by Anna Kathryn Lanier Women of the West during the 1800’s had greater freedom and more opportunities as proprietors than their counter-parts in the East. Labor shortages and the more lenient attitude toward women’s roles opened doors for women in commerce unavailable in the more Victorian-minded East. Common businesses were laundries, baking, house cleaning, boarding houses, hotels, restaurants, seamstress, even post mistress. The men may have come West for freedom, but they still wanted…
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