# Episodes in US history where settlers overcame terrible odds/adversity to start new lives **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 10, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodes-in-us-history-where-settlers-overcame-terrible-odds-adversity-to-start-new-lives/997407 "2024-02-10T21:12:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Caribbean\_cruiser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caribbean_cruiser/32/9349_2.png) [@Caribbean\_cruiser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caribbean_cruiser)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodes-in-us-history-where-settlers-overcame-terrible-odds-adversity-to-start-new-lives/997407/1 "2024-02-10T21:12:44Z")
I’m looking for specific episodes in US history (1600s to 1900s) that saw settlers either endure extreme hardship or willingly venture into hostile lands in search of new lives despite extreme hardship. In other words, situations wherein (a) the settler faced the steepest odds yet stayed there and fought to survive or (b) outsiders knew of these adverse conditions from, say, newspaper accounts, yet decided to settle there anyway, hoping for the best yet prepared for the worst. I realize this is the bedrock theme of America (and 200 other countries worldwide), but I would appreciate actual examples in US history. Easy example: Dust Bowl America in the 1930s. While I cannot imagine any non-Okies migrating to Oklahoma during that crisis, plenty of Okies stayed put and tried to scrape out a living. Better example: In 1850s Kansas, untold thousands of families perished during terrible droughts and extreme deep freezes – some after burning every scrap of furniture they had – yet despite stories of extreme hardship, new waves of settlers still came, simply because they accepted hardship and terrible odds as a way of life. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodes-in-us-history-where-settlers-overcame-terrible-odds-adversity-to-start-new-lives/997407/2 "2024-02-10T21:38:01Z")
Look at [The Worst Hard Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Worst_Hard_Time) for stories of specific families who lived through the Dust Bowl. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodes-in-us-history-where-settlers-overcame-terrible-odds-adversity-to-start-new-lives/997407/3 "2024-02-10T21:39:34Z")
The raid on Deerfield Ma in 1704, by French soldiers and their Native allies. Out of some 200 people, almost fifty were killed and virtuallly all the rest made captive and taken to Montreal, some 300 miles, in the dead of winter. Some died on the way and some were adopted by the Mohawk; sixty were ransomed. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodes-in-us-history-where-settlers-overcame-terrible-odds-adversity-to-start-new-lives/997407/4 "2024-02-10T21:43:38Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Look at [The Worst Hard Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Worst_Hard_Time) for stories of specific families who lived through the Dust Bowl. Excellent book. I didn’t know anything about it before reading the book, and yeesh. It’s hard to even conceptualize that much hardship and deprivation. However, one thing I seem to remember from the book (it’s been a long time) is that many of the families who ended up in the Dust Bowl just got stuck there. They were planning to go somewhere else but due to accident and misfortune had no choice but to settle there. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodes-in-us-history-where-settlers-overcame-terrible-odds-adversity-to-start-new-lives/997407/5 "2024-02-11T18:45:38Z")
The 1800 to 1850 period of exploration of the intermountain West and fur trapper era has insane tales of hardship and deprivation. Lots of reading here. > **[Library of Fur Trade Historical Source Documents](http://www.mtmen.org/mtman/mmarch.html)** > > This webpage is a virtual library of > historical source documents pertaining to the United States Rocky > Mountain West in the years 1800-1850. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodes-in-us-history-where-settlers-overcame-terrible-odds-adversity-to-start-new-lives/997407/6 "2024-02-11T21:28:46Z")
The [Mormon Migration](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/mormon-migration/) Chased out of Missouri, then chased out of Illinois; actually I think they ended up in Utah because it wasn’t a state yet. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodes-in-us-history-where-settlers-overcame-terrible-odds-adversity-to-start-new-lives/997407/7 "2024-02-11T22:12:26Z")
Many immigrants went to the Great Plains because of the promise of free land. What they weren’t told was that it was called the great plains because there was nothing there to stop the wind and the brutal winter weather. A lot of people froze to death those annual storms, including those in January of 1888, in what was called the [Children’s Blizzard.](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/53425138) And of course there was the infamous Donner Pass episode of 1846-47. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodes-in-us-history-where-settlers-overcame-terrible-odds-adversity-to-start-new-lives/997407/8 "2024-02-14T13:55:05Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > The [Mormon Migration](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/mormon-migration/) Chased out of Missouri, then chased out of Illinois; actually I think they ended up in Utah because it wasn’t a state yet. Not only wasn’t Utah a state, when they first went there, it was still part of Mexico. I come from Mormon “pioneer stock” with most of my g-g-grandparents crossing the plains to live in Utah and Southern Idaho. One of the worse espisodes were the [Willie and Martin handcart companies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_and_Martin_handcart_companies), two of the groups of pioneers who pushed handcarts across the plains. They got caught in blizzards in Wyoming and a large number of them died. Others lost limbs to frostbite, including an ancestor who lost both of her legs below her knees. Unfortunately, it was a clusterfuck made by bad decisions by the Mormon leadership, and many people died unnecessarily. As far as the Mormons getting chased out of the various places, a lot of that was on them. They [gave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_Massacre) as [much](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danite) as they were given. ---
**Author:** ![Caribbean\_cruiser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caribbean_cruiser/32/9349_2.png) [@Caribbean\_cruiser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caribbean_cruiser)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2024, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodes-in-us-history-where-settlers-overcame-terrible-odds-adversity-to-start-new-lives/997407/9 "2024-02-15T23:56:24Z")
Okay, thank you for the responses so far. Very interesting. I know U.S. history is filled with stories of settlers overcoming tremendous adversity, but it’s hard to remember specific instances. I do know the first European settlers faced great hardship in Jamestown in 1607. This is the story of one woman who faced tremendous adversity in the 1800s, yet also the story of many: > **[An earthy memoir by a 'Pioneer Woman'](https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2016/07/17/trials-of-the-earth-the-true-story-of-a-pioneer-woman-book-review/86871236/)** > > 'Trials of the Earth' was written more than 80 years ago.