Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2517221 in Books
• Published on: 1995-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Library Binding
• 160 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-During the 1800s, the promise of a new start in a new land lured thousands of Americans west. Arabella Clemens set out on her journey along the Oregon Trail in 1864 when she was 20 years old. After settling in the Boise Valley with her sister and brother-in-law, she met and married Frank Fulton. There they stayed until 1872 when they set out, again by wagon train, to settle in Texas. Eleven years later, they joined yet another wagon train and headed for the Northwest Territory, where they remained. This book is comprised of excerpts from Clemens's memoirs of her life and travels. Each brief chapter is introduced by interesting explanatory material from Greenberg and McKeever. The details Clemens offers of life on the Oregon Trail and in the pioneer settlements provide authenticity and vitality to that remarkable period of U.S. history. She discusses everything from buffalo chips and bedbugs to the details of preparing for a wedding. Her account is filled with courage, good sense, and humor. The life she writes of is extraordinary in that it represents the experiences of thousands like her. Abundant black-and-white reproductions and photographs add to the value of this text as a reference source, as do the list for further reading and the index. However, Clemens's story is so compelling that it is a pleasure to read just for the opportunity to become acquainted with her and the adventure she lived.
Marilyn Makowski, Greenwood High School, SC
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 6^-9. In the spring of 1864, 20-year-old Arabella Clemens, along with her two sisters and their husbands, left by covered wagon from Council Bluffs, Iowa, and headed for Oregon. Greenberg and McKeever have edited the intriguing memoir (composed as a gift to her children and grandchildren when she was in her eighties), adding introductory material, commentaries, and black-and-white illustrations that allow readers a glimpse of one woman's account of pioneer life. The editors acknowledge that Arabella's perspectives on slavery and Native Americans are outdated by today's standards, and their comments help to add balance to the presentation while accurately reflecting Arabella's views. An excellent addition to classroom units on the westward movement or women's studies, this will also be of interest to history buffs. Kay Weisman

Customer Reviews

A Good Story Cut Short - a review of Arabella Fulton's Memoir
Arabella's memoir was written when she was in her 80's and tells how she and her two married sisters and their husbands left home and ventured off into the unsettled west in 1864.

Like many of the pioneers who have written of their travails, Arabella demonstrates a remarkable memory and her narrative is engaging and lively. The perspective her age brought to her observations is interesting and serves to keep the narrative on track and not busied by counts of how many grave markers were seen any particular day.

And it is certainly not because of Arabella's 'voice' that this book received so few stars. The problem is that her story was eviscerated, edited, and truncated. We get to follow her and her traveling family to a point where they have to give up their journey for what they think will only be for a season while they make some money in order not to starve, and so they can continue. We get to see how instead they got involved in the community where they landed, and how Arabella was courted and married. BUT we do not get to see her move with her husband and young children to Texas, nor how they almost all died, and then how they uprooted themselves again and finally made the long journey to Washington state!

Instead Ms. Greenberg and Ms. McKeever tell us: "[F]rom the very beginning, Texas tormented the family and nearly broke their spirit. In this land barren of people and crops, the Fultons and their friends endured grinding poverty, near starvation, and serious illnesses; they suffered actual Indian attacks, worried about rumors of others, and barely survived the long, harsh winters."

I'm sorry, but wasn't there enough drama in this portion of the narrative to include more than a summary of it? I can't imagine what the publisher and/or authors were thinking.

Three Stars [C+] ::: Despite the fact that this book truncates the interesting, and valuable story of Arabella Fulton, it remains well worth reading. The narrative is engaging and gives a different perspective from the typical diary-type records of the day.

Although the McKeever and Greenberg (perhaps at the publishers urging) mangle the story, they do a nice job in presenting brief background material before each chapter. Although they were remiss in not including a decent map that showed the routes taken.

Pam T.