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Reviews
Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk across Victorian America
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By Linda Lawrence Hunt
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University of Idaho Press, Moscow, 2003. Photographs, maps, notes, bibliography, index. 324 pages. $16.95 paper.
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Reviewed by Elizabeth Jacox
The Arrowrock Group, Inc., Boise, Idaho
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| Bold spirit tells the long-hidden story of Helga Estby and her daughter Clara, who, in 1896, walked from Spokane, Washington, to New York City for a ten-thousand-dollar prize. Armed with "a Smith-and-Wesson revolver and a red-pepper spray gun," the women were required to earn their way and were not to accept rides on railroads (p. 9). The two women made the journey in seven months, leaving Spokane in May and arriving in New York in December. |
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Linda Lawrence Hunt learned of the Estbys from a History Day paper written in 1984 by eighth-grade student Doug Bahr, Helga Estby's great-great grandson. Intrigued by the story, Hunt sought to learn more — especially when she discovered that Helga's children had silenced the story for many years. The journey, amazing from our perspective, embarrassed and angered Helga's family. Although she left with a heroic purpose — the ten-thousand-dollar prize would save the family farm from foreclosure — disaster struck while she was gone. Two of her eight children died of diphtheria. The family was quarantined at their rural farm, and neighbors were too frightened of the disease to help. Helga's husband, Ole, kept the healthy children isolated from the sick by locking them in an unheated shed. He was afraid to provide blankets that might be contaminated and communicated only by shouting through the door. For him and for the children, Helga's cross-country walk was no proud accomplishment; she abandoned them and risked her life for nothing. The prize was never paid. The family lost the farm. |
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Doug Bahr based his short paper on his grandmother Thelma's memories of Helga, her grandmother, and on a scrapbook of newspaper clippings that recounted the Estby's journey. Thelma and her brother lived with Helga Estby for a while after they were orphaned in the 1920s. Thelma became close to her grandmother and shared many happy hours reading and talking with her. On a few special occasions, Thelma was invited to Helga's private room where she read, sewed, and wrote a great deal. Hunt writes: "One morning, when the Indian-summer sun was pouring through the north window, she saw that her grandma was leafing through hundreds of pages of yellow foolscap paper. When Helga saw Thelma, she hugged the child into the folds of her long Victorian skirt and said, 'Honey, be sure to take care of this story for me.' But Thelma had no idea what 'story' she was talking about"(p. 6). |
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Although Helga's children treated her with respect and made sure she was comfortable in her old age, the anger they had repressed for so many years came forth when she died. Her daughters burned the "hundreds of pages of yellow foolscap paper." A daughter-in-law discovered the scrapbook of clippings, and kept it safely hidden for almost thirty years, and turned it over to Thelma in the early 1960s. |
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Linda Lawrence Hunt has taken these sparse sources, added material gathered through genealogical research and oral history interviews, and placed the result in the context of daily life in late-nineteenth century America. The story of Helga and Clara's journey is woven through with reports of current events of 1896: the march of Coxey's Army of unemployed to Washington, D.C., Jane Addams's work among the poor in Chicago slums, and the hotly contested presidential election of 1896, which pitted William Jennings Bryan against William McKinley. The resulting "rag-rug history" is a carefully crafted book, well written and beautifully designed and illustrated (p. xiii). It will appeal to anyone interested in family stories and women's history. |
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Even Hunt's many years of research could not answer all of the questions in this story. The mysterious sponsor of the prize is never identified, leaving us to wonder if there really was a sponsor or if Helga took a bigger risk than she revealed. Did the ten thousand dollars depend on her ability to sell her story once she reached New York? Clara, the daughter who accompanied her, became estranged from the family. Although we are told that she eventually reconciled with them, we are not told what became of her. These gaps do not take away from Hunt's achievement — showing that "silencing" can be reversed and even the most carefully hidden stories can be revealed, enriching our view of the past. |
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