Bold Spirit by Linda Lawrence Hunt is subtitled Helga Estby’s Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America. That’s the grabber; unfortunately, the writing doesn’t quite measure up, but that’s not Hunt’s fault. She had to rely on deep-in-the-weeds research, primarily old newspapers. Helga’s notes about her journey were destroyed by family members.
In 1896, in pursuit of the opportunity to win $10,000 to save the family farm facing foreclosure, Helga and her oldest daughter Clara embarked on a walk across the United States. The journey took more than seven and a half months.
Helga was born in Norway, but immigrated as a young child with her mother and stepfather. She married at a young age and was soon homesteading with her husband and young child on the Minnesota plains. Thus, she was no stranger to hardship, which made the trek seem like a reasonable goal.
Stopping to find jobs along the way, they often sold their story to the local newspapers. The women also met with local and state politicians. This was in the midst of the William McKinley vs. William Jennings Bryan presidential election, and the suffrage movement was in full swing.
It was Helga and Clara’s plan to write a book once finished with their quest. However, reaction to their completed endeavor was unfavorable. After all, she’d left her husband, seven children, including an infant, behind. It wasn’t just her Norwegian community in Spokane who considered it scandalous. Once she returned, Helga’s family members were shamed by what was undertaken.
Bold Spirit: Helga Estby’s Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America
Three Bookmarks
First Anchor Books, 2003
307 pages, includes notes, bibliography, acknowledgements
The Blue Page Special 