"What women say of the Canadian north-west...", 1886. Women's names now Indexed.

View of St Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral, built in the 1880s, completed 1901, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. 

Image courtesy of Peel's Prairie Provinces, a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries. PC005453: "St. Mary's Church, Calgary, Alta." is licensed by University of Alberta Libraries under the Attribution - Non-Commercial - Creative Commons license. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/permissions/postcards.html

Many local histories, memoirs and original documents can give you 'flavour' to add to your own family history. It's not that often that women's opinions and experiences are included in these records, even when the women themselves write. 

One booklet, "What women say of the Canadian north-west: a simple statement of the experiences of women settled in all parts of Manitoba and the North-west Territories." [London? : s.n.], 1886 (London: M. Blacklock); 52 pages) does include named women's own statements about life on the Prairies. 

The topics covered topics like poultry raising, churches, schools, demands for milliners, dressmakers - and "girls" as domestic labour, along with "Advice to Newcomers". Women were even asked  "Are You Contented?"

This booklet was published in 1886 to promote emigration to Canada's northwest, the Canadian prairies, recently opened up for homesteading (and sales). Women living in the northwest were asked to comment on several questions. Their answers are mainly (but not all) positive. Sometimes a woman answered a number of questions; sometimes only a few. Many identified where they were living, or where they'd come from. 

Well worth a read even if you do not find one of your family listed. No, not all women who lived on the prairies are represented, but it does seem to represent a selection of the more recent migrants from other parts of Canada or from the UK. 

There are a number of online copies of the "What Women Say..." booklet available. This is the one I used -  from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/cihm_30717  Check WorldCat to see if there is a copy near you. 

My 'What Women Say..." Index ( M Diane Rogers, 2021) is available free (12 pp .pdf). People are listed in the index by surname. If a place name was mentioned, it will be in this index with the name. Please let me know of any errors or omissions.  Access the Index here.

If you find someone through this index, please do contact me. In some cases, I may have more information. Leave me a comment on this blog post or on Twitter or Facebook. 

(Yes, I am indexing similar booklets full of men's comments on the northwest and hope to make that index available soon.)