LABORING IN THE DESERT: THE LETTERS AND DIARIES OF NARCISSA PRENTISS WHITMAN AND IDA HUNT UDALL by GENEVIEVE J. LONG A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of English and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2002 "Laboring in the Desert: The Letters and Diaries of Narcissa Prentiss Whitman and Ida Hunt Udall," a dissertation prepared by Genevieve J. Long in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of English. This dissertation has been approved and accepted by: c"? c{/ Dr. Mary E. Wood, Chair of the ExaminingCAI Committee Date Committee in charge: Dr. Mary E. Wood, Chair Dr. Shari Huhndorf Dr. Peggy Pascoe Dr. Gordon Sayre Accepted by: Dean of th ra uate Sch iii An Abstract of the Dissertation of Genevieve J. Long for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English to be taken December 2002 Title: LABORING IN THE DESERT: THE LETTERS AND DIARIES OF NARCISSA PRENTISS WHITMAN AND IDA HUNT UDALL Approved: M . Mary E. Wood Presbyterian missionary Narcissa Prentiss Whitman and Mormon polygamous wife Ida Hunt Udall believed God had called them to special missions. These women faced similar challenges in exchanging the comforts of middle-class life for what they felt was a higher calling. In following their chosen vocations, both challenged expectations for nineteenth-century women, coming under scrutiny within and without their faith communities. In order to record their missions, set down their reasons for living as they did and create a space where they felt at home, despite their frequent isolation from friends and kin, both Whitman and Udall wrote extensively about their lives. Their letters and diaries provide rich material for analyzing gender dynamics in nineteenth- century America and shed light on how women literally made history in a time of U.S. expansionism and rapid social change. In this dissertation, I place Whitman's and Udall's writing in historical and social context, then draw on the relatively new field of women's diary study to present close iv readings of their work. To create narratives that gave meaning to their often difficult lives, both writers employed a number of literary strategies: casting themselves as characters in their own work, establishing and revisiting themes from missionary and travel literature, borrowing language from popular fiction and creating dialogues between themselves and their imagined readers. Because of their roles as geographic pioneers and religious exemplars, Narcissa Whitman and Ida Udall both expected at least some of their writing to be read by relatives and fellow believers, if not during their lifetimes, then after. Their creative and flexible use of literary strategies allowed them to use writing as both a personal resource—a place to vent feelings inconsistent with their missionary personae and to work out challenges presented by frontier travel and isolation—and a public record. They thus created multilayered documents that served the expectations of multiple audiences well enough to remain popular today. Finally, by reifying their own sense of vocation and their impressions of the "frontier" in writing, they participated directly in nineteenth-century Euroamerican efforts to colonize and "civilize" the supposedly empty lands of the American West. V CURRICULUM VITA NAME OF AUTHOR: Genevieve J. Long GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon Portland State University DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy in English, 2002, University of Oregon Master of Arts in English, 1994, Portland State University Bachelor of Arts in English, 1992, Portland State University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Women's diary literature, nineteenth-century American literature PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Medical writer and editor, Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, 2002- Graduate teaching fellow, Department of English, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 1997-2000 Adjunct instructor, Department of English, Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon, 1995-97 Teaching assistant, Department of English, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, 1992-94 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks are due to the members of my committee for their assistance with this project. In particular, I would like to thank Professors Shari Huhndorf and Gordon Sayre for their willingness to read and comment on early drafts and Professor Peggy Pascoe for suggesting several useful historical databases. For her patience, good humor and encouragement as well as her timely and helpful suggestions, I owe a considerable debt to my advisor, Professor Mary E. Wood. For their support during my time at the University of Oregon, I would like to thank Professors Marilyn Farwell and Karen J. Ford and the English department staff, especially Mike Stamm and Marilyn Reid. Finally, thanks are due to Ida Udall's great-grandson, Mark Ellsworth, for sharing family records with me and providing his perspective on what Ida Udall's story means to her descendants. vii DEDICATION For Henry and Cheever, co-laborers Eric and Janet Long, who introduced me to stories of pioneer women and Howard Long, who first suggested Narcissa Whitman viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION: WOMEN WRITING THE WEST .............................. 1 In Context: The Letters and Diaries of Narcissa Prentiss Whitman and Ida Hunt Udall ..................................................................................... 7 Women's Diaries in the Academy ........................................................... 10 Pioneers and Missionaries ....................................................................... 17 Writing Themselves Into Position: Diarists as Colonizers of the American West ................................................................................. 21 Public and Private Narratives ................................................................. 25 Notes ....................................................................................................... 33 II. THE WIFE FOR A MISSIONARY: NARCISSA PRENTISS WHITMAN ................................................................................................. 35 "An Unheard-Of Journey for Females": Women Missionaries Cross the Plains ................................................................................................... 41 Manifest Destiny and the Oregon Mission .............................................. 45 At Work in the Fields of the Lord: Protestant Missions to Native Americans ........................................................................................... 47 Exporting Domesticity: American Women in Foreign Missions ............ 77 Remembering Narcissa: The "Whitman Massacre" as Captivity Narrative ............................................................................................. 98 Notes ..................................................................................................... 107 III. "MY SOLITUDE WOULD QUICKY VANISH": THE JOURNAL AND LETTERS OF NARCISSA PRENTISS WHITMAN ...................... 108 "Dear Parents" and "Beloved Christian Friends": The Audience for Narcissa Whitman's Journal and Letters ............................................ 110 Explorer, Martyr, Mother: Narcissa Whitman's Self-Characterization . 119 Notes ..................................................................................................... 172 ix Page IV. A STUDY IN SAINTHOOD: MORMON POLYGAMY IN THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY SOUTHWEST .............................................. 173 "I Must Join None of Them": A Brief History of the Latter-Day Saints .................................................................................................. 176 Notes ...................................................................................................... 250 V. LOCATING HERSELF: THE DIARY OF IDA HUNT UDALL .............. 253 The Honeymoon Trail Diary .................................................................. 254 "Exiles From Home": The Underground Diary ...................................... 271 "My Hasty Cruel Words": Ida Udall's Challenge to Her Husband ........ 302 Notes ...................................................................................................... 313 VI. EPILOGUE ................................................................................................ 314 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... 321 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: WOMEN WRITING THE WEST Home has no attraction for me, compared with the satisfaction and enjoyment every day affords in living here and extending a silent and gentle influence upon these benighted minds, aside from the more public labours of teaching, etc. 0, that I could persuade my brothers and sisters thus to consecrate themselves to this heavenly work. Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, letter from Oregon Territory, September 1838 Why is it, that in carrying out the commandments of God, his children need be so sorely tried? Marriage, under ordinary circumstances is a grave and important step, but entering into Plural marriage, in these perilous times is doubly so. Ida Hunt Udall, journal entry, May 1882 Born fifty years apart at opposite ends of a continent, Presbyterian missionary Narcissa Whitman and Mormon polygamous wife Ida Udall shared the sense that God had called them to a special mission