Elinore Pruitt Stewart’s Followers (24)

Elinore Pruitt Stewart

Born

in White Bead Hill, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, The United States

June 03, 1876

Died

October 08, 1933

Genre

Memoir, Correspondence

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Elinore Pruitt Stewart was an American homesteader and memoirist whose vivid letters from Wyoming life in the early 20th century offer a rare and compelling portrait of the American West through a woman’s eyes. Born Elinore Pruitt in White Bead Hill, Chickasaw Nation, in 1876, she faced early hardships, losing both parents by her teenage years and taking responsibility for her younger siblings. After a brief marriage that ended with her husband’s death, she relocated to Denver, Colorado, where she found work as a laundress and later as a housekeeper.
In 1909, she answered an ad from widowed homesteader Henry Clyde Stewart seeking a housekeeper in Burntfork, Wyoming. Within months of arriving, she filed her own homestead claim and married Cly Elinore Pruitt Stewart was an American homesteader and memoirist whose vivid letters from Wyoming life in the early 20th century offer a rare and compelling portrait of the American West through a woman’s eyes. Born Elinore Pruitt in White Bead Hill, Chickasaw Nation, in 1876, she faced early hardships, losing both parents by her teenage years and taking responsibility for her younger siblings. After a brief marriage that ended with her husband’s death, she relocated to Denver, Colorado, where she found work as a laundress and later as a housekeeper.
In 1909, she answered an ad from widowed homesteader Henry Clyde Stewart seeking a housekeeper in Burntfork, Wyoming. Within months of arriving, she filed her own homestead claim and married Clyde Stewart. Though married, she concealed her status for years in order to maintain her independence and her legal claim to land as a single woman under the Homestead Acts. During this time, she began a correspondence with her former employer, Mrs. Juliet Coney, in Denver, writing detailed and spirited letters about her life on the frontier.
These letters were first published in the Atlantic Monthly and later collected in two volumes: Letters of a Woman Homesteader (1914) and Letters on an Elk Hunt (1915). The former inspired the 1979 film Heartland. Her writings, though often embellished for literary effect, present a strong, resourceful, and intelligent woman navigating homesteading, motherhood, and the harsh Wyoming landscape with grace and humor.
Elinore and Clyde had five children together, though two died in infancy. Her daughter from her first marriage, Jerrine, survived into adulthood. Stewart used the modest income from her writings to support her family and homestead, gaining recognition as the “Woman Homesteader.” She died in 1933 following complications from surgery and is buried in Burntfork Cemetery alongside her husband.
Her homestead was later recognized on the National Register of Historic Places, and her letters remain a lasting literary testament to women’s roles in settling the American West. ...more

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Elinore Pruitt Stewart’s books

Average rating: 3.94 · 9,086 ratings · 1,097 reviews · 19 distinct works • Similar authors

	Letters of a Woman Homesteader 3.93 avg rating — 8,606 ratings — published 1914 — 142 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Letters on an Elk Hunt by a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart, Elizabeth Fuller Ferris (Foreword) 4.23 avg rating — 362 ratings — published 1915 — 64 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cartas de Elinore. Ed. 10 Aniversario: Una pionera en el Salvaje Oeste by Elinore Pruitt Stewart, Laura Salas Rodríguez (Translator), Manuel Hidalgo (Contributor) 3.65 avg rating — 34 ratings — published 2013 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Letters on an Elk Hunt: by a Woman Homesteader; Letters of a Woman Homesteader 4.08 avg rating — 25 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Letters of a Woman Homesteader Volume 2 3.75 avg rating — 16 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Letters of Eleanor Stewart Pruitt, Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart (Editor), Ruth Ashby (Editor), Laszlo Kubinyi (Illustrator) 4.17 avg rating — 6 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cartas de una pionera: Elinore, una pionera en el Salvaje Oeste (Sensibles a las Letras nº 2) (Spanish Edition) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Classic Works of Elinore Pruitt Stewart liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2014	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Letters of a Woman Homesteader VOL 3: Super Large Print Edition of the Classic Memoir Specially Designed for Low Vision Readers with a Giant Easy to Read Font liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Letters of a Woman Homesteader: Calling on the Mormons 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Elinore Pruitt Stewart (?)

“The sagebrush is so short in some places that it is not large enough to make a fire, so we had to drive until quite late before we camped that night. After driving all day over what seemed a level desert of sand, we came about sundown to a beautiful cañon, down which we had to drive for a couple of miles before we could cross. In the cañon the shadows had already fallen, but when we looked up we could see the last shafts of sunlight on the tops of the great bare buttes. Suddenly a great wolf started from somewhere and galloped along the edge of the cañon, outlined black and clear by the setting sun. His curiosity overcame him at last, so he sat down and waited to see what manner of beast we were. I reckon he was disappointed for he howled most dismally. I thought of Jack London's "The Wolf.”
― Elinore Pruitt Stewart, Letters Of A Woman Homesteader: By Elinore Pruitt : Illustrated

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“It is true, I want a great many things I haven't got, but I don't want them enough to be discontented and not enjoy the many blessings that are mine.”
― Elinore Pruitt Stewart, Letters of a Woman Homesteader

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“Of course I am extra strong, but those who try know that strength and knowledge come with doing. I just love to experiment, to work, and to prove out things, so that ranch life and "roughing it" just suit me.”
― Elinore Pruitt Stewart, Letters of a Woman Homesteader

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