February 09, 2012 - Page 5


‘Mail Order Brides’ Cont. from Page 3


ber of ladies could come up with the $250.00 needed to make the trip. So, it was on a cold, blustery afternoon in March of the year 1864, that eight ladies boarded a train in Lowell that would take them to a ship waiting in a New York harbor. In New York they would be joined by two ladies from Pepperell, Massachusetts, and another from Boston. Their eyes were filled with tears as they said good-bye to family and friends but their hearts were full of excitement. For this was the beginning of a journey that was to lead them to a new life out west in a place called Washington Territory.


The eight ladies and one gentle- man, under the charge of Asa Shinn Mercer who left Lowell, Massachusetts, by train that afternoon were;


Antoinette Josephine Baker, age 25.


Ann Murphy, age 24 Sarah Cheney, age 22


Elizabeth (Lizzie) Ordway, the oldest at age 35


Aurelia Coffin, age 20 Josephine (Josie) Pearson, age 19 Sara Jane Gallagher, age 19


Georgianna (Georgia) Pearson, age 15


Josie and Georgia were accom- panied by their father, Daniel Pearson who had been ill for a time and felt that the change of climate might be good for his health. He was to leave behind in Lowell his wife, Susan, son, Daniel and youngest daughter Flora. They would join him two years later with the second Mercer expedition.


Joining the group in New York were two ladies and one man from Pepperell, Massachusetts (a small town near Lowell);


Catherine Adams Stickney, age 28


Katherine Stevens, age 21, and Katherine's father Rodolphus Stevens.


And from Boston there was;


Annie May Adams, age 16, who intended to stay in San Francisco but later decided to journey on to Seattle.


(A book about The Mercer Girls is in the process of being researched and written).


Mail Order Brides Today


Most people think that Russian brides are desperate women who want nothing more than to marry a foreigner (preferably American) to get the hell out of Russia and start a new life. But in fact, this is almost always incorrect. Russia has a man shortage; there are roughly 8 men for every 10 women in a culture which is very marriage- oriented. Consequently, many Russian women are compelled to look outside of Russia for a husband. As one mail order bride company says: “[Russian Brides] feel as if you were one of the guys who would approach her at a bar: where she can say, “yes” if she likes you, and “thanks, but no, thanks” if she doesn’t.”


Being a mail-order bride can be very dangerous. There are at least four recent cases of American men murdering (sometimes quite brutally) their mail-order bride. But it does go both ways: there is also a case of a mail-order bride murdering her American husband. Before involving yourself in the mail order marriage industry, it pays to really consider the reasons


behind your future wife or hus- band using this method to find their partner for life. You might get lucky and meet someone leaving their home country but you might be one of the unlucky ones who ends up dead. here is the description of just one such case:


Anastasia King, a young woman from Kyrgyzstan, was found strangled and buried in a shal- low grave in Washington state in December 2000. At the age of 18, Anastasia had received an email from a 38-year-old Seattle man, Indle King, from a mail order bride website. He flew to her country and they were mar- ried soon after. Two years later, after considerable strife, Indle wanted another bride. He was allegedly unwilling to pay for a divorce so he ordered a tenant in their Washington home to kill Anastasia. Weighing nearly 300 pounds, her husband pinned Anastasia down while the tenant strangled her with a necktie. Both were convicted of murder.


The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reports that “…mar- riages arranged through [mail


‘Mail Order Brides’ Cont. on Page 13


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