A person’s family can be one of the most influential forces in their life. It shapes a person's character, values, and personality and influences their life in a positive or negative manner. What makes up a family can vary from person to person. Family could be a mother, father, and children, or it could be the people one cares about whether they are related or not. Sometimes people form families out of necessity to help and care for each other while they are away from their biological family. The characters in the books Letters of a Woman Homesteader, Daughter of Earth, and “Mrs. Spring Fragrance” from Mrs. Spring Fragrance and Other Writings all have different views of family as well as different types of family. Elinore Stewart, Marie Rogers, and Mrs. Spring Fragrance’s are each affected by their family, which helps to shape their lives, and influenced they path they took. This paper will look at what makes up their individual families, their view of their families, and how the family affected their lives.Elinore Stewart is a pioneer. Widowed at a young age, she moves to Denver to become a wash lady to support herself and her young daughter. Elinore then decides to make the trip out west to Wyoming to try to make a better life for herself and her daughter. The life of a homesteader was not an easy one to be sure. The life as a woman on your own, homesteading alone, was even harder. Elinore was an independent and an intelligent woman. Her intelligence told her that in order to survive she would need the help of others. That survival instinct was the beginning of Elinore’s family unit. She began to bond with her neighbors, and everyone would help and look out for each other. Elinore’s family grew as she became acquainted with her neighbors. Her family came to include such people as Mrs. Louderer, Mrs. O’Shaughnessy, Mr. and Mrs. Edmonson, Cora Belle, Mr. Stewart, whom she wou...