Publisher's Synopsis
In 1872, Malissa Hixson Gorrell left Ohio with her infant daughter to join Malissa's husband, Joseph Gorrell, on the homestead he had established on the Kansas frontier. After Joseph's death soon thereafter, Malissa remarries and discovers that Joe Hahn is a man always searching for riches, moving to the edge of the American frontier. Malissa lives a life of wandering with her second husband and her expanding family which eventually includes 6 sons and 7 daughters, with two dying as infants. Three Generations of Resilient Women tells the life stories of Malissa (1850-1927), her daughter-in-law Clover (1894-1990), and Clover's daughter Josephine (1914- ). Clover and Josephine are the narrators of the saga. Common threads are woven across the three generations. All three women shared a strong love of family, courage in the face of tragedy, and the physical and emotional strength to cope with the difficult circumstances they encountered. They spent much of their lives traveling, looking for a safe place to prosper and raise their families. Much of their 'housekeeping' was done while living in a tent or primitive cabin. Each was sufficiently self-reliant to keep their families fed and clothed with minimal resources. They rarely had medical assistance for childbirth or serious illnesses and injuries. These pioneer women demonstrate the determination and resilience that was the foundation of the women who opened the West. They prepared the way for independent women of our generation by offering an example to daughters everywhere.
