Book Info
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir
LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/work/1911762/t/I-Married-a-Logger-Life-in-Michigans-Tall-Timber
Acquired from: Digger’s, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Started reading: August 14, 2025
Finished reading: TBD
Reading Updates
Page 0: I picked this book up because a) it’s a memoir set in Michigan (where I’m currently catsitting) and b) the author did her own illustrations and they’re pretty good! Published originally in 1951 and this is a reprint by a local Michigan publisher in the 80s.
Intro has a photo of the author in 1988 and updates on the family. About what you’d expect— husband died, 3 sons living in different states, author in a nursing home. A bummer, but fairly typical, I suppose.
Page 15: Family moves from West to Canada via ox-pulled cart. An oxen cart?? If she’s 75 in 1988 then born in 1913, leaving prairie home at 5 years old puts year at 1918. I guess people did still use oxen carts to move house back then, wow.
Page 18: Seems to think being thin is an English quality (her mother’s English) and has mentioned being thin and athletic twice in 3 pages. Unfortunately typical mindset for the time period.
Page 20-something: A logger is like the manager/business owner for a logging company. The lumberjacks (“jacks”) are the one’s doing the physical stuff, mostly.
Page 53: The story about her pie-making failure was very funny and also the list of food they ended up making for the workers makes me crave camp dinner
Page 55: Had to keep their marriage a secret so she could keep teaching– because only unmarried women can teach back then. Gawd!
Page 59: Kinda sad she never got to do her dream of being a fashion artist in Chicago. Yeah the Depression happened which set her career on a different trajectory, but then marrying a logger in rural Michigan just cemented it.
Word List
- “Oxford glasses” — this was hard to find, but history fashion bloggers are the GOAT and have great info available for FREE. VintageDancer.com has a post about 1930s glasses and Oxford glasses are similar to pince-nez, but had a bar going across the brow. There’s a photo on the post, check it out!
🌟 See also: Books Read (2025) / All Reading Logs
tozka | reading log: i married a logger by julie anderson