American Grit: A Woman's Letters from the Ohio Frontier

Abstract

American Grit: A Woman's Letters from the Frontier. Edited by Emily Foster. (Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 2002. Pp. x, 344. Illustrations, maps. Cloth, $45.00.)Grit may not be the word for someone as homesick and complaining as Anna Briggs Bentley, the author of the letters featured in Emily Foster's edited volume, American Grit. The title bespeaks frontier narrative of tough, indomitable pioneers who tamed the wilderness. The letters inside contain more than their fair share of hardships to be endured and triumphed over. But Anna-with her bad back, continual childbearing, and longing for mother and siblings left back in Maryland- seems far from indomitable. Rather, she was very ordinary human being whose letters make in early real for modern audience.The photo that graces the cover is of wizened old lady with clear gaze. Anna Briggs Bentley lived to be over ninety years old. In 1826, when Anna migrated to eastern Ohio, she was thirty years old. She and her husband, Joseph, had six living children. She would bear six more children in and bury three of them. Over the next sixty years, Anna wrote frequent, lengthy letters to her Maryland relatives, especially her mother and sister. It should be noted that as the volume progresses, more of the letters are from Anna's older children.The Bentleys were Quakers. Series editor Rita Kohn suggests that this volume is a story of the Quaker religion, its evolution during the nineteenth century and its impact on the emerging nation's social, political, and feminist issues as well as offering a unique understanding of pioneer daily in eastern Ohio (vii).The evolution of Quakerism does indeed receive some attention. Anna and Joseph belonged to the Hicksite faction in the Quaker religion. The split within Quakerism caused rift with their friends and neighbors, the Millers, who adhered to the Orthodox faction. Anna was called upon to explain her views. I was candid and so shall be excommunicated, she reported (90).Pioneer daily life is also very well covered. Anna describes the family's cabin and their possessions. On two occasions, she laments accidents in which children have upset the china cabinet, depleting her supply of irreplaceable cups and plates. There are constant descriptions of cooking, butchering, sugaring, planting, and building. It is quite interesting that the Bentley men often contributed to women's labor. After Anna strained her back with washing, Joseph set the table, fed the children, cleaned the table, and put the children to bed (27). In fact, it seemed that Joseph was more likely to help Anna in the house than Anna was to help in the field. In addition to family members' labor, the Bentleys relied on an extensive network of friends in the neighborhood. …