of
Lavinia Danforth
January
January 16, 1865
Oh, dear me! What have I gotten myself into? That charming Mr. Bolt may be a wolf in sheep's clothing I fear. I said good-bye to my mother and aunt and climbed aboard this ship. Mr. Bolt told us that it would be a good idea to stay above the decks and wave our goodbyes. It wasn't until we were out of sight of the harbor that he let us go down to where we would be sleeping. It is so disgusting down here! One of the neighbors had told Mama that as passengers on a long cruise, we ladies would probably be sharing staterooms, but instead we have MULE STALLS! I am so embarrassed and ashamed.Then one of the ladies suggested that we just demand to have the ship turned around and go back home. I don't believe in mutiny, but I do believe that a lady must keep her dignity and at the very least we should be entitled to sanitary conditions.
The mutiny, which we thought had such promise, failed miserably. Candy Pruitt, the lady that worked at the fire house, led us in our stand against the Bolts, but was quickly brought down. Now she is telling us to make the best of it.
I am sharing my stall with my good friend, Mary Ellen, who has been crying inconsolably all evening. This will be a very long journey, I fear.
January 18, 1865
Candy Pruitt has continued to take charge and has had everyone cleaning and scrubbing to make this place home. After her mutiny failed, I fear that I had decided not to trust her and so have not been very helpful. My stomach is really quite upset, and while I am told it is the mal de mer, I suspect it is really the cooking. Candy and Biddie relieved the crew of cooking duties and will be assigning those tasks to us. I thought we were the passengers?January 23, 1865
The ship continues to pitch about. I know now it is not the food. I cannot wait until we reach port.January 25, 1865
Today things seemed better. At Mary Ellen and Katchie's urging, I got up, got dressed, fixed my hair and went up on the deck. There is no point in spending a lot of time on your hair, I found. The sea mist messed mine up so that it looked like I had not combed it at all. However, the view from the deck is kind of pretty and the fresh air felt very good.I did feel kind of weak still and Biddie was kind enough to serve me some soup.
After I came back to the "stalls" (I don't think I will EVER feel at home in them), some of the ladies were talking about why they left New Bedford and what they think Seattle really looks like. We stayed up very late talking. If nothing else, I think I will have made some good friends from this trip.
January 28, 1865
I awoke this morning to find a cat on my back. I didn't know what it was. At first I thought it was a big rat, and was trying not to move. Serena Jacobsen, who is Emmy Lou's little sister, came running down the aisle, calling for Diana—which I found out was the cat's name. She scooped him off of my back, to my great relief. Some of the ladies took great amusement in my discomfort.
January 29, 1865
Today has been awful. Once again I am ready to go home. A man was swept overboard. It makes us all realize how much we are at the mercy of the sea.I was trying to calm Mary Ellen down again—that girl does cry an awful lot—when little Peggy asked us if we would like to plan a surprise birthday party for one of the other girls. I know that she was trying to cheer us up after the disaster.
January 30, 1865
Peggy, Ann, Mary Ellen and I baked a cake. Well, Ann did most of the baking, since she worked at a bakery, but the rest of us helped with the decorations. The two children, Jonny and Serena came down asking if they could help. Ann saved some of the batter and let them make their own little tea cakes which they devoured almost as soon as they were baked. Serena is such a little scamp. She said that they needed to eat the frosting that they would have put on it had they waited. We had feared that one of the children might give the surprise party away, but Serena negotiated a fair amount of frosting as hush money. I do believe Jonny was wearing more frosting than eating it.February
February 7, 1865
I am plased to say that I have found a kindred soul on board - Charity Stanford. I hadn't paid her much mind before as the poor creature suffered so terribly from the mal-de-mer. She is still weak, dear soul, but was brave enough to try taking an afternoon walk about the deck.Charity has such wonderful ideas about how the ladies can fix their hair and clothing to make themselves more feminine.
And I am glad that I am not the only one to wonder who appointed Miss Candy Pruitt to be in charge of things.
February 14, 1865
Valentine's Day- and only one bride has a beau. It would have to be Candy Pruitt. Jeremy seems so nice, too. Well, I think Charity's right - it seems to be part of her plan to manipulate the Bolts.
February 17, 1865
Went to Corcovado yesterday. We've been sight-seeing around Rio. I had a conversation with Mr. Joshua Bolt that alarmed me greatly. I had hoped that when we settled in Seattle to open a Finishing School for Ladies, but he informed me that there really aren't any other ladies except for ourselves and the schoolmarm. I know that the Bolt brothers said that their town was small, but I had no idea that it was THAT small!February 24, 1865
Not much to report. We left Rio a few days ago and picked up some passengers—a minister and his family. I went up to the pilothouse to invite Carla Riley down to the singalong that someone started downstairs. I found myself quite taken with Jason and had to excuse myself, because I was afraid of how I might behave.March
March 3, 1865
The minister and his family are miserable. They have succeeded in making us all feel miserable. Of late, Master Tom Simonton has been pinching the ladies as we pass him. He then looks very innocent and has even told his father that we have been encouraging him! I would like to take him over my knee and spank him, but that might only encourage him further.March 10, 1865
I have gained new respect for Jason and Joshua Bolt. First of all there was that dreadful service in which Reverend Simonton made all of us feel lower than low. Jason Bolt responded with a passage out of proverbs to which the reverend could not find a come back for. I do not know what to make of Jason—he sometimes comes across as such the gentleman (scholarly even) and yet, other times, it is clear that he is a woodsman, out of place among all of us women. But he certainly was able to outspeak the reverend!And my respect for Joshua grew out of an incident between Tom and Charity. Tom was demanding kisses from the brides. Now, who do you think defended Charity when she refused? Why, the very man who has seemed to make it his goal to kiss every bride on board ship! Joshua Bolt gave Tom quite the blow to the nose, although I suspect that the blow to his ego was greater.
I have had my doubts about the Bolt brothers, but after this week, I am grateful that I put my destiny in their hands.
March 11, 1865
I had quite the fright today. Our ship was attacked. First we were chased and then we were shot at. It was very nervewracking. I have heard stories about pirate ships and other dreadful groups that climb aboard the ship and steal the women. When the shots rang out, I did what any lady would do. I fainted.March 17, 1865
Today we disembarked in Lota, Chile for a day away from that ship. Mary Ellen and I chose to go to the market, although we could have gone to the American Consul's for tea. We spend so much time aboard the ship, that when we do get a chance to leave, the choices are too hard to make! All I know is that I prefer land.The market was loud and bawdy. Mary Ellen and I had decided at the onset of the trip to stop at each port and buy something for our hope chests. The prices were ridiculously high here for the quality of what was available. We finally picked out scarves for ourselves and paid what we thought was a fair price.
March 22, 1865
I am too busy to write much, but we had a nice party with the consul before we left Chile. Yesterday we made another stop to pick up supplies. We seem to just keep stopping.Jeremy Bolt brought all of us ladies a gift from town. He came onto the ship with his pockets fairly bulging and gave us each a tooth! He thought that it would make us think of home. I told him that a tooth is not a nice gift to give to a lady.
March 31, 1865
We stayed up very late to watch the eclipse of the moon. I started wandering along the deck when Joshua Bolt came over to talk to me. I was surprised, but he is very friendly. He placed an arm around me and told me how the moon is supposed to be very romantic. I guess that it was, because I let him kiss me. I am not sure why I let him do that. He has kissed most everyone by now. It did feel nice, though. I wonder if I can get him to persuade another kiss out of me?April
April 6, 1865
We are stopping at an island chain. There are no villages there, no markets. It seems a silly stop to me and I questioned why we'd go there. Mr. Jason Bolt told me that it was so that the men can hunt and the ladies can bathe. It seems so uncivilized somehow. Several of us feel that it is not fitting for a proper lady to bathe outside like they are suggesting.April 8, 1865
I gave in, despite my misgivings. Mr. Bolt the eldest, gave us all a fancy speech yesterday about how God had created the Gallapagos for people to appreciate what beauty he can make and that he must have intended beautiful women and beautiful islands to go together. Most of the ladies who had hesitated to go were drawn in when he said that he looked forward to us returning to the ship "with the sweet scent of island flowers clinging to us".April 13, 1865
Not much new to report. Amanda, Charity, Mary Ellen and I have been busy working on our embroidery samplers for our hope chests. Some of the other ladies prefer to sit around and moon over the men or try to gain the Bolt brothers' interest. Perhaps I should start a Finishing School for them? Heaven knows enough of them lack etiquette.I believe that Amanda is right about how the lord is tempting us with these men. All three Bolt brothers are very nice to look at. I find Jason to be very intimidating. He looks like the engravings of Apollo in my old mythology book. Jeremy, the youngest one, seems to be in intimidated by all of us - although not as much as he once was. Joshua, the middle brother, is a good compromise: neither too intimidating, nor intimidated.
I try to keep my mind off of them by working on my sampler, but I find I just keep thinking about all three! So I work harder on my needlework. I suspect I will have the most needlework done of any of us.
April 20, 1865
I suspect that our many weeks together at sea, confined to these mule stalls has affected our minds. Some of the less refined ladies were flirting with the sailors which caused the captain to fear that his men might not able to do their job. It has also caused the poor Mr. Bolts some concern since it is their duty to see that we all arrive in Seattle in marriageable condition. I overheard Mr. Bolt the oldest asking one Mr. Jonathon Horn to subdue his affections for one of the younger girls and promising that would see to it that they could wed as soon as they arrived in Seattle.The captain imposed a curfew upon us in the evenings. It seems more than reasonable to me as it would provide us with time to study our Bibles. Also, we should not appear so desparate for male company as to constantly being chasing after the sailors. But, we are not all had the privilege of being well-raised. I must remind myself of that, so I can make the appropriate allowances for the behavior of some of the girls.
Candy Pruitt wanted to create a petition to take to the Bolt brothers demanding our right to got on the deck. I believe that she and Biddie Cloom were working out the appropriate wording of such a document when Kittie Mulhern took matters into her own hands and gained freedom for all of us.
It will be interesting to see how she and Candy Pruitt get along in the future, since they are both so headstrong.
April 26, 1865
I am breaking with habit and writing on Wednesday, rather than my usual Thursday night. We arrived in San Francisco yesterday. Kate O'Neill joined us. She is Karen St. James' cousin and she left New Bedford less than two months ago! If there was a shorter, less harrowing way to get here, I must question why the Bolt brothers chose to make us sail around the Horn in a mule boat.Miss O'Neill brought news from home. There was a letter from my mother and aunt filling me in what has been going on in New Bedford since we left. How much I miss home and their safe company.
I must finish this up, for we are expected to take a tour of the city in a few moments.
April 27, 1865
I think Mr. Jason Bolt must be laughing at us. He took us on a treacherous walk through the city of San Francisco yesterday. San Francisco is a rough city and as we left the Shamus O'Flynn we walked through the unpleasant part of town where transients and sailors often gather to head upward to see the view. Mr. Bolt kept trying to encourage us to keep going by telling us that he and his brothers run up and down their mountain at home every day and that it would do us well to be in a good phsyical state when we reach there. Those of us that lagged behind feared that the unsavoury elements of San Francisco would find us, so we trudged ever upward.Finally, Mary Ellen could take no more and began weeping. We remained behind as the others climbed up to the top of the hill. I understand that the view was lovely. Amanda and Charity joined us shortly, having given up before reaching the top.
I pray that Seattle is not one big mountain.
April 28, 1865
I am devastated. The Bolt brothers went to the symphony last night with three of the most forward of the brides: Candy, Carla and Katchie. It has been clear for some time that Mr. Jeremy Bolt has been favoring Candy. For that I have been glad, for the dear boy seemed to be so afraid of everyone, but the older two remained free to dream about.I will probably spend all day working on my sampler as I pray forgiveness for this jealousy that I am feeling. My sampler is growing increasingly intricate. Originally it was to be just a simple proverb about house and home, but have added much more to it. Mary Ellen and Charity have shown me how to do some fancy french knots and I have created a border that looks like lace around the entire sampler.
May
May 4, 1865
We are halfway between San Francisco and Seattle. You can see how eager the Bolt brothers are to be nearing home. We, on the other hand, are growing increasingly apprehensive. All of our clothing has been washed and mended and some of the ladies have been trimming our hair. We all want to look our very best.May 11, 1865
The most unexpectedly wonderful thing has happened. We arrived in Seattle last night—that was NOT the unexpected part. There was a welcoming party for us. What was unexpected was that I met a man. Well, not totally unexpected, for that is why I came here after all. His name is Mason Chandler and he is a farmer. The news about our arrival spread throughout the territory very fast and many men came, even camping out in the streets to see our arrival.Mr. Chandler (it is a funny name when you think about it - a mason, a candlemaker and he farms) has a farm just north of Seattle. He supplies the residents with fresh eggs and milk. There is another farm, just inland a bit. I can't remember that man's name, but Mason gives him supplies him with fertilizer which the chickens and cows make, and the other farmer uses that to grow vegetables. I am not sure how chickens and cows make fertilizer, but I will find out, because Mr. Chandler proposed to me!
Candy Pruitt put up a fuss, of course. I suppose she expected that she and Jeremy would be getting engaged first. Actually, Biddie got the FIRST proposal, from one of the loggers, but she followed Candy's advice and told him that she needed to know him better. I hope that she doesn't regret not accepting. As for me, Candy went to Jason, full of concern over my welfare and worried that all of the girls would marry men that they'd barely met. I hate to sound ungracious, because for all I know she may be sincere, but the lady has never shown me any concern before and I really think that she is just afraid that she will not be able to be in charge if we all get married. But Jason vouched for Mason and thanked Candy for her concern.
And as for me, I know that Mason will be a fine husband. I think what touched me the most, was when he said that when he heard about the Bolt brothers' plan, he decided that one of the women they brought back would be his wife. He wanted to build a large house for his future wife, but knew that she would probably want to help plan what it looked like, so he waited and concentrated instead on making his farm the best in the territory. Tomorrow I will go see his farm and we will start planning. As soon as it is built, we will be married.
