*Why did Women go west?
Mainly, two kinds of women went West in the 19th century, wives and single women. The wives went with their families. The single women who went west had to be enticed to do so. The promise of marriage and family was not enough for them to leave their secure life in the east. Women were much in demand on the frontier. Men would even pay money just to look at a woman they were so rare. Therefore incentives and privileges had to be offered such as education, churches, social groups, rights to be involved in local decisions, and even the right to vote. Yes, women were given the right to vote locally in some places.