I Do captures the essence of the pioneer character through the central, driving force of love. Whether marrying for brain size ("23-inches, please") or by mail order, frontier romance revealed itself in the culture and customs of the sturdy pioneer folk who lived on the frontier between 1715 and 1915. With over 100 archival photographs, I Do captures with poignancy and humorous detail the romantic travails of pioneers searching for love. From brides so young they took dolls to the altar to a horse-back bachelor so anxious for a ride he rode from house to house, beating on doors to find someone to marry, I Do! challenges the notion that the West was a place of prim and proper frontiersmen and women. I Do! shows that there was a spirit of sexual freedom and joy unique to the plains, and shows that the quest for romantic love was central to the pioneers' western experience. Oddly enough, romance played as strong a role in women's independence as did suffrage. Romance came to mean autonomy; women couldn't vote, but they could marry for love. Through the use of startling firsthand accounts, eye-opening journals, and 137 photographs from the period, I Do! presents a dizzying array of frontier courtship and marriage practices.