ANGLO AMERICAN WOMEN
IN TEXAS, 1820 - 1850
by MARGARET S. HENSON
1st edition, 30 pages, $10.95
ISBN 978-0-89641-104-3 
This essay is a revisionist history of frontier women, which tries
to dispel some of the myths about Anglo American women in early
Texas. Contrary to popular and highly romanticized stories of
pampered, delicate women who were unprepared for the hardships
that awaited them, the author asserts that most of the Anglo women
who came to Texas during this period were indeed prepared for
the usually brief period of privation they faced. Those who could
afford improvements soon acquired the comforts enjoyed by contemporaries
in settled areas and most women, after a time, were able to live
in a similar manner to what they had before moving to Texas. The
helpless bell is, for the most part, a myth created by romantic
writers of a later period.
Contents
Chapter
1: INDIANS
Chapter
2: TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION
Chapter
3: CLOTHING
Chapter
4: HOUSES AND HOUSEKEEPING
Chapter
5: FOOD
Chapter
6: ENTERTAINMENT
Chapter
7: CULTURE AND EDUCATION
Chapter
8: EARNING A LIVING
Chapter
9: THE LAW AND WOMEN IN TEXAS
Chapter
10: MEDICAL TREATMENTS
Chapter
11: THE RUNAWAY SCRAPE
ADDITIONAL
READING
About
the Author
Margaret
S. Henson completed a B.A. in 1962, 21 years after starting
college and after five children and many moves following the oil
business. She spent seven years teaching in the Houston public
schools during which time she finished an M.A. in History. When
the University of Houston started its Ph.D. program in history
in the late 1060's, Henson became the first graduate in 1972 when
she was a grandmother. Her dissertation, published as SAMUEL MAY
WILLIAMS: EARLY TEXAS ENTREPRENEUR, won the Summerfield G. Roberts
Award in 1976 for the best Texana from the Sons of the Republic
of Texas. She has taught at the downtown campus of the University
of Houston and Houston Community College. For three years she
was the archivist for the Houston Metropolitan Archives project,
an NEH funded endeavor to locate city, county, and private records
of Houston and harris County. For two years she served as the
project director for historical projects for the Southwest Center
for Urban Research. She is currently Adjunct Professor of History
at the University of Houston at Clear Lake City.