Love Is Patient… Especially on the Frontier

By Kimberly Grist

Love Is Patient… Especially on the Frontier

Romance on the frontier didn’t begin with flowers and poetry. It began with endurance—long winters, hard work, and uncertain days. This unwavering commitment not only shapes a truly meaningful life but also serves as a powerful source of inspiration for us today.

Many frontier marriages began not with romance but with necessity. Yet in the doing of life together—through work, hardship, laughter, and prayer—tenderness took root. Love wasn’t always spoken, but it was evident in every act of staying.

February may call to mind Valentine’s Day, roses, and sweet words. But frontier love offers another picture: steady, faithful, enduring—the kind of commitment that doesn’t simply mark a moment… it builds a life.

How to Cook a Husband

Frontier women knew how to cook most things from scratch- bread, stew, preserves, and coffee strong enough to carry a body through sunrise chores. And if they were lucky, somewhere along the way, they learned another special recipe-  The ingredients that foster love between two people sharing a life.

More than a century ago, a homemaking column offered this playful advice:

“A good many husbands are utterly spoiled in the cooking by mismanagement… Some keep them in hot water, others let them freeze by indifference… but they are really delicious when properly treated.”

The Ingredients:
• Patience
• Kindness
• Humility
• Faith
• Forgiveness
• Time

Love on the frontier

Love wasn’t made in a moment. It was formed slowly, plank by plank, like a cabin raised against the wind.

Not in grand gestures, but in small mercies—coffee poured before dawn, boots drying by the fire, a shawl tucked around weary shoulders, and the quiet decision to stay when leaving would be easier.

On the frontier, supporting one another wasn’t a suggestion; it was a necessity. There, love was shaped by patience, sustained by faith, and strengthened through the shared work of living side by side.

Perhaps that is why Western historical romance resonates so deeply with me—it beautifully illustrates a timeless kind of love that continues to inspire, encourage, and guide us today.

Photo credit: Library of Congress (Public Domain)

Frontier love wasn’t always simple—and sometimes it came wrapped in confusion, courage, and a few surprises.

That’s exactly the heart behind Hiram’s Brides – Double Trouble, where mistaken identity, wounded trust, and steady devotion collide in one sheriff’s search for the truth… and the right bride.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRHVJCVW

Source note: Inspired by a 1911 homemaking column and reflections on frontier marriage and 1 Corinthians 13.4 - 7: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Connect With Kimberly:

Fans of historical romance set in the late 19th century will enjoy stories that combine History, Humor, and Romance, with an emphasis on Faith, Friends, and Good Clean Fun.


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