Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite

Life on the Frontier by Jacqueline Bachar and Paul Bachar Jr. is a compilation of Mary Lott’s letters from 1826 to 1846 after settlement on the Ohio frontier from New York. They describe the difficulties of travel and frontier life, including health problems affecting family members such as blindness and chronic illness, modest finances, limited livestock, and poor crop yields influenced by drought and pests. Mary describes her household and caregiving duties through her maintained correspondence and detailed agricultural practices, including flax and wool processing. The letters report local deaths, community illnesses like cholera and dysentery, and fluctuating weather conditions. Mary speaks on religious faith as a source of comfort and expresses hopes for family reunions, despite financial difficulties and travel barriers. Over time, she documents health declines and deaths, including those of her immediate family, and writes on her own deteriorating health and isolation.

Life On the Ohio Frontier: A Collection of Letters From Mary Lott to Deacon John Phillips, 1826-1846 by Jacqueline Bachar and Paul Bachar Jr. offers a remarkable time capsule into early 19th-century frontier life through firsthand correspondence. These letters reveal so much about daily experiences, especially the harsh realities faced by families settling new lands. The accounts of loss and illness are particularly heartbreaking, such as when Mary reports their sister Hannah Phillips Williams’s death from consumption in 1837, after losing her infant months earlier. Hannah’s expressed readiness to die and her hope to reunite with her child add a deeply human element to these historical records. Mary’s detailed descriptions of family, farming efforts, weather, and local events allow readers to understand life’s fragility and endurance during this era. The collection preserves precious voices from the past, reminding us of the personal costs that paved the path for the rest of us during America’s expansion. Very highly recommended.