Do You Remember Here Comes the Brides?

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When I was eleven years old, my favorite television show was Here Comes the Brides.  For those who are unfamiliar, the show involved the Bolt brothers–Jason, Joshua and Jeremy (the cute one)–owners of a logging operation near Seattle. Their lumberjacks threaten to leave the area due to the lack of women, so they make a deal with the local sawmill owner. If he pays for 100 marriageable women to travel to the area, the Bolt brothers will guarantee that all will stay for one year. If the women don’t stay, then the sawmill owner will get the Bolt brother’s land and operation.  The interesting thing is that this is loosely based on a true story.

Asa Mercer was born in Princeton, Illinois, the youngest of thirteen children. He traveled to Washington territory as a young teen in 1852, where his family became one of Seattle’s founding families. He returned to the Midwest to attend college, graduating from Franklin College in New Athens, Ohio in 1860. He then returned to the Seattle area, where he and his brothers cleared stumps to make room for the new territorial university.  Since he was the only college graduate in the area, he was hired as the president and sole instructor of the Territorial University of Washington, which would eventually become the University of Washington. He received no pay.

Lumber and fishing industries thrived in the area, leading to a lopsided gender balance–lots of men and few marriageable women. In 1864, financed by public and private funds, Asa Mercer traveled to Boston to find women willing to relocate to the Seattle area. He returned with eleven women, although The Seattle Gazette reported at the time that there were 50. Eight of these women became teachers in the area, and nine of them were quickly married. The two remaining women unfortunately passed away.

Mercer made another trip in 1865, partially funded by local lumber mill owner Hiram Burnett. He procured additional funds by charging local men a $300 fee for the transport of a future wife. After he arrived on the east coast, Mercer’s activities were written about in The New York Herald, which reported that the women he recruited were destined to marry poorly. Due to the bad publicity, he only managed to recruit 100 women instead of the 500 promised. And then there were difficulties getting to Seattle. The captain of the ship transporting the women refused to go farther than San Francisco. Eventually he convinced lumber schooners to transport the women for free and he (finally) arrived in Seattle with the brides-to-be.

Mercer himself married a Mercer Girl, Annie Stephens, a week after arriving in Seattle. It’s said that descendants of the Mercer Girls make up a significant number of native Seattlelites.

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Jeannie Watt raises cattle in Montana and loves all things western. When she's not writing, Jeannie enjoys sewing, making mosaic mirrors, riding her horses and buying hay. Lots and lots of hay.

44 thoughts on “Do You Remember Here Comes the Brides?”

  1. I’m a little young for the show, but I learned about the Mercer Girls in a Women’s Studies class in college. Thanks for the refresher.

  2. I remember the show. I didn’t realize it was based on a true story, even loosely. This was an interesting read.

  4. Very interesting, and the picture of Mr. Mercer sure gives the lie to current book covers of handsome dudes on wagon trains during this time! Lol

    On another subject, I won a book a couple days ago and I’m wondering how I will get it.

  7. I don’t remember the show, but there was a movie made about a wagon train made up from just women going to the Washington territory and the problems encountered. Of course there were a few men to scout and lead the wagon train. I don’t remember the name of the movie. I wonder if that was real fact or just Hollywood.

  8. I loved this show and was drawn to Bobby Sherman from the start. When I heard him sing… oh my, he set my heart to a fluttering of this 11 year old girl. It was a fascinating TV show, that taught me some history and entertained me at the same time. It is sad to think of Bobby Sherman being at life’s end. God Bless him.

  11. Wonderful post today! I was aware of the show although I cannot recall watching it; wonderful getting the facts behind the fiction. Imagine finding even 100 women willing to spend half a year or so on a boat going around the Horn into the absolute unknown, with the man being the possibly scariest part of the whole ordeal! Thanks for sharing this!

  12. I do remember the show and I had looked up the story it was based on. I thought that was fascinating.

  13. I dont remember that show. A lot of cool info, thanks for sharing. I loved 7 Brides for 7 Brothers well. That was a lot of fun.

  14. I watched that show!! I also watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which was really good, too!! I preferred David Soul’s Hutch to his role as Joshua!

  15. I loved “Here Come the Brides”. Sadly most of the cast has passed away and now Bobby Sherman , the cute Jeremy, has stage four cancer and is in need of prayers.

  17. I used to watch it but don’t remember anything about it other then the handsome men on it! I was more a David Cassudy fan with Bobby Sherman second. Bobby did also appear on the Monkees and Partridge Famiy, I think, Yes, he became a cop and now has cancer, so sad….

  19. Good afternoon, yes I remember Here Comes the Brides, I loved watching that show. I had no idea that the show was loosely made from a true story! Thank you for all this awesome information, I really enjoyed learning about this. Have a great day and a great rest of the week.

  21. Now I have “The bluest skies I’ve ever seen are in Seattle” stuck in my head :). Living in Washington that song seemed wrong with Seattle’s reputation for rain and gray days, but it was a good song. I did know about the connection to the Mercer girls but I didn’t realize Mercer was the first president of what became U W.

  23. We must be close in age. I remember that show from the end of elementary school. I had no idea about the history behind it, though.

  24. Thank you for sharing this. Asa Mercer was an interesting and accomplished man.
    I never did watch or hear of Here Comes the Brides. I checked the dates it was on and found it ran while was overseas in the Peace Corps. It sounds like a good show. The king of France did something similar in the mid-1600’s. He wanted more established settlements in Canada and dowered women, called Filles du Roi, to come over and settle, hopefully marrying. The mail-order bride and sent for group of brides have always been favorite stories. Those women had to be brave and/or desperate to set off for an unknown future. Their leap of faith has left a heritage of many people who can trace their family line back to them. We have over 20 Filles du Roi in our family tree.

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