Frontier Teachers

Moving portraits of twelve courageous women who taught¿and tamed¿the Wild WestBetween 1847 and 1858, more than six hundred female teachers traveled across the frontier to provide youngsters with an education, and the numbers grew rapidly in the decades to come. Enduring hardship, the dozen women we meet in these pages demonstrate untold dedication and sacrifice to bring formal education to the Wild West. These women introduced their students to a world of possibilities¿and changed America forever. Women like:¿ Olive Mann Isbell and Hannah Clapp, who came to class armed with guns to keep students safe from hostile natives ¿ Eliza Mott, who, lacking schoolbooks and supplies, taught the alphabet using the inscriptions on tombstones¿ Lucia Darling and Mary Gray-McLench, who trekked hundreds of miles through treacherous country to teach children in the most remote regions