I was astounded to learn that my very proper great-great grandmother
and her daughters wore bifurcated garments on the Oregon Trail-- in
1852, very soon after Amelia Bloomer was named as their "creator." One
of the older daughters wrote about their experience and how the
garments made walking the trail much easier than it would have been in
skirts. The stuff of family legend.
I suspect G-g-grandmother's prior pioneering experience influenced her
to make a radical fashion choice for Oregon. In 1836 she and her
husband had floated down the Allegheny on a raft; she mentions having
to traipse around a portage through weeds and wet with wind, and how
her skirts "switched" between her ankles, making walking almost
impossible.
G-g-grandmother was the wife of a preacher and Presbyterian
missionary- I was amazed that such a character would make use of what
was then rather a controversial garment. Perhaps she thought nobody
she knew would see her! -- they and their large family had two wagons
and did not join a "train."
== Marjorie Wilser
=:=:=:Three Toad Press:=:=:=
http://3toad.blogspot.com/
"Learn to laugh at yourself and you will never lack for amusement." --MW
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