author
Clarice E. Richards
A lively chronicler of early ranch life in Colorado, this writer turned the culture shock of moving West into warm, funny storytelling. Her best-known book draws on real experience and captures both the hardships and humor of frontier domestic life.
1 Audiobook
A Tenderfoot Bride: Tales from an Old Ranch
by Clarice E. Richards
About the author
Born Clarice Estabrook in Dayton, Ohio, in 1875, she married Jarvis Richards in 1900 and moved to his ranch in Elbert County, Colorado. The change from eastern life to a working ranch gave her the material for the book she is best known for, A Tenderfoot Bride: Tales from an Old Ranch.
After her ranch years, she moved to Denver in 1907 and took part in local social clubs. Her surviving papers, preserved by the Denver Public Library, suggest a life of active writing and record-keeping, including correspondence, journals, a photo album, and a scrapbook.
Her work remains appealing because it blends memoir-like detail with humor and a sharp eye for everyday life. A Tenderfoot Bride, first published in 1920, is still read today as an engaging portrait of a newcomer learning to adapt to the American West.