MORE: Who's who?
When Kaysville native Christy Karras told people she was writing a book on remarkable women in Utah history, she got a strange response.
“They said, ‘Remarkable and from Utah?’ ” Karras recalled. “Then, when my editor read the manuscript to make corrections, she told me it was actually interesting. I told her, ‘Gee, thanks, I will take that as a compliment.’ ”
Truth is, people don’t expect to find heroes, leaders or rebels among female figures of Utah’s past, Karras said. And people who make such assumptions are, in a word, wrong.
“It was hard to limit the book to 12,” she said. In fact, she included 13 women, with two sisters sharing one chapter.
Karras’ book, “More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Utah Women” (Globe Pequot Press, $14.95), profiles a dozen diverse women, all born prior to 1900, and including early pioneers in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who played leadership roles and challenged convention; the “Wild West Sisters,” who lived by their own rules and gave shelter to outlaws including Butch Cassidy; one of Brigham Young’s wives who was granted a divorce; an anti-polygamy activist and author; Ogden’s own Belle London, brothel madam and successful businesswoman; America’s first female state senator, who beat out her husband for the job; and Utah’s first female judge.
“These women were all rebels in their own way,” Karras said. “They are historical, but they weren’t traditional. These women are interesting to a modern audience, not just history buffs. I would love for young women to read this and be inspired. All of these women struggled, and persevered. Their stories are uplifting.”
Karras, a former newspaper and magazine reporter in Utah, studied history at the University of Utah after graduating from Davis High School in 1991. She writes from her home in Seattle, and just completed her second book on motorcycle travel.
Karras did extensive research for “Remarkable Utah Women.” In selecting women to profile, she first looked at what research material was available. Women who left no journals behind, and were not covered in the news, could not be candidates.
“I really wanted to include American Indian women, who I know were strong, but there weren’t the records,” Karras said. “The Navajo were known for a very matriarchal society, but they didn’t have a written language. I wish I could have included more diversity that way.”
Karras said the women whose stories she profiled gave her a new appreciation for Utah’s past, and hope for her own future as well.
“I found that a lot of these women had a second act in their lives,” she said. “They raised their children, then they reinvented themselves, and people thought nothing of it. It’s harder for men to start over, but we can start something new in our 40s and 50s, and do it for another 40 years. Men slow down with age, but women still have energy at least until their 60s or 70s.
“One of the women was still fixing fence posts into her 80s, and chopping wood in her 90s. Women can do it all.”
