Mail Order Brides - The Hot Button In Romance Today?

Hi everyone. I hope you're having a wonderful summer. Mine is busy but fantastic and tons of fun. Travel, lunches, and home time has all centered around writing. I am in heaven! I have noticed something though in all my writing that I thought I'd share.








Two years ago I became acquainted with and joined a Facebook group of readers and authors called Pioneer Hearts. The focus of the group is Western Historical Romance. The readers are voracious and the authors, who number 149, do a great job of meeting their demands.










One thing I've noticed is that the interest is not only focused on western historical romance but Mail Order Brides reign supreme. Men on the Western frontier found their success in many different enterprises but lacked the company of a wife and family. With very few to no women in the remote areas of the West the ways to get those women to them was challenging. The best way was to advertise.

Either a woman would list herself in a catalog and was selected by a man for marriage or a man would do the reverse. The Brides came from well developed areas in the East to marry and were single, widows, divorcees, or runaways.Women agreed to marry men they didn't know to escape their present life, to gain financial security, or to seek adventure.

It's interesting to learn that a woman by the name of Eliza Farnham started the Mail Order Bride movement around the time of the California Gold Rush. She was shocked by the way the men lived their lives and horrified by their living conditions. Eliza developed a process to bring women out West for these men. The women applied by way of an application so Eliza could ensure only the best and most lady like applicants would be selected. Sadly, Eliza failed in her attempt as only three women came.












In 1864, Asa Mercer succeeded where Eliza failed. He brought hundreds of women to Seattle and they even paid for the privilege mostly because of the War. The imbalance of the women in the East and South to the men in the West spiked the interest of both genders.










I can't possibly name all the authors who write Mail Order Bride books, but some you may recognize are Brenda Jernigan, Kit Morgan, Cassie Hayes, Debra Holland, Kirsten Osbourne, and Cindy Caldwell.


My first Mail Order Bride story will be out later as part of a super seekrit project. I'm looking forward to sharing the story with you.

Y'all have a good rest of the summer. When we next meet, hopefully we'll have cooler tempertures!

Hugs,
Carra

Carra Copelin Website, Carra's Blog , Carra's FB page , Carra's Twitter Page