Joshua Bolt

Joshua is a romantic at heart. He seems more in love with romance than with any particular girl and has pursues love with a few of the brides and many of the ladies passing through Seattle:

• Rachel Miller, the Jewish bride who realized that it was important to her to marry within her faith. Heartbroken Joshua helps Jason encourage a Jewish logger to court Rachel, so that she will not leave Seattle. When Rachel and logger Sully hit it off, a mourning Joshua still makes an appearance at their wedding.
• Peggy, the young bride who wrote her guardian that she married Joshua. The Bolts agree to help Peggy convince her guardian that she is married to Joshua, because if she is unmarried, her guardian can take her home to New Bedford and cause the Bolts to lose their mountain.
• Bridget, the stepdaughter of the leader of the Fenian Brotherhood of America, who plan to help free Ireland from British rule.
• Callie Marsh, the blind girl whose father rents a cabin from the Bolt brothers every year for the Rendezvous. Joshua arranges for Callie to have corrective surgery for her eyes.
• Astasia, the Greek woman who loves both Joshua and Stephanos. The two men agree to a fight, with Astasia as the prize. (During all of this, she falls in love with another man and runs off with him.)
• Valerie, the niece of Emma Peak, who has been plotting revenge against the Bolt family for over thirty years.

Jeremy Bolt

In the beginning, he is very shy and rarely seen without one of his brothers. His shyness is caused by embarrassment over his stutter, which started after his mother died. He longs and eventually is able to go on bidding trips—like his brothers do.

Jeremy learns to speak without stuttering with the help of a medicine show man. Although his trust in the man is shattered when he realizes that he was a fraud, Jeremy learns to believe in himself and the stutter all but vanishes during the remainder of the show. As he gains confidence, he reveals a personality similar to Jason's, although his motivation tends to be driven when he feels something is unjust. He loses his shyness, but remains sensitive. This plus his impulsive nature lead him into some interesting situations.

On the voyage back to Seattle with the brides, he meets Candy Pruitt and gathers the courage to talk, dance and eventually court her and become engaged. Jeremy remains very faithful to her, although he once spends a day with a dance hall girl named Billie (aka. "Busty") and appears quite taken by the appearance of a French Canadian woman named Renee.

Aaron George Stempel

Over the course of the show, Aaron's relationship with Jason develops from one in which he appears out to get the mountain at any cost, to one of a grudging respect and barely acknowledged friendship with Jason. Despite their different personalities, Jason is Aaron's only true peer in town.

Very little of Aaron's past is revealed in the show. He has a younger sister named Julie, who lives in San Francisco. They are co-owners of the sawmill, having inherited it in a will whose terms seem similar to the Bolts. Aaron has not always lived in Seattle—fifteen years ago he considered settling near Tucson with a lady named Ellen, who was tragically killed by the Apache.

Aaron is attracted to Patricia Vanderhoff, a business lady who comes to Seattle and decides to open a saloon, complete with dance hall girls. Aaron finds it hard to listen to lectures about loyalty to Lottie's Saloon when he finds that with Patricia, he is finally comfortable enough with someone to tell a joke. Patricia's past illegal dealings catch up with her and she is sent to jail, leaving Aaron alone again.

Carlotta Maria Hatfield ("Lottie")

Lottie has had a hard life. She travelled west by wagon, by way of Topeka. She married a man named Jack Crosse and had a daughter, Katherine. Jack turned out to be a criminal and when the marriage ended, Lottie was forced to become a Barbary Coast dance girl and to give her daughter to her sister to raise. Eventually, Lottie's fortunes changed and she was able to own her own dance hall with a man named Matthew Muncie. When this burned down (ten years prior to show time), she started over again in Seattle.

(Her past came back to haunt her—both Jack and Matthew visited Seattle. Jack was murdered and Lottie initally accused of his death. One of Jack's "business" partners killed him. Matthew Muncy comes to Seattle to swindle the town, and when the townspeople grow wise to his scheme, they stage their own revenge.)

Lottie finds warmth, friendship and love with Captain Clancey, her best customer. Although they never marry, it appears that they have found contentment together.

Captain Roland Francis Clancey

Although appearing gruff, and often in search of a drink, Clancey reveals himself to be a wise, caring man—the perfect soulmate for Lottie, who calls him "Fish-face" so as not to embarrass him by calling him "Sweetheart".

Clancey comes from a big Irish family with many brothers and sisters, including one priest, Father Ned, who visits him at one point. (Other siblings include Mary-Margaret, Dennis,...—even Clancey isn't 100% sure of all of their names.) He is an experienced seaman who has owned his ship for over twenty-six years before taking the brides west and leaving the woman he cared for (Wilma) behind.

At first, Clancey has no intention of staying in Seattle, but Jason and Lottie convince him to stay. His ship, becomes a vital resource to the town, providing a way to ship timber to San Francisco and bring supplies into Seattle. As for Clancey, he he considers Seattle to be family. He enjoys watching the situations that Jason Bolt gets himself into, because he likes to see how he gets out of them.

Clancey has his own set of morals to live by, garnered from his life at sea. From his unique viewpoint, he often sheds insight into a situation and the Bolt brothers have learned to respect what he says. Tolerant of most, he becomes fiercely defensive when any other man shows attentions to Lottie.

Candy Pruitt

Prior to going to Seattle, Candy worked at the New Bedford Fire Station. From her first meeting with the Bolts, she challenged their plans and demanded explanations. When Jason implored the women to accept his offer, they all turned to Candy to see her reaction before making their own decision.

It was aboard the Shamus O'Flynn that, Candy and Jeremy's romance began. It continued throughout the series, and due to various obstacles and misunderstandings, they had not yet married by the show's end. Although Candy is more outspoken than Jeremy (at least in the beginning of the series), together they share a strong desire to do the right thing.

Candy's grandfather, Benjamin Pruitt, came to Seattle during the her first year of living there to fulfill a dream of finding gold. Candy enlists Jeremy's help in salting a mine when she fears that without that dream her grandfather will lose his will to live. The subsequent excitement caused by his find sparks gold rush fever in Seattle.

In the beginning of the second season, Candy's young brother (Christopher Andrew) and sister (Molly) become residents of Seattle upon the death of their mother in New Bedford. To give Christopher and Molly time to adjust to Seattle and for Jeremy to get used to them, their wedding is set off in the distant future.

Although Candy remains faithful to Jeremy, there were occasions when other men take an interest in her:

• Adam Wilson, the Mormon in search of many wives comes to town. Candy and several other brides return with Adam to his farm in order to teach Jason and some of the other men a lesson in taking them for granted. Jeremy, who was away at the time, stops at the farmhouse and finds Candy.
• Ward Kimberly, a new man in town, who befriends Candy when Jeremy is away on his first sales trip. Jason talks to Candy about his concern that she may be seeing someone else. This backfires, resulting in Candy seeing more of Ward and confiding in him about how meddlesome the Bolts are in her life. Ward interprets this to mean that she cares very much for Jeremy and what his brothers think, so their relationship remains innocent.
• Pierre LeBeau, the actor with the French accent. Candy is enlisted by Jason to distract Pierre so that he can find out what became of the money and jewelry stolen in Seattle during the Shakepearean theatre troupe's performance there. Candy acquires an enticing red velvet dress.
• Rafe Holliday, who saves Jeremy's life and is hurt in the process. He recovers and kidnaps Candy, who is eventually rescued by Jeremy.

Biddie Cloom

Often dismissed as being a scatter-brained gossip, and not taken seriously, she sometimes laments that "it's no fun being a biddie." Unlike some of the more genteel brides, Biddie seems to have come from a big family of rowdy relatives and knows how to play cards and drink. (She refers to her Aunt Irene, Uncle Raymond and one or two others.) Whether it is luck or skill, Biddie excels at cards and is able to win the occasional bet.

Biddie enjoys an occasional drink, but knows that it is not ladylike, so she'll only accept "a couple of finger fulls" when asked. Otherwise, she only drinks when there is good reason: for medicinal purposes, for nerves, or to help her sleep. At one point she became involved in a moonshine scheme with Captain Clancey when he offers to help her put a bit more kick into her homemade elderberry wine.

Biddie is the most literary of the brides. In the pilot, she may have been working in the library. She is the only bride who knows the Dewey decimal system for classifying books. She attempts at one point to write Seattle's history and helps write letters to P.T. Barnum and to one of the Bolt's logging contractors on behalf of his son. She also wrote a humorous poem about an arsonist.

When two lawyers come to town, Biddie finds herself involved in her first serious relationship, with Barnabus Webster. He has been involved in some unethical dealings with his brother, Victor, and promises to come back for her once he's repaired the damage he has caused. In the meantime, Biddie pursues every other available man.

Miss Essie

Miss Essie is a rarity in Seattle: she is educated and ladylike, the cultivator and collector of "pretty things". She marries the big Swedish logger (Olaf Gustafson) who is so in love with her. They admire traits in each other that they themselves appear to lack. Miss Essie admires Swede's strength and gentleness; he admires her intelligence.

Swede frets occasionally about not being good enough for his wife: she is a professional and educated; he is an uneducated logger. When he attempts to play the typical role of husband and assert himself, Miss Essie stand firm and calls him a "boor".

Essie may not be an assertive woman on her own, but her education and knowledge provide her with suggestions to the brides (particularly Candy) that inspire them all to take a stand. When Essie points out to Candy that the Wyoming women have the power to vote, Candy convinces the brides to fight for their rights and suddenly Miss Essie is running for mayor. Another time, Essie informs the brides that sometimes holding back is a stronger motivator in getting what you want.

Emily is Ben's wife and mother of Ben, Jr. She appeals the new doctor's decision not to stay in town, on behalf of her unborn baby by expressing the fears and concerns that she will lose another baby if the doctor leaves. She provides a strong female role model for the brides as she moves on despite adversity.

• Reverend Gaddings and Polly Blake
• Ethan Weems and Becky Hobbs
• Olaf "Big Swede" Gustafson and Essie Halliday
• Will Sullivan and Rachel Miller
• Chips and Lu Ann
• Lew Harper and Abigail
• Willard and Jane
• Adam Wilson and Amanda

• Jeremy Bolt and Candy Pruitt
• Davey Hingle and Lulu Bright
• Barnabus Webster and Biddie Cloom