Women Editors of the Old West

 

By Kristy McCaffrey

Between 1854 and 1899 there were almost three hundred women who were editing publications in eleven western states in the U.S.

While the records of women’s contributions to newspapers and periodicals wasn’t always well documented, the first female western editor was likely Sarah Moore Clarke, who published The Contra Costa in Oakland, California, in 1854. The purpose of her weekly paper was, “to do service as a ladies’ paper, as well as in the drudgery of a general news organ.”

 

Female editors were diverse, from thirteen-year-old Katherine Bragg, who published The Bug-Hunter in 1891, in Tombstone, Arizona, to Mary Hayes-Chynoweth, who edited her church’s magazine, The True Life. Most of the women were from middle-class backgrounds and had several years of schooling.

For the most part, female editors worked independently. When they had co-editors, their partners were likely to be a female related to them or a spouse. Their careers were usually short-lived, lasting on average two years. However, Emmeline B. Wells had a thirty-seven-year career as editor of the Woman’s Exponent in Salt Lake City, Utah, taking it over in 1877.

 

Most women edited small-town weeklies, but many publications ran the gamut of subject matter: Western Society, Salt Lake Sanitarian, Temperance Star, Indian Advance, and Out of Doors for Women were just a few of the periodicals and newspapers available at the time.

In the book Equal to the Occasion by Sherilyn Cox Bennion, she writes, “Perhaps the acceptance of women as journalists, and particularly as editors and publishers, had something to do with a subconscious perception that women and the press shared certain common functions. Women, after all, brought civilization to the frontier, at least in the eyes of those who accepted the traditional ideas of a woman’s place. They initiated the recruiting of teachers and preachers and organized literary societies and amateur theatricals. Newspapers, for their part, brought the printed word. … Woman may have seen the editorial role as compatible with their natural tendencies, and communities may have accepted them because that perception was shared.”

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In my upcoming book, THE NIGHTHAWK, Sophie Ryan has come to Jerome, Arizona Territory, in 1899 to work as a reporter for the Jerome Mining News. While her employer is the elder Hayes Bromley, it’s actually his daughter, Olivia, who runs the paper. Pre-order THE NIGHTHAWK now!

Sophie Ryan’s dream of working for a newspaper has come true. Accompanied by her cousin, Lucas Blackmore, a newly appointed U.S. Deputy Marshal, she arrives in Jerome, one of the richest mining towns in America. And one of the most remote. Although she’s been hired to report for the Jerome Mining News on education and cultural issues, she soon finds herself immersed in something more serious when she finds an enigmatic injured man in the Black Hills claiming to be an ornithologist.

U.S. Deputy Marshal Benton McKay is undercover tracking the notorious train robbing Weaver gang, and the trail ends in Jerome. When he’s injured in the Black Hills and found by a determined and beautiful young woman, he must gain her trust to keep his identity a secret. But keeping her out of trouble proves a challenge, especially with her cousin assigned to assist him. As they track down the band of outlaws, another agenda emerges—the renegades are searching for lost gold believed to have been left behind by the Spanish Conquistadors. And Sophie Ryan is determined to report on it.

Come along with Sophie and McKay as they find adventure, mystery, and love.

Sophie is the daughter of Logan and Claire from THE DOVE.

Coming July 17, 2024

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