Peruse her biography:

To learn about her college years, see the monograph :
Educating Emily

The Wilderness Years

Once again Emily, Michael and Molly, found themselves unwelcome and on the run. They followed the Missouri River west, and then up the Frenchman until they arrived in Saskatchewan, near what is now Unity. (1) Emily, finally driven to despair and finding that you need more than a thong to keep you warm in a Canadian fall, began to take revenge on her former home town. Through animal sacrifices and dark curses the farming town of Williston in the Northern Dakota Territory became a ghost town – crops would not grow, women could not conceive children, and men’s . . . well you get the picture. (2)

Given the very wildness of the times, and the fact that Emily seemed to be on very intimate terms with every horseman to come within shouting distance of their homestead, Michael decided that it was time to send her off to more formal education to the safety of a girl's school.

With the profits from his most recent invention – the thong – he enrolled Emily in the Evanston College for Women, in Evanston, Illinois.

In the spring of 1871, Emily had just turned 16 and was nothing short of radiant. During their trek back through the frontier, Emily was turning into a contemplative young woman. Throughout this period, Michael had been teaching her the sciences; of course, he could not teach what he did not know, so that did not include specific laws that, if ignored, could lead to explosive cranial bleeding and the words: "wa wa?"

Emily studied for a while at Evanston, and then moved on to Oberlin to pursue an advanced degree. (This period of her live is outlined in the excellent monograph, Educating Emily.)

A few of Emily's close "pals" from the Great Trek.

Emily’s Ohio days were suddenly interrupted in 1874 by sad news from the Saskatchewan territory. Molly, her mother, had been murdered when a band of outlaws destroyed their sod hut, and raped their one remaining goat. Taking a leave of absence, and bidding a temporary farewell to Oberlin, the deeply saddened Emily made the arduous trek back to the prairies. Inexplicably, she shunned the more traveled American route and headed north to Ontario, then on to the new Canadian province of Manitoba. There she fell in with a large group of young men “off on a bit of adventure” to the prairies. It was on this Great Trek, as “the boys” often referred to it, that Emily found a new object for her voracious affection and comfort for her broken heart – the Mountie. Emily’s "curvaceous buttocks" quivered like delighted Jell-o when she beheld any man astride a horse wearing the becoming red jacket and outlandish pants that comprised the Mountie uniform.

Any Mountie, and for some strange reason his horse, were equally delighted to see Emily and her thong.

The funeral of Molly Chelsey was sad affair. Attendance was small as there were not that many Europeans in the Northwest at that time. A priest was found in a trading post tavern about a day’s ride away and he had sobered up considerably by the time he arrived. Half a dozen locals showed up at the graveside to join Emily, Michael, and about 300 mounted policemen. The Mountie’s, for some strange reason, had set up a temporary command post in the Unity area. The few residents complained that the area was overpoliced. The Mounties countered with the point that, since they had come to town, the animal mutilations had stopped. All Emily knew was that she was very tired and never had any time to write anymore, but she did have to admit that her riding skills, under the tutelage of the Mounties and their mounts, had increased immensely.

After a suitable period of mourning, it came time for all to part ways. Emily embarked for Ohio to finish her schooling at Oberlin. (3) Michael Flannigan moved to a new homestead in North Battleford. The Mounties, with great regret, continued their march West.

By the mid-seventies, Flannigan and Emily found themselves thrown back together, this time living in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Due to another ill-advised invention, Flannigan's Follicle Restorer, the two soon found themselves on teh move again.

Thus it came to be that Emily and the Flannigan family left the Western prairie to become established city folk in Southwestern Ontario. Flannigan firmly felt that London in the Candian province of Ontario was the location of the future. Emily agreed it was time for a change.

--"Scholarship" by The Dude
(and The Squire and Thuder)

Next: A Woman of Means

Notes:

1) Though in this period it was only small loosely-knit collection of rude dwellings filled with rank homesteaders and the occasional randy mounted policemen. [back]

2) Emily was so successful that the town ceased to exist. In 1887 another North Dakota town, a collection of tents known as “Little Muddy” was also named Williston after financier D. Willis James. [back]

3) This period of her life is outlined in the second part of the excellent monograph, Educating Emily. [back]