The Wild West of Yester-Year
The Courageous Mary Donoho
By Rachel Kovaciny
Can you imagine being the only woman on a two-month journey over land, accompanied by over three hundred men?
Or traveling almost nine hundred miles while walking on your
own two feet or riding in a wooden wagon over what could
barely be called a trail, much less a road? And doing all of
that while caring for a nine-month-old baby?
When Mary Donoho accompanied her husband William over the
Santa Fe Trail, she did all that. She became the first
female US citizen to travel the entire trail going south
from Missouri to New Mexico.
Mary, her husband William, and their nine-month-old daughter
were part of a large wagon train that included traders,
soldiers, and freight wagons. The wagon train was massive,
made up of over three hundred people and a hundred wagons
carrying nearly two hundred thousand dollars’ worth of trade
goods. (That would be about six million dollars today.)
William was one of many who invested trading items bound for
what was then called Nuevo, Mexico. Items like bolts of
fabric and farming tools were readily available in Missouri,
but difficult to get in far-flung Santa Fe, which was part
of the newly independent Mexican nation. Many people made
vast fortunes trading along the Santa Fe Trail, and William
and Mary Donoho intended to do the same.
Mary was born in 1807 to James and Lucy Dodson, who lived in
Kentucky. Her family moved several times when she was
growing up, finally settling in Missouri. There, Mary met
William Donoho, and the two married in 1831, when Mary was
twenty-four. Two years later, they left Missouri and headed
for new lives hundreds of miles away. They would have to
skirt around territory belonging to the Comanche, cross
deserts and mountains, and face extreme weather. Mary,
William, and their baby were hardy folks and handled the
trip just fine.
In Santa Fe, Mary and William built an inn they called La
Fonda. Because William left for months at a time on trading
trips all across New Mexico, Mary managed the inn by
herself. The Donohos lived in Santa Fe for several years,
where Mary gave birth to three more children. She hosted
public dances and other community events at the La Fonda,
besides managing the hotel and caring for her family.
Unfortunately, in 1837, the Perez Rebellion made the area
unsafe. Mexico’s President Santa Anna had appointed Colonel
Alberto Perez the governor of New Mexico, but Perez was not
from New Mexico. An outsider trying to govern them offended
the Mexican citizens. Tensions escalated from grumbling to
all-out rebellion, and the Donoho family fled to Texas for
safety.
They settled in Clarksville, where they built the Donoho
Hotel. Mary birthed and raised two more children while
managing their new hotel. William Donoho died in 1845 and
did not leave a will that passed ownership of the hotel to
his wife. Since it was uncommon for women to own property
like a hotel at the time, Mary spent six years battling to
legally retain ownership and control of the Donoho Hotel.
She eventually won her court cases. Under her management,
the hotel became renowned for her peerless hospitality and
fine accommodations.
Mary Donoho learned a valuable lesson from her husband’s
mistake—when she died in 1880, she left a detailed,
nine-page-long will that bequeathed everything to her son,
James. He was her only remaining child—she had outlived all
five of her daughters. James eventually sold the Donoho
Hotel and returned to Santa Fe. In a newspaper interview
there, he described his mother as a practical and
intelligent businesswoman. One can only assume she was also
courageous and determined to have endured and accomplished
so much! ♦