Bargain Bride by Evelyn Sibley Lampman is an exciting and fascinating story about a young bride in the Oregon Territory. What could have been a tragic or depressing story is instead charming, wholesome, and a little romantic. Elegantly written, it pleases the mind as well as the heart. And, because it is based on cultural events that were true, the story wrestles with some challenging topics but does so in a way that edifies the reader. This unique and lovely story feels a little like the books of Laura and Almonzo’s courting and early marriage from the Little House on the Prairie series.
“People used to say that she had Papa’s spunk, too, but Cousin Mattie had knocked that out of her.”
Ginny Claibourn was born in North Carolina. When she was ten years old, she and her parents joined a wagon train headed to Oregon Territory. Along the way, the family discovered cousins and joined up with them. When Ginny’s parents died of cholera at the Platte River, Cousin Beau and his wife Mattie took over the Claibourn wagon – Ginny, stock, furnishings, and all.
After the Platte River, Ginny’s folks had nothing but bad luck. By the time they reached Oregon, they had lost most of their goods to Indian attacks, and they could never find any money that Ginny’s parents may have been hiding. In the Oregon Territory, marriageable girls were scarce so, in order to pay for lodgings, Ginny’s cousins sold her to thirty-five-year-old Stephen Mayhew while she was still ten.
“They explained this to you, didn’t they, little lady? We may be married, but you’re still going to live with your folks till you’re fifteen. There won’t be no difference at all. It’s just because of the land. A married man can file a claim on six hundred and forty acres, but a single one, he only gets three hundred and twenty. Come fifteen, you’ll find I’ve made things nice and proper for you. You’ll have as good a house as I can build, maybe even planed lumber, not a cabin made of logs. I’ll treat you right, little lady.”
When the story opens, it is Ginny’s 15th birthday. And, it is the day on which she will leave her cousins’ home and move in with her husband, Stephen Mayhew.
On their wedding day, Stephen Mayhew promised Ginny that he would spend the next five years building her a home and a homestead that she would be proud of. Stephen Mayhew was not only a decent man but also a good one. He kept his word. Ginny left her cousins’ primitive log cabin with only one dress, her mother’s paisley shawl, and next to no possessions. When Ginny crossed the threshold of her new home, she noted that it was a beautiful two-room home with planed wood instead of logs, a brand new cast iron stove, a well-designed kitchen, a pantry full to the brim, and a neat and tidy farm with good stock and a bountiful harvest. Nervous and excited, Ginny began to believe that her luck was changing and that her cousins’ avarice may have actually turned out to her advantage. Minutes later, however, her husband staggered into the house from stabling the horses complaining of being unwell. Hours later, he died of a massive stroke.
Alone and terrified, Ginny was immediately taken into the loving care of a fantastic character, Aunt Lizzie Davis. As Stephen told Ginny on their drive home, Lizzie Davis was aunt to everyone. This lovely character reminds me of Montgomery’s Miss Stacy and Rachel Lynde rolled into one. She is an excellent blessing to Ginny and helps to put things right for the young widow. She, like any human, however, has her failings and prejudices.
Once Stephen Mayhew is buried and Ginny’s cousins return to their home, Ginny is faced with a long winter in her farmhouse entirely alone. Ginny’s nearest neighbor is a white man who had been married to a Molalla (Native American) woman, Nona. He rejected her, and their son, however, when he was ready to marry a white woman in a white church. Nona is hiding on Ginny’s property, unwilling to return to her tribe and admit that she was wrong to marry a white man. Nona and her baby son become Ginny’s housemates for the winter.
Aunt Lizzie instructs Ginny that even though she was hardly married, she should mourn a full year. Lizzie’s husband, Josiah, and her nephew Jeth, however, indicate that in Oregon Territory, six months is sufficient and that Ginny should anticipate that many bachelors in the area will come calling by spring. And they do. After a long and isolated winter, Ginny finds herself cooking for men every day as they work around her farm trying to earn her affection and goodwill. The pretty, young, rich widow Mayhew was a prize worth working for.
By the summer, Ginny has fallen in love and secured her future. It ends well, is wholesome throughout, and is a delightfully fun read.
There are some content considerations parents may wish to be aware of:
I read this story in one sitting on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I am handing this to my thirteen-year-old daughter with no reservations, and I hope to do a book club with it in the next year. It is a fairly unique storyline and, as you can see from above, has some substance to it that would benefit from hearty discussion. I am so glad that Purple House Press brought this lovely book back into print!
If you want to learn more about the details of this book, Biblioguides has done an excellent job with it, here. Also, if you would like to learn more about Evelyn Sibley Lampman, they have an author page for her, here.