Editor’s Introductory Note: I’ve had a consulting client for more than two years, who I’ve learned to trust. He lives on a family farm. Please note that he is looking for a young woman who would like to be married and have children. She does not need any experience in agriculture. – JWR
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I’ll begin this piece with a preview of something included in a six-part article that will be posted in SurvivalBlog, starting tomorrow:
Go back just a few generations, and there were no “food stamp” coupons or cards allowing you the benefit of the cornucopia of modern life potentially at your fingertips just by virtue of living in the post-industrial welfare United States of America. This is so historically abnormal, but tragic because it often can lead people down so many bad roads. Eating without working for able-bodied adults is contradiction of the Biblical wisdom in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 in which we are warned: “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.”
The early colonists at Jamestown actually experimented with a form of “socialism” where everything was held in a common storehouse as that is how their company charter was originally organized. Because the colonists at Jamestown under this system could not individually benefit from their own labors, they often did very little and this contributed to the near collapse.
One of the leading colonists, Ralph Hamor, wrote in his 1615 book “A True Discourse of the Present State of Virginia” reflecting back on his time at Jamestown: “When our people were fed out of the common store and labored jointly in the manuring of the ground and planting corn, glad was that man that could slip from his labor, nay the most honest of them in a general business, would take so much faithful and true pains in a week as now he will do in a day.” Food shortages and leadership challenges led to disastrous results with an 80 percent death rate during the Winter of 1609-10. The colonists made it through the “Starving Time” although in diminished numbers. From that point forward, their numbers never dipped that low again and they became successful
The treasurer of the Virginia Company of London Sir Edwin Sandys highlighted an important fact in 1620: “The plantation can never flourish till families be planted and the respect of wives and children fix the people on the soil.” The first permanent English settlement in this country at Jamestown only flourished after it had discovered a few inescapable facts both through a lot of trial and error. People need to have a reasonable expectation that they will individually profit from their labor as Captain John Smith was instrumental in changing how the colonists worked and were compensated. Civilizations and their smaller outposts of colonies only succeed when they grow and flourish through feeding themselves and eventual population growth.
The best way to grow and multiply a population is through natural reproduction instead of importing people which generally does not lead to a cohesive social structure. (Jamestown was originally settled with all men and the population through the 1610s was always very imbalanced sometimes 7:1 men to women).
To change this, the Virginia Company started a program to import young ladies to Jamestown who would become some of the first mothers of America. For the price of 120 pounds of “good leaf tobacco” (back then tobacco was tradeable for gold as a commodity–since the colonists could not find gold they used their labor as suggested by colonist John Rolfe to grow tobacco which was an easily exportable cash crop commodity to England), a single Jamestown colonist man could pay the passage and dowry for a young woman to be his bride. The reason for this fee was because the men who were in charge of the colony only wanted these young women to marry industrious men who owned land for the colony to have its best opportunity. (in case you are wondering what this would be equivalent to today it would be about $5,000.)
A man back then who could amass resources and not squander them would overall make a better husband, father, and his leadership would be critical to training future generations in the colony. What I am attempting to do is very historic and founded on the Christian institution of marriage. Much like the Virginia company recruited young women, I too am recruiting. The Virginia Company sent the call out to England for “younge, handsome and honestly educated maydes” reproducing using the exact words that young women and their families would have read over 400 years ago (spelling and phrasing back then were interesting). These young women were not any random young women and they came with letters of recommendation as to their character many of them were from fine families who realized that the New World was offering an opportunity. Ninety young women came over in 1620 and were married to the eligible bachelors of Jamestown. American agriculture from that point forward began as the colony began to be self-supporting through natural population growth.
My Own Quest for a Bride
I am offering $18,000 worth of survival items to be given as a gift after marriage to the person who introduces me to my future wife. That might sound like a bold offer, but hear me out:
I ask first for your prayers for success in the process of helping me to find a quality Christian young woman who is seeking to be married. Next, I ask you to sincerely consider any single young woman who you know who matches the criteria that I list and talk to her or her family. As Christians, we walk by faith, so I am sending this “message in a bottle” to the readers of SurvivalBlog with the hope that one reader can introduce me to my future spouse.
Since this is a fairly unusual way to find a wife, I will tell you more about myself and the basic qualities I am looking for in a potential spouse and answer a few questions that you might have.
Here is the basic criteria that I seek to find in a young woman:
- Christian
- 21 to early 30s in age
- Conservative
- Wants to be married and have children
- Single, never married, and does not have children
- Physically and mentally healthy
- Average height and normal weight range
- Non-smoker
- Good personality
- Domestic skills such as cooking or has an interest in learning
- Lives in the United States
As a prepared individual, I realize tangible survival items are often more useful in many scenarios than extra money in the bank. Basically, a survival item is anything tangible that can help you to survive. Some people may include on their lists items such as camping equipment, fishing or hunting equipment, a freeze dryer, food storage, woodstove, or some other useful survival items. What you would buy is really up to you and your individual wants or needs. If it gets to this stage where you are picking out products that you would like, I would assume that our families would become friends and that I would go with you to a store and purchase the item(s) or give you gift card to stores (such as Lehmans or Ready Made Resources) having items that you could use for survival purposes: As long as it is legal, can be purchased, and I have married because of your introduction, then I will be more than happy to pay for it with my money up to a total of $18,000.
I firmly believe in Christian marriage and we have never had a divorce in my family line. There is only one gift of $18,000 of survival items being offered by me through this letter and it will only be given after marriage to the one person who provides the introduction to my spouse. You may or may not be the person who ultimately helps me to become Newlywed Farmer. I truly appreciate all of the people who will put on their “thinking caps” and try to think of single young women they know. I realize that this is a lot of money. I have worked very hard to get into a position where I can afford to marry, able to support a wife and children and be able to afford to give this after-marriage gift to the individual who introduces me to my wife.
You may be wondering is there anything wrong with me: I am a physically fit man of normal weight and height with no unusual habits or anything that women would find unattractive in a husband. I am thankful that my health is excellent. No one in my family has taken the COVID “vax.” I have had women interested in me, but they did not fit my basic criteria. I manage a successful family farm which I will someday inherit: I either do things myself or we have people we employ to help with our farming chores as my search for a spouse takes up a great deal of time and has included travel trying to find her.
My basic criteria covers millions of single young women in the United States currently and I only need to find one young woman. This is both the problem and the solution. Normal conservative people in the 21st century are spread all around the country in various towns and cities. There is not some central location where a conservative young man (or families) can go to meet in person a conservative young woman (or their families) who is of marriageable age who is serious about being a wife and homemaker and they could discuss their qualifications. Please do not write to tell me about various websites that you have heard about. But you are welcome to tell me about young women who you actually know and have talked to about this opportunity who are genuinely interested in marriage and starting a family. I have known of people who have found success through matchmaking websites, but I have tried many of them and have not found anyone appropriate for me.
You may wonder why I don’t just accomplish this on my own. I have tried to find an appropriate young woman both in my local community and online who is interested in marriage, but I have not found her yet. I am trying to get the word out that “Single Farmer” is prayerfully trying to find a spouse.
I suppose that there could be multiple readers who write to us about the same young woman who know her and her family. So, whoever writes me about here first, will be the one who receives my gift.
As a traditional man, I am praying to find a traditional young woman whose goal is to be a Christian wife. I am not looking for a farm “worker.” My future wife’s “job” is much more important: she will make my house into a home, be the mother of our children, and raise our children to love the Lord. My mom reminded me as I was writing this that I need to mention that my goal is to find a young woman who really wants to be a “mom.”
Statistically, there have never been more single people than ever before, but ironically it is even more difficult to find similarly-minded people. Going back not that many years almost every young person had fairly similar goals of marriage and family. Now, so many are delaying it because of financial reasons or because of women’s career objectives. I am a successful businessman with multiple income sources that are not even connected to our farm and can afford to have my wife be a homemaker. My future wife could be currently working outside of the home and aspiring to be a homemaker, she could be helping her family, or she could be helping in her family’s business.
People often have told us that they know about farms because they saw some television show or movie that was set in the 1800s or early 1900s. That is very far from life on our farm in 2025. If someone were inside our home with the window shades closed, they would not know that our family home is on a large parcel of land. In the daytime, you could look out to farm fields, our forest, and our large private lake from various windows. The Lord has blessed our farm greatly in its productivity being able to feed hundreds of people.
We are within a short drive to a city. My mom enjoys activities and shopping in the city which has all of the major stores. I enjoy going to various stores and finding a variety of seasonal items at the grocery store when we go into the city. I like to cook and bake. I have even taken some cooking classes in the city over the years.
I believe in the value of education, and enjoy learning, and reading. I am college-educated. My parents have always viewed education as a continuous process and they instilled a love for learning. Many of our family vacations have included an educational component such as museums or historical sites, but we have also enjoyed many theme parks and coastal vacations. I have many friends in various parts of the country and it always great to visit these families who we have known for years.
From my youth, I was raised in a strong Christian household which formed my values and personality. It is a blessing to have parents who have always loved the Lord and raised me to cherish the values that made our country strong. Quality men like myself naturally gravitate toward friendship with like-minded people who share similar values and attributes. My parents and I enjoy entertaining friends at our farm and visiting with friends. I have been told many times that I have a good personality. I seek to find a young woman with an equally good personality to share the life of abundance that the Lord has blessed us.
We are thankful to be living on a farm in Kansas which is a conservative state in a safe region of the country. In my family, we often think about the contributions of our ancestors who left their homelands in Europe for a better life in America. We have some of their pictures and know their stories that have been handed down in our family for generations. I often think of their stories: one of my ancestors who left Germany in the late 1800s as a young man. And even many more generations back another ancestor left England and made a difficult voyage to America in the 1600s.
We are entering a great period in American History where the 250th anniversary of our country is quickly approaching. I can trace my lineal ancestry back to men who fought in the War for our Independence. This is an interesting time to be alive. Instead of having to go to war for our independence, so many conservative men are engaged in a battle even more fundamental to be able to do what our ancestors would never dream would need to be done: to find young women who are interested in being wives and mothers. Back then or even fifty years ago, a successful man like myself would have no difficulty in finding a spouse, but now it is incredibly difficult. Unfortunately, I am not alone with the marriage rates declining as values and morals have changed as marriage and family are not seen as a goal for so many young women.
We live in a unique time where I can write this letter and it will be read by many thousands of people some of whom might know a young woman matching that criteria. It would be impossible for me to accomplish on my own what can be accomplished with this one letter if you are willing to help me in talking to the “network” of people you know. The most common reason why people are not prepared is because they cannot afford it, so here is an opportunity for you to talk to the people you know and possibly turn it into something wonderful for three different families: my family, your family, and my future wife’s family (if the young woman is from another family.) Everyone benefits if this is successful!
This is likely being read by fathers and grandfathers with daughters and granddaughters, brothers who have sisters, readers who have single relatives such as nieces, cousins, or in-laws. The young lady who you introduce me to can be someone you are related to or someone you know. I ask for you to consider people who are in your own network of people. Perhaps you know someone at your church or workplace with a single daughter or your wife knows of a single young woman. If you are a pastor reading this, please understand that I am earnestly seeking to follow what the Bible says to be “fruitful and multiply” and I appreciate you checking among your congregation and talking with your contacts.
I am asking for your assistance in helping our family farm continue on to the next generation by helping me find a spouse. We are thankful to be operating profitably when so many farms are struggling. I do need your help with my quest to find my future wife. I am asking you to pray for me in this search. Would you please join me in looking for my future spouse?
If you think you might be the young woman I have been praying to find, or you know her in your family or among your friends, could you please tell her so she or her family could e-mail Mr. Rawles writing an introduction? Please write in detail about yourself and your family including your religious beliefs and other interests including hobbies. His address is jamesATrawles.to (Change “AT” to an @ sign) and he will personally handle the initial correspondence.