What woman in your family was a "pioneer" in her time.?

Question

My great aunt was born in 1890, she married and divorced, worked hard, saved her money and bought a lodge and cabins on a lake in Northern Wisconsin, she also had a bar and restaurant, my grandmother did the cooking. Pretty impressive to me becaue she was only 25 when she opened the place. Our family had brought over Swedish antiques thatt she used to decorate the main lodge. They were huge, wood, marble and glass beautiful things. She never had children, so I got really spoiled by her and my grandma

Thank you Iritadragon for hte lovely birthday wish!

Gladys, my great aunts lodge was in Minocqua, so i have been to Saynor and St. Germain lots of times. I love fishing for muskie too!
For entertainment we used top go to the dump to watch the bears, and my grandma chasing bats with a broom, in a nightgown and apron with her hat on, I was told not to laugh at her, but it was so funny!

Thank you Iritadragon for hte lovely birthday wish!

Gladys, my great aunts lodge was in Minocqua, so i have been to Saynor and St. Germain lots of times. I love fishing for muskie too!
For entertainment we used top go to the dump to watch the bears, and my grandma chasing bats with a broom, in a nightgown and apron with her hat on, I was told not to laugh at her, but it was so funny!

Gladys:
My Aunts lodge was off Hwy 51, I attended Lakeland High for one really cold winter in 1967. We used to go to Lac du Flambeau too, loved going there, actually recently looked to see if they had job openings in that region. There is a policeman here that is from Minocqua too! Small world, I actually love it up there, just a little too cold for this old lady

***We are so blessed to have these wonderful ladies as examples. They were so far ahead of their time. I so much love hearing the stories of your families, it fascinates me, I am blessed to have you all in my life,

Thanks for sharing your life stories with me!
Sharyn

Answer 1

My grandmother was born in 1894, in a little village in England. When she was 21, in the space of one year she married, gave birth to my father, and was widowed, when my grandfather was killed in the trenches of WW1 in France.
Instead of going back to live with her parents, or marrying again, she took the unusual step (at that time) of borrowing 90 pounds (about $150) from a wealthy relative.
With that princely sum, she built a small two-story house, with an apartment upstairs and a shop below. That shop was a general store, the only one in town, and she also applied for, and got, the right to run a post office out of the shop.
She brought her sister (also widowed with a young son) to live with her, and between the two sisters, they became a well-known family in the district, who not only owned the only shop and post office, but also the only telephone in town. I think that, for their time, they were real feminists and entrepreneurs, and I always had great admiration for them. They were women who succeeded in a man's world, they brought up their sons and gave them both a good life. The family became quite affluent, and all because my lovely grandmother had the courage to strike out on her own.
Last year I visited England , and the old shop is still there...not the only shop in town any more, but it is still the Post Office agency, with a red pillar-box outside to pop your letters into. It made me feel very proud of my Gran.

Answer 2

My mother was the pioneer in our family. She used to go hunting and fishing and always catch something. Back then, it wasn't ususual for woman to hunt. But thinking back on it, she would also clean and cook whatever she caught that day. Ironically, we would go up North in Wisconsin (Sayner / St. Germain area) and fish for muskie . . . so maybe I ran across your great aunt in my younger days! And, Happy Birthday!

I spent many a summer at Osiers St. Germain Lodge and early evening we would also go and watched the bears at the dump and then go to the Muskie Queen for ice cream. I was just in Minoqua in July on the way to Lac du Flambeau. I still have family in that part of Wisconsin. Small world!

I've driven on hwy 51 many times and probably drove right by your great aunt's lodge. The winters can be pretty cold in Wisconsin, but I guess I've been around them so long, I don't know any thing but that!

Answer 3

Yeah my Mum. She was an amazing woman ahead of her time and sooo strong in her ability to deal with the world and society. A rebel I suppose and so was my father.

Broome Western Australia was the model for south Africa's segregation policy I'm sure. There were white, coloured (Asian and mixed race) and black areas and never the twain shall meet.
After WW11 my uncle was made director of the airport there. His wife wanted my mum to go up there with them as a companion as she didn't want to be 'the only white woman there'. Broome was and still is a pearling town so there were many different Asians, Afghans and the black indigenous people living and working up there.
My father had come over from the Philippines and was a pearl diver there (the old hard helmet type) and as he was very well educated, spoke 5 languages and was a real gent he was the go-between for the divers and pearling masters.
Well Mum met Dad and fell in love. What a scandal. A white woman and an Asian man. Her family were horrified and said you cant marry him you will have black babies!!! My Mum went against her family and society and married Dad. She became the unofficial spokeswoman for all the divers wives and coped all sorts of abuse from the whites. She was only sold the rancid butter and weavilly flour from the store and she CHOSE to sit in the coloured section of the local picture theatre. Space here is just to short to tell all she did!!!
She chose not to let race be an issue in her life and because of that she is my HERO ( and Dad too).

Answer 4

My father's mother. My grandparents were unable to have children so my grandmother took in what she called "States Orphans" in Canton, Mass. in the early 1900's. My father was adopted from this group. She claimed to have helped raise 230 children over many years. They moved to California, bought a citrus fruit ranch and raised chickens and rabbits. She was instrumental in starting the first Catholic church in the small town. After my grandfather died, she came to live with us near Los Angeles. There was no Catholic church there so when one was in the process of being built services were held in the movie theater. Sometimes kids would wander in thinking it was a free movie and it was disruptive. She kindly showed them the door or asked them to join the service if they could be quiet.
She did many other things that could be considered ahead of her time, but the only time my sisters and I were embarrassed was when she told our fellow classmates and neighbors that she raised 230 kids. Then we would explain what she meant because some of my friends had quite a shocked look on their face.

Answer 5

My lovely little short grandma in Va. She had all 7 of her kids at home, the doc would ride in on a horse and the older kids would have to go up on the hill and sit in the garden until he rode off. They always thought the baby was in the doctors black bag. She also had 2 sets of twins that were born dead. She had electricity and never running water. She canned, dried beans and made her own butter, cooked on a wood stove, heated with a fireplace. It was up to her to butcher and clean chickens and turkeys and ducks. She slopped the hogs, laid in wait for the weasel raiding the chicken house and used her shot gun. Grandpa was afraid of snakes, I saw her snap a head off with a twirl of the snake by it's tail. Grandpa plowed the huge garden with two mules and an old plow behind them.
He was a minister and she was the minister
on Wed nights. Church was 3 days a week. She always had younger kids home and married ones and their babies and a cousin or two to raise. She kept her sense of humor and made biscuits with every meal on that wood stove, summer or winter.
a wonder woman in her own right.

Answer 6

Hi silky. Happy birthday again!

I still can't believe that my diminuitive little mother (1/2 an inch short of five feet tall) played roller derby in her twenties as the scorer!

She said growing up on the farm had given her a really strong back and arms so it was easy getting rid of her competition over the side of the track, and then muscling her way through the pack to score.

MY mother who was so quiet and sweet, that everybody loved her. I only wish that the pictures of her taken at that time had not been destroyed by my jealous father when they first married. I would have loved to have one of her in full regalia hanging in the livingroom.

Answer 7

My grandmother because she was of very meager means. She traveled with Old Dr. Ware and was a mid-wife, and nurse of sorts back in the 20's 30's. She worked hard on the farm, always canning up a storm......she worked on a military base after WWII went into swing, helping to support the troops, she raised four children and could tote a shot gun to blast those thieving critters out of the old Oak tree when they were out to get her chickens or Guinnes.....She had no fear. To the day she died, she lived and died with dignity. I admire the legacy she left us.

Answer 8

There were several...my grandma was a wac in WW2,and she was a flight instructor for those boys who were able to learn,although they didn't allow HER to be a pilot herself.
My great aunt Dotty went back to school "for no apparent reason" when she was in her 60s,eventually earning a masters degree (I THINK in sociology).She also took up transcendental meditation and bought herself an ATV which her grandsons taught her to ride...she rode it all over the place.
there are several others but these two stand out for me.