of us at Petticoats and Pistols who’ve written mail-order bride stories have put our own twist on the subject with wonderful romantic results! Myself I have entire series devoted to mail-order brides and their ups and downs

 

 

But could any of us become a mail-order bride today? Yes, we have the internet now and contemporary romance authors have written about e-mail-order brides. With matchmaking sites all over the web, people are having those first-time face to face encounters all the time. Many resulting in marriage, though not on the first date! I’ll be writing a book next month involving a mail-order groom. I’ve always wanted to do one!

Okay, so for fun, picture yourself as a mail-order bride back in the old west. You’ve gone to the mail-order bride agency and you’re sitting across the desk from the matchmaker. She hands you a stack of applicants. What kind of man are you hoping to find among the pages? Back then I would imagine things would come down to some basic requirements. But here are your choices for a husband. Which would you choose? Pick from the ads posted here and below.

And yes, these are actual ads posted by men looking for mail-order brides back in the 1880’s.

I’ll pick one lucky winner from the comments to receive any THREE of my mail-order bride books! You can check out my books on my website at http://www.authorkitmorgan.com

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USA Today bestselling author Kit Morgan is the author of over 140 books of historical and contemporary western romance! Her stories are fun, sweet stories full of love, laughter, and just a little bit of mayhem! Kit creates her stories in her little log cabin in the woods in the Pacific Northwest. An avid reader and knitter, when not writing, she can be found with either a book or a pair of knitting needles in her hands! Oh, and the occasional smidge of chocolate!

36 thoughts on “Mail-Order Bride Stories, Why We Love ‘Em! And a Give Away!”

  1. Oh my first thought was not a miner but after reading the options I do pick Ernie! Ezra-I’m not a woman of color;Joe-is looking for a woman with money, I dated a Joe like that;Walt-I’m not musical and the not ugly hit this Texan wrong even though I understand it;Michael would be my second choice but I’m not a full blood Irish women and second I stereotyped him and thought Irish so he probably drinks too much;Bo-I’m not of Spanish or Mexican decent and would not want to end uo on a ship alot back in that day and time. Ships didn’t have many perks back then. I’d love the opportunity to read one of your mail-order-bride books I absolutely love the subject because it takes a strong woman to even consider heading off to the wild west as a mail-order-bride not knowing what to expect when she gets there. Have a very Happy and blessed Thanksgiving

  2. Oh my first thought was not a miner but after reading the options I do pick Ernie! Ezra-I’m not a woman of color;Joe-is looking for a woman with money, I dated a Joe like that;Walt-I’m not musical and the not ugly hit this Texan wrong even though I understand it;Michael would be my second choice but I’m not a full blood Irish women and second I stereotyped him and thought Irish so he probably drinks too much;Bo-I’m not of Spanish or Mexican decent and would not want to end uo on a ship alot back in that day and time. Ships didn’t have many perks back then. I’d love the opportunity to read one of your mail-order-bride books I absolutely love the subject because it takes a strong woman to even consider heading off to the wild west as a mail-order-bride not knowing what to expect when she gets there. Another thought into this subject, I would not take a trip west on a wagon train or train, for that matter, to meet a man I didn’t know without a small amount of money in case I needed to set out on my own and at the least a derringer to be able to somewhat protect myself. Have a very Happy and blessed Thanksgiving

    • Yes, these pickings are kinda slim, but that’s what a bride faced unless she wanted to wait for more applicants to be sent to the bridal agency. And I think the last one I would pick is Bo. I wouldn’t do well on a ship!

  3. I don’t know if I could pick any of them. I just don’t trust words. I need to see them in person and get to know them in real life. Most likely, I would have ended up a single catlady.

  4. I would not like being a mail order bride. Too many things left to chance. In this day and age it is always to know who you are dating.

  5. I don’t think I would choose any of these and not sure I would want to be a mail order bride but you would do a lot of things if you had to I am sure about that. Thanks for the great post and I do love reading mail order bride books.

  6. Oh my, what is up with Walt? Good luck, sir. LOL. I don’t know that I can fit any of their requests. These are classic!

  7. Kit, I love these ads! Some are really funny. Walt seems to be only looking for money not a wife. Good heavens! $20,000 back then would’ve been like a hundred thousand in today’s currency. Bet he got no takers. I love mail order bride stories and will start my own series in January. I’m really looking forward to getting these out. Good luck with yours! I wish you much success.

    • Thanks, Linda! And yes, 20,000 was a lot back then! Walt would make a great character who leaves his bride at the station when he finds out she’s only got 10,000! Ha! Good luck with your new series!

  8. This is so fun, Kit! I would have to pick Ernie. We’re close in age, and unlike the others, he doesn’t put a limit on his spouse-to-be’s years. Ha! I also love the mountains (though not the cold) and he seems like the down-to-earth type.

    I do love mail-order bride stories. I’ve written a few marriage of convenience stories, but my only true mail-order bride ran away when faced with the horrid man she’d agreed to marry. 🙂

    • I love these ads too! Looks like Ernie is the big winner. However, as I’ve been to Virginia City and also know it’s history, I’m not sure I’d pick him either! It was a rough place! And mail-order bride stories are fun to write as there’s so much you can do with them. So much conflict to be had!

  9. If women had to rely on ads like these, I’m afraid there would be a lot of single ones. The only possibility out of all these would be Ernie and even then I would not want to marry a miner.

  10. Thanks for the ads and the wonderful blog. Yes, I am one of those readers who just loves mailorder marriages or marriages of convenience. Thank you for the chance at winning your books.

  11. I was considering Walt until I got to the part about the $20,000! Guess I will have to be an old maid!

  12. No lack of confidence with these guys, is there? Pretty slim pickings for the girls – I guess Walt would be my choice but only because the rest of them sound so bad.

    • Ah, yes, but do you have his required $20,000? Back then that was like around a hundred thousand dollars today. That Walt … well, he did say he likes to be comfortable! LOL! And yes, the pickings were slim! Joe is like the wild card in the bunch. His is just a poem so you’re not sure what you’ll get!

  13. Walt? Well I say good luck to that gentleman. Unfortunately still men like that today. I’m wondering if he ever got a mate. I’d have to go with Michael or maybe Jo. Times have sure changed how we can find mates now a days with internet dating available. I wouldn’t do that but being a mail order bride sounds like fun. You have soooooo many books out, wow! I’d love to read some of them. Thank you for the giveaway opportunity!

    • Yes, one would think with all the modern ways technology has for people to meet, there would be more matching, but sadly, it’s harder than ever to find someone decent. Or so I hear from my daughter’s many single friends. And she works in the fashion industry!

  14. Typically U wouldn’t pick a husband based on an ad. But for this I’d choose Michael. Something about his ad made me think he had a good sense of humor.

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