Some women came West seeking a husband during the California Gold Rush.
A California newspaper ran an advertisement that read, “A HUSBAND WANTED: by a lady who can wash, cook, scour, sew, milk, spin, weave, hoe (can’t plow), cut wood, make fires, feed the pigs, raise chickens, rock the cradle (gold rocker, I thank you, Sir!), saw a plank, drive nails, etc...These are a few of the solid branches; now for the ornamental, ‘long time ago’ she (studied), … read Murray’s Geography and (got) through two rules in Pike’s Grammar. Could find six states on the atlas. Count read, and you can see that she can write. Can—no, could—paint roses, butterflies, ships, etc.”
The ad states her terms. “Her age is none of your business,” it said. “She is neither handsome nor a fright, yet an old man need not apply, nor any who (don’t) have … a little more education than she and a great deal more gold, for there must be $20,000 settled on her before she will bind herself to perform all (of) the above...”
The lady obviously was aware men were desperately lonely in the gold fields.
Source: Levy, JoAnn. They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 214. 176. Print.
