A Pioneer Love Story: the Letters of Minnie Hobart

A Pioneer Love Story: The Letters of Minnie Hobart is an expression of praise for the many pioneer families who created community in a harsh land. It provides an intimate look at the history of the Texas Panhandle personalized through the eyes of Minnie Hobart.

From 1888 until her death in 1949, Minnie Hobart wrote to her mother in Vermont. After our parents died, my sister and I discovered these letters. By some miracle the letters – all saved – were at our folk’s house. Detailed descriptions of life from 1888-1949 are revealed in her letters and reflections.

In 1946 Minnie won second prize in the Historical Research Prize Contest in the William H Bush Memorial Collection of Books on the Southwest.  Minnie became a good writer. As we read her letters it seemed imperative that something happened with them. A Pioneer Love Story: The Letters of Minnie Hobart is the result. Over fifty photographs add to the story of Minnie’s life and times.

This book is a story of love& available @

Rainy Day Books in Fairway, KS

the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, TX

Amazon.com

A Pioneer Love Story: the Letters of Minnie Hobart

From the Book Introduction:

Shining with spirit and staying power, as a pioneer entering the Panhandle of Texas in 1888 Minnie Wood Warren Hobart was physically frailer than many pioneer women. Minnie’s enduring love for my grandfather sustained her through dramatic change. She grew up in Vermont – green, hilly, tranquil, with flowing water in the rivers. In 1888, she married her childhood sweetheart and moved to the Panhandle of Texas – brown, flat, windy, with sand patterns in the rivers. What if she had surrendered to the strangeness that was the Texas Panhandle? In writing this story, I wanted to go beyond my grandmother’s life as a footnote in history to discover the real story of this woman who lived in such changing and revolutionary times.

Comments from appreciative readers:

“You have done such a good job … it is most interesting reading. Telling the story as you went back and forth from your grandmother’s letters to filling in the details, was so smooth.”
Joe

“When I started reading your book, I couldn’t put it down.”
Mason

“A sincere thank you for the great piece of Panhandle history so neatly done between the covers in A Pioneer Love Story.”
Jim

“I could not put this book down once I started. Now, I’m ready to read it again! I laughed, I cried, and I learned so many new things.”
Sarah

“Really enjoyed this book. Finished it the first night. I love the history.”
Jo Ann

Best Non-fiction Award – 2009

Oklahoma Writer’s Federation, Inc.