Woman in the Wilderness

by Nancy Bunge

Overview

Woman in the Wilderness is a collection of letters written between 1832 and 1892 to and by an American woman, Harriet Wood Wheeler.
     Harriet's letters reveal her experiences with actors and institutions that played pivotal roles in the history of American women: the nascent literate female work force at the mills in Lowell, Massachusetts; the Ipswich Female Seminary, which was one of the first schools for women teachers; women's associations, especially in churches; and the close and enduring ties that characterized women's relationships in the late nineteenth century.
     Harriet's letters also provide an intimate view of the relationships between American Indians and Euro-Americans in the Great Lakes region, where she settled with her Christian missionary husband.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780870139789
Publisher:	Michigan State University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2010
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Nancy Bunge, a Professor of American Studies at Michigan State University, is the author of Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Study of the Short Fiction.

Read an Excerpt

WOMAN IN THE Wilderness

Letters of Harriet Wood Wheeler, Missionary Wife, 1832–1892

---

By Nancy Bunge

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 2010 Nancy Bunge
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-87013-978-9

---

Chapter One

Preparation for the Journey

Harriet Wood was born in Dracutt, Massachusetts, to Patience and Samuel Wood on December 4, 1816. Her ardently religious parents named her after the missionary Harriet Newell. Her mother gave birth to three more daughters, Mary, Eliza, and Hannah, and two sons, Newell and Henry, before dying of typhus when Harriet was fourteen years old. Even though her father was a marginally literate sales clerk, in 1832 he sent Harriet to the Female Seminary in Ipswich, Massachusetts run by Zilpah Grant and Mary Lyon. The seminary was one of a handful of schools in the United States where women could receive teacher training. Grant and Lyon aspired not only to educate their charges but also to cultivate their religious dispositions and their commitment to social change. According to a pamphlet produced by the school covering the years 1830–1835, Lyon and Grant thought that their students must "have their views and feelings drawn away from self and beyond the family circle—they need to act as members of a large community—they need to learn by practice, the true Christian philosophy of sacrificing private interest to public good."

More specifically, Lyon and Grant hoped their students would become missionary wives or missionaries like Harriet's namesake. A fragmentary letter that survives from Harriet's sojourn in Ipswich shows her beginning to learn this lesson. On July 27, 1832, she writes from school to her father and her stepmother, Julia, that "for a few weeks past I have begun to look around and consider what I must become when I leave here, and the more I think of it, the more I am bewildered. I very much wish to form a character that will do some good; one that will be useful; not one that will live only for the gratification of selfish principles."

A letter written by another Ipswich student, Maria Cowles, on March 29, 1831, to her family, describes the specific form this education took.

Would you be interested to know something of the history of this school the past term? We have had 123 scholars, from the age of 12 to some 35 or 40 years. One minister's widow, one of the children of the forest, from Mackinaw, Mich. Ter. Her father is an Englishman, her mother a native. She is very respectable, intelligent, accomplished, & pious. She is as much respected as any of our N. England ladies, & as worthy of respect.

Not far from one half of the young ladies have been engaged in teaching; several of them have been preceptresses of academies etc. These teachers with several others who were desirous of preparing to teach, have met weekly to receive instruction upon the subject, from Misses Grant & Lyon, to present their difficulties, & to mention plans which have proved successful by experiment. The course of instruction pursued this winter, was designed to promote the object of preparing teachers for their responsible office. A course of familiar lectures on conversation, & another course of intellectual philosophy have been given by Miss Grant, which are valuable not only to teachers, but to all in whatever station. Miss G. has given a course of instruction on Monday mornings, on the doctrines of the gospel.

The young ladies are much interested in the cause of benevolence. Miss Lyon has given a course of lectures on this subject, which in connection with the state of religious feeling existing in the school, has produced a most powerful, & we hope, salutary effect. Many of the young ladies seem resolved henceforward, to spend their time, money, & influence in the way which shall effect the most possible good. The design & effect of these lectures were to affect the heart, the main spring of action. Probably something of a revolution will be the result of these lectures: a revolution in the manners of spending time, in dress, furniture etc. etc. The several courses of lectures mentioned, have all seemed to aim at one point, to converge to one focus,—that of stimulating minds & hearts to action in promoting the happiness of mankind in general. One division seemed to be this, to rouse to action in influencing mind so as to prepare it for greater enjoyment & usefulness.

One evidence that the desired effect of these lectures is producing is that several are now willing to devote their time to teaching, who have hitherto been averse to it. Another is that several young ladies are willing to sacrifice home, friends, & New England privileges, for the sake of doing good to minds in the Valley of the Mississippi. Some have actually set out for that Valley & others are only waiting for the wind and tide, & will probably launch in a few days. Some are bound for Edwardsville, Illinois; one for Chillicothe, Ohio. Three young ladies who were members of this seminary, have been laboring for several months in Chillicothe, Ohio. One le_ us some six or eight weeks since for Marietta, Ohio. These have all gone in answer to applications which have been sent to this seminary. Since it is understood in that part of the country, that there is a seminary in N.E. to which applications may be made for teachers, the way is open for doing much good.

Probably Misses Grant & Lyon can be much more useful here than in the Valley of the Mississippi. Hence, in comparison, they have only to polish & refine the stock, or, as it were, give the finishing touch; while there they must take the raw materials. The valley of the Mississippi is not the only field for which Misses G. & L. can prepare teachers. They receive applications from various parts of N.E. & from Canada. Their sphere of usefulness is as large as that of any females on the stage of action.

The religious state of our school has been very interesting this winter. Nearly one half entertained the hope that they had passed from death onto life, before they entered the school. Many of these have been alive & active this winter. The Lord, in infinite mercy, perhaps in answer to their earnest requests, has been pleased to appear among us, by his Spirit. Some 18 or 20 give evidence of having been born again. Several others have been deeply solicitous for their soul's salvation. Not more than six or seven have remained unaffected. At the commencement of the school, the invitation was given to those who were decided to seek religion, & were anxious to learn the way of salvation, to meet at Miss Grant's room for the purpose of receiving instruction, & for personal conversation, if they desired it. At first, few attended. At one of the last meetings the number was increased to 50. Those who indulged hope previous to this winter, have met weekly with Misses G. & L. for prayer and religious instruction. These meetings have been held on the same evening of the meeting for those who were enquiring. Meetings for prayer have also been held on Sabbath morning in the several boarding houses. We have had 34 boarders in our family this winter; about 20 belonged to this circle. Our religious privileges exalt us to heaven, but dreadful would be the shock should any of us fall from such a height.

We have had a class of about forty young ladies, in vocal music. About half never tried to sing before. Several had before considered it impossible for them to learn. Not more than eight or ten had attended a regular singing school, & all felt that they were very deficient in this brand of science. Some voices were manufactured by patient practice. Six or seven hours in a week were spent for five or six weeks. Some practiced as long as this before they could sound all the notes in the octave.

We practiced singing as much as would average an hour a day, for five or six weeks, before we commenced singing tunes at all. All this time was spent in cultivating the voice, viz, its tone articulation, & pronunciation, swelling & accent. Instead of singing syllables as is usually practiced, only a sound was emitted, resembling aw prolonged. For variety, however, we used to sing the syllables do, ra, mi, fa, sol, law, si. We endeavored to improve articulation by singing these syllables. Our object was to sing the vowels & articulate the consonants. This exercise assisted in gaining a proper pronunciation, but to become acquainted with the art more thoroughly, we practiced singing phrases like the following. "Praise ye the Lord," "Hosanna." We thought this plan recommended itself to common sense, "One thing at a time is our motto." If we had attempted to cultivate the voice in connection with learning written music, the mind must have been divided between different objects; & it is an acknowledged fact that if the attention is thus divided, great improvement cannot be made as might otherwise be. It seems to be the most natural order that the voice should be first cultivated. We should first learn what is natural before we proceed to that which is artificial. We have proved by experiment greater improvement will be made in a given time. We learned a whole hymn, & could sing it pretty well. When written music was introduced upon the blackboard, the young ladies seemed prepared to understand it, & in a few days, most of the class were able to read music with a considerable degree of facility. Within six weeks after they commenced reading written music, they actually excelled common choirs of singers in readiness and accuracy.

It is truly surprising—at first thought, but when we consider what a rapid improvement the mind is capable of making, when instructed on natural principles, it is no longer a subject of surprise. For the last two or three weeks of the term, we were able to sing a hymn at the opening of the school in the morning. The effect was favorable. The words were generally sung in such a manner as to give the sense to express the sentiment & we trust, many sang with grace in their hearts unto the Lord, while others listened with the most solemn attention. This seemed to prepare the mind in some degree for the religious instruction which immediately succeeded, though many minds were very solemn before.

Yesterday, being the close of school, we had an exhibition of music & composition, interspersed. It was truly interesting to see the propriety with which every thing was conducted & the order that prevailed. All were able to retain their self-possession although placed in a trying situation. Something of a specimen of a course of composition, which has been prose, tried here for a few months past, was exhibited. No young lady read her own composition, but some members of the school who had good voices & could read pretty well, were appointed. The compositions were very acceptable. I was called to bear my part on the piano, which, as you may judge, places me in a trying situation, inexperienced as I am in the art of fingering. But I was supported through it. I realized the promise, "As thy day is, so shall thy strength be." We have abundant cause for gratitude for all the mercies we receive, especially for the support we experience in the performance of trying duties.

The course of composition which we are endeavoring to bring to perfection, promises a rich harvest. It is made a subject of every day study & recitation as much as geography & arithmetic. By making it an every day study, instead of sitting down alone to write, as a task, once in two or three weeks, by taking subjects that are in themselves interesting, & conversing familiarly upon those subjects in the class before writing, the scholars are interested in it & learn to love it instead of feeling it to be an insupportable burden. With emotions of pleasure & gratitude, we have witnessed most wonderful improvement, in the minds & characters of several of the young ladies; probably the effect of this course of composition. In the first part of the course we take the most familiar objects to describe, such as plants, trees, animals etc. & proceed to historical sketches, Bible scenes, & at length, to traits of character etc. Composition might profitably be pursued in connection with almost, if not every branch of study taught, & not only pursued in connection, but subjects might be taken from the study itself. For instance, in geography descriptions of towns & countries, etc. In history, any anecdote or historical fact; biography of historical characters, etc. In botany, descriptions of plants etc. etc. We find abundance of interesting & profitable subjects, without being under the necessity of taking such subjects as education, memory, improvement of the mind etc. which are enough to puzzle a wise metaphysician.

Perhaps you will not thank me for filling this sheet in such an egotistical strain, but judging you by myself, I thought you would like to know what I was doing.

I want to know more of the state of society among your people. I hope you will both of you be useful & faithful to them. Your affectionate sister Maria Cowles.

* * *

Like many of the seminary's students, Harriet Wood only stayed at Ipswich for a brief time. One of the few students to complete the course was the woman to whom Cowles refers, Mary Holiday, whose father was English and mother was Ojibwe. Holiday was one of only nineteen students in the 1834 senior class. Harriet's early exposure to the intelligent, cultivated Holiday there may help explain why, from the start of her mission work, she regarded the Ojibwe more tolerantly than her husband, Leonard. Perhaps motivated by learning that music can enhance grace, she instructed both the Ojibwe and her own children in singing; her daughter Julia also became an accomplished pianist. Harriet Wheeler's early introduction to composition as an important means of exploring one's daily life while improving character may help explain why two of her daughters, Julia and Harriet, became writers who produced work about the Ojibwe.

After Harriet Wood left Ipswich, she returned to her family in Lowell, Massachusetts, where she taught school, both in the public system and at her church, the Appleton Street (Orthodox) Congregational Church. During this period, the establishment and growth of the Lowell textile mills increased the size and wealth of the city exponentially. Harriet undoubtedly had many contacts with the New England girls who did most of the mill work during this time. Mill workers earned higher incomes than any other American women: they could make six or seven more times than a schoolteacher. But they refused to let their demanding jobs obstruct their educations. The mill girls not only read avidly during their scant free time, they wrote, producing journals, including the well-known Lowell Offering. Its prominent contributors included Betsey Chamberlain, an American Indian woman. Lowell became a prominent stop on the Lyceum lecture series, which meant intellectual luminaries like Horace Greeley, John Quincy Adams, and Ralph Waldo Emerson gave talks there throughout the winter, oft en with mill girls in attendance. They also joined the Lowell churches where all who had been saved, including mill girls, enjoyed respect. Reverend U. C. Burnap, the minister of Harriet's church who recommended her for mission work, regularly visited his other parishioners in the mills. And the author Lucy Larcom, the most famous and distinguished mill alumna, reports that the mill girls saved their money in the hopes that they could one day attend the Female Seminary in Ipswich. Indeed, the list of students attending the Ipswich seminary in 1828 includes the name Betsey Chamberlain. Thus, Harriet Wheeler returned to Lowell, where she circulated among other young women quietly shaping larger and more powerful lives than American women had ever before led.

The diary of her best friend, Susan Wetherbee, gives a sense of Harriet's daily life from 1836 until May 20, 1841, when Susan reports that her friend Harriet has left Lowell with her new husband to do mission work at Ojibwe reservations in northern Wisconsin. Susan, who corresponds with Harriet until Susan's death in 1881, describes a gentle life of church, lectures, teas, and parties interrupted with surprising frequency by death. The entries also suggest the religiosity and passion of Harriet's friends and family for both abolition and temperance. In her few florid entries, Susan also displays a romantic fondness for nature that persists throughout her lifelong correspondence with Harriet.

1836

May 1. I attended on the preaching of Mr. Lewis a Coloured Man who discoursed at the Free Will Baptist's Chapel, his subject the Graces of the Spirit. His discourse really edifying.

(Continues...)

---

Excerpted from WOMAN IN THE Wilderness by Nancy Bunge Copyright © 2010 by Nancy Bunge. Excerpted by permission of MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Preface xi

The Wood/Wheeler Family xvii

1 Preparation for the Journey 3

2 The Reality of Mission Life 21

3 Building a Home Alone in the Forest 53

4 Standing with the Ojibwe against Removal and Smallpox 91

5 Struggling against Sickness 113

6 Harriet's Children 149

7 Life Without a Mission 181

Notes 229

Selected Bibliography 247

Index 249