Undaunted: A Norwegian Woman in Frontier Texas (Volume 20) (Tarleton State University Southwestern Studies in the Humanities)

Elise Waerenskjold is known to fans of Texas women writers as "the lady with the pen," from the title of a book of her writings. A forward-looking journalist, she sent letters and articles back to Norway that encouraged others to follow her footsteps to Texas, where a small colony of Norwegian settlers were making a new life alongside—but distinct from—other European immigrants. __Undaunted__ is the first full biography of Waerenskjold during her Texas years, a life story that shows much about Texas, especially in the Norwegian colonies, from 1847 until near the end of the century. Moreover, it tells the story of a strong and independent thinker who championed women's rights, was pro-Union and against slavery (though her husband was in the Confederate army and was subsequently murdered in Reconstruction-era violence), and left an intriguing body of writing about life on the edges of Texas settlement. Charles Russell's vivid account of Waerenskjold describes not only her influence among her countrymen but also her own life, which was a saga of considerable drama itself. It offers a clear and entertaining window onto immigrant life in Texas and the issues that shaped women's lives and elicited their talents in an earlier century.

Elise Waerenskjold is known to fans of Texas women writersas "the lady with the pen," from the title of a book of her writings. A forward-looking journalist, she sent letters and articles back to Norway, encouraging others to follow her footsteps to Texas, where a small colony of Norwegian settlers was making a new life alongside—but distinct from—other European immigrants. Undaunted is the first full biography of Waerenskjold during her Texas years, a life story that shows much about Texas, especially in the Norwegian colonies, from 1847 to the end of the nineteenth century. Moreover, it tells the story of a strong and independent thinker who championed women's rights, who was pro-Union and against slavery (though her husband was in the Confederate army and was subsequently murdered in Reconstruction-era violence), and who left an intriguing body of writing about life on the edges of Texas settlement. Charles H. Russell's vivid account of Waerenskjold describes not only her influence among her countrymen but also her own life, which was a saga of considerable drama itself. Russell offers a clear and entertaining window onto immigrant life in frontier Texas and the issues that shaped women's lives and elicited their talents.

Author Biography: CHARLES H. RUSSELL, a retired college dean and professor of history, holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University. His interest in Waerenskjold is shared with his Norwegian wife, Inger, who helped him translate Waerenskjold's writing as he did the research for this book.

Journal of Southern History

. . . gracefully written . . . delivers much more than its title suggests as it carefully details the Norway from which the recently divorced Elise Tvede emigrated in the Spring of 1847. Charles H. Russell takes the reader with Tvede as she moves from stuffy respectability in a rigidly organized society toward economic opportunity and democratic freedoms in northeastern Texas. . . . Russell opens up a fascinating immigrant experience that deviates from the stereotype just as much a it complicates the understanding of the frontier.

"Elise Waerenskjold is known to fans of Texas women writers as "the lady with the pen," from the title of a book of her writings. A forward-looking journalist, she sent letters and articles back to Norway that encouraged others to follow her footsteps to Texas, where a small colony of Norwegian settlers was making a new life alongside - but distinct from - other European immigrants."