Does Joe love his 640 acres land than Anna? Would he mind losing his land in order to marry Anna? Anna loves him so much, but she doesn't want to marry if Joe loves his land more than Anna.

When Joe meets Anna, he can't believe his luck. Moreover, she is a beautiful young woman. She was not only an excellent cook, and house keeper, but she can write and read and teach. In 1865, in Granby, Massachusetts, an orphan girl, Anna Ivy applied to be a cook for Joe Denton. Joe pays $300 to find his bride, 'honest, practical, not fragile and able to handle cooking for his lumber crews.' Joe has to provide his wife's death certificate or marry a bride by April 1866. A single man can own only 320 acres, not 640. As long as he can't prove his wife's death, he will lose his land. Joe does not remember his wife's doctor's name.

His wife died before she came to Seattle. He has been working so hard to keep up his land for ten years. In 1865, Seattle, Washington, a hard working young widower, Joe Denton, who own 640 acres of land has a problem. There is a Christian element to this book, not as heavy-handed as some, but enough to know that their faith enriches these people's lives and helps them be decent people to each other. Anna realizes what a sterling example of man Joe is and they marry. The man she was supposed to marry refused to and she is left in dire straits which marriage to Joe will fix.īut there's a surprise and Joe and the widow don't marry. As he has only days to marry before losing half his land, he proposes to the indigent widow with no teeth. Of course, Anna and Joe fall in love and of course, she agrees to marry him and of course, there is a misunderstanding and she won't marry him. Instead, she works for him as a cook for his lumberjacking crew. Although he would prefer to marry Anna, she won't have him because she vowed to never marry. As you may read from the description, Joe is highly motivated to acquire a wife and any woman at all will do, even one in her sixties with no teeth. The main characters are, of course, fictional. I don't anything about the settlement of Seattle and according to the author's notes, several historic people are in the story. Very enjoyable story about a part of US history with which I am not familiar.

A bride in the bargain by deeanne gist