Elinore Rupert Stewart

Born in Arkansas in 1876, Elinore Stewart grew up in the Indian Territory in Oklahama. When she was fourteen both of her parents died and she became responsible for her eight young brothers and sisters. While the younger three went to live with their grandmother, Elinore and the other five had to work for the area railroad. Elinore married a man who was much older than she was and who was killed in a railroad accident after their daughter Jerrine was born. She quickly became a nurse and worked for a hospital along with writing for the Kansas City Start until she decided to work her way West by moving to Denver, Colorado to work as a cook. In 1909, Elinore's pastor encouraged her to seek out her own homestead. To do so, she volunteered to work for Clyde Stewart, a Scotsman who owned a ranch in Wyoming...