Settler's Fare to First Lady's Feast:
Life in the Breadbasket of the Louisiana Purchase
in the first quarter of the Nineteenth Century, 1806-1826.

In 1806, the year Lewis and Clark returned from their epic journey, no people worked harder, sacrificed more or gained less credit than the unsung heroines of the frontier -- pioneer women. They triumphed over every challenge -- Indian unrest, endless work, the cruel vicissitudes of mother nature, and almost unbearable isolation. One hope made their struggle worthwhile -- the promise of a better life for their children. They looked to the lush fertility of the Ste. Genevieve District and found the bread basket of the Upper Louisiana Territory.

Donna Ross shows both the early struggle and the better life as she portrays two women. The first is a composite of the hardy farmers' wives who brought civilization to the frontier along with their family recipes. The second transports us forward to statehood and the world of elegant, well-educated Marguerite Susanne DeRiehle McNair, a native born Missourian and descendant of French aristocracy who became the wife of the First Governor of the state, Alexander McNair. Together these two ladies give us a taste of the life abundant in the heartland.

Donna Ross
as
Marguerite McNair:

Fedora AMIS

Writer of Victorian Whodunits