REMEMBERING MATTIE
A Pioneer Woman's Legacy

      “The preface begins: ‘The most influential lives are not always the best-known lives.’ And the author proceeds to tell the story of a homesteading family eking out a living in eastern New Mexico. The main character of this historical/genealogical narrative is the author’s grandmother.
            “Born in 1896 Martha ‘Mattie’ Jane Smith endured the life of a pioneer woman surviving a rattlesnake bite as a youngster, losing her mother at age 11, her young husband died in the flu epidemic in 1918, and as a 22-year-old widow, she reared three young daughters. A second marriage ensued, a son died, then her second husband died. ‘Through it all, this woman survived; she was a trailblazer for others suffering relentless difficulties,’ writes the author.
            “The book is filled with wondrous photographs from a by-gone era—old buildings, dust storms on the plains, horse drawn wagons, old cars. Samples of early handwriting really make this book a collection of memorable snippets. The overall portrait, however, may be more interesting for the many living descendants of Mattie. Yet the book truly is a keepsake and an inspiration for others who had tough, enduring pioneer ancestors.”
     
      —“Book Chat,” Enchantment