Welcome to strangers from KCW's Independent Producer Project and Stoycentral.org.

Happy Valentine's Day.

I'm Leah Tau.

And I don't know about you, but I've been single for a little while,

and sometimes I have this fantasy that things were easier in the old days, when people just got married and stayed married, you know?

Well, here's a little story that might dispel that myth.

It was produced by my musical supervisor, Mike Dodge Weiskov, and edited by me.

I'm Chris Ence, the author of the book, Hearts West, True Stories of Mail Order Brides on the Frontier.

There was a lot of men that lost their lives in the Civil War, a lot of men who were gone because of the gold rush.

And you had people that had a need in both areas of the country.

There weren't a lot of marriageable men in the East.

Certainly, there weren't a lot of marriageable men in the East. Certainly,

there weren't a lot of women in the West. So you had newspapers, matrimonial newspapers,

springing up all over the place that featured nothing but brides and hopeful grooms who could

put some advertisements in a newspaper, either with a picture or without. I am fat, fair, and 48, 5 feet high.

I'm a number one lady, well fixed with no encumbrances,

am in business and city, but one a partner who lives in the West,

want an energetic man that has some means, not under 40 years of age and weight not less than

180 pounds, of good habits, a Christian gentleman preferred.

A girl who will love, honest, true, and not sour, a nice little cooing dove and willing to

work in flower.

Traveling West was very difficult.

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