The life of pioneer woman Carrie Peterson Callsen, as told through a collection of letters written to her from 1881 to 1948. The story begins with Carrie as a young woman growing up in Minnesota hearing about the homesteading experience on the South Dakota prairie from her two older brothers. Settling the Midwest was an experience encompassing the everyday, mundane to the extraordinary. Experiences common to all homesteaders and those situations special to Carrie and her family. As Carrie left home to make her way in the world, her brothers provided her advice on life and love, including an invitation to help them in cooking and housekeeping; chores that took up valuable time from their farming endeavors. Learn about Carrie’s South Dakota prairie homesteading experience as she meets and marries Hans, a neighboring homesteader himself. Carrie’s life goes on to raising her children, some of her siblings moving further west and the death of her father. Events that are sometimes heart-warming and sometimes heart-wrenching. Real life events on the frontier with a few letters depicting the stark truth of life and death some may find unsettling. An interesting account of an extended family though more than six decades. A time period no less interesting than our own, but a time period providing a foundation for our own lives.Included for your curiosity and enjoyment are images of the original correspondence with transcriptions and Indexes for searches, pictures, land ownership/locations, and genealogy.