Annie Oakley (August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926) was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Her "amazing talent" first came to light when she was 15 years old when she won a shooting match with traveling-show marksman Frank E. Butler, whom she eventually married. The couple joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show a few years later. Oakley became a renowned international star, performing before royalty and heads of state.
Annie Oakley was born Phoebe Ann (Annie) Mosey in a cabin less than two miles (3.2 km) northwest of Woodland, now Willowdell, in Darke County, Ohio, a rural western border county of Ohio. Her birthplace log cabin site is about five miles east of North Star. There is a stone-mounted plaque in the vicinity of the cabin site, which was placed by the Annie Oakley Committee in 1981, 121 years after her birth.
Annie's parents were Quakers of English descent from Hollidaysburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania: Susan Wise, age 18, and Jacob Mosey, born 1799, age 49, married in 1848. They moved to a rented farm (later purchased with a mortgage) in Patterson Township, Darke County, Ohio, sometime around 1855. Born in 1860, Annie was the sixth of Jacob and Susan's nine children, and the fifth out of the seven surviving. Her siblings were Mary Jane (1851–1867), Lydia (1852–1882), Elizabeth (1855–1881), Sarah Ellen (1857–1939), Catherine (1859–1859), John (1861–1949), Hulda (1864–1934) and a stillborn infant brother in 1865. Annie's father, who had fought in the War of 1812, became an invalid from overexposure during a blizzard in late 1865 and died of pneumonia in early 1866 at age 66. Her mother later married Daniel Brumbaugh, had one more child, Emily (1868–1937), and was widowed for a second time.
Because of poverty following the death of her father, Annie did not regularly attend school as a child, although she did attend later in childhood and in adulthood. On March 15, 1870, at age nine, Annie was admitted to the Darke County Infirmary, along with elder sister Sarah Ellen. According to her autobiography, she was put in the care of the infirmary's superintendent, Samuel Crawford Edington, and his wife Nancy, who taught her to sew and decorate. Beginning in the spring of 1870, she was "bound out" to a local family to help care for their infant son, on the false promise of fifty cents a week and an education. The couple had originally wanted someone who could pump water, cook, and who was bigger. She spent about two years in near-slavery to them where she endured mental and physical abuse. One time, the wife put Annie out in the freezing cold, without shoes, as a punishment because she had fallen asleep over some darning. Annie referred to them as "the wolves". Even in her autobiography, she never revealed the couple's real name.
According to biographer Glenda Riley, "the wolves" could have been the Studabaker family. However, the 1870 U.S. Census suggests that "the wolves" were the Abram Boose family of neighboring Preble County. Around the spring of 1872, Annie ran away from "the wolves". According to biographer Shirl Kasper, it was only at this point that Annie had met and lived with the Edingtons, returning to her mother's home around the age of 15. Annie's mother married a third time, to Joseph Shaw, on October 25, 1874.
Annie began trapping before the age of seven, and shooting and hunting by age eight, to support her siblings and her widowed mother. She sold the hunted game to locals in Greenville, such as shopkeepers Charles and G. Anthony Katzenberger, who shipped it to hotels in Cincinnati and other cities. She also sold the game herself to restaurants and hotels in northern Ohio. Her skill eventually paid off the mortgage on her mother's farm when Annie was 15.
Annie soon became well known throughout the region. On Thanksgiving Day 1875, the Baughman & Butler shooting act was being performed in Cincinnati. Traveling show marksman and former dog trainer Frank E. Butler (1847–1926), an Irish immigrant, placed a $100 bet per side (worth $2,181 today) with Cincinnati hotel owner Jack Frost that Butler could beat any local fancy shooter. The hotelier arranged a shooting match between Butler and the 15-year-old Annie, saying, "The last opponent Butler expected was a five-foot-tall 15-year-old girl named Annie." After missing on his 25th shot, Butler lost the match and the bet. Another account mentions that Butler hit on his last shot, but the bird fell dead about two feet beyond the boundary line. He soon began courting Annie, and they married. They did not have children.
Regardless of the actual date of the shooting match, Oakley and Butler were married a year afterward. A certificate is currently on file with the Archives of Ontario, Registration Number 49594, reporting Butler and Oakley being wed on June 20, 1882, in Windsor, Ontario. Annie and Frank Butler lived in Cincinnati for a time. Oakley, the stage name she adopted when she and Frank began performing together, is believed to have been taken from the city's neighborhood of Oakley, where they resided. Some people believe she took on the name because that was the name of the man who had paid her train fare when she was a child.
They joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West in 1885. At five feet tall, Oakley was given the nickname of "Watanya Cicilla" by fellow performer Sitting Bull, rendered "Little Sure Shot" in the public advertisements.
Oakley promoted the service of women in combat operations for the United States armed forces. She wrote a letter to President William McKinley on April 5, 1898, "offering the government the services of a company of 50 'lady sharpshooters' who would provide their own arms and ammunition should the U.S. go to war with Spain." The Spanish–American War did occur, but Oakley's offer was not accepted. Her health declined in 1925 and she died of pernicious anemia in Greenville, Ohio at the age of 66 on November 3, 1926. Her body was cremated in Cincinnati two days later and the ashes buried at Brock Cemetery near Greenville, Ohio. Assuming that their marriage took place in 1876, Oakley and Butler had been married just over 50 years.
Butler was so grieved by her death, according to B. Haugen, that he stopped eating and died 18 days later in Michigan, and his body was buried next to Oakley's ashes.
That is such an awesome photo, and the colorization is perfect.
I'm sure people have heard this story before, but just in case others haven't heard it, I'll tell it anyway because I think it's badass.
She toured with Buffalo Bill around America and Europe showing off her shooting skills. In 1890, she was doing a show in Berlin, and during the show she would shoot the ashes off of someone's cigar (usually her husband was the volunteer). This time, Friedrich Wilhelm II (the German Kaiser) stepped up to be the volunteer, and she successfully shot the ashes from his cigar.
When WWI came about, Oakley realised that if she had shot and killed him, she possibly could have prevented a war. She wrote to him asking for a second shot, but received no reply.
marinamaral on December 9th, 2017 at 21:31 UTC »
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Annie Oakley (August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926) was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Her "amazing talent" first came to light when she was 15 years old when she won a shooting match with traveling-show marksman Frank E. Butler, whom she eventually married. The couple joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show a few years later. Oakley became a renowned international star, performing before royalty and heads of state.
Annie Oakley was born Phoebe Ann (Annie) Mosey in a cabin less than two miles (3.2 km) northwest of Woodland, now Willowdell, in Darke County, Ohio, a rural western border county of Ohio. Her birthplace log cabin site is about five miles east of North Star. There is a stone-mounted plaque in the vicinity of the cabin site, which was placed by the Annie Oakley Committee in 1981, 121 years after her birth.
Annie's parents were Quakers of English descent from Hollidaysburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania: Susan Wise, age 18, and Jacob Mosey, born 1799, age 49, married in 1848. They moved to a rented farm (later purchased with a mortgage) in Patterson Township, Darke County, Ohio, sometime around 1855. Born in 1860, Annie was the sixth of Jacob and Susan's nine children, and the fifth out of the seven surviving. Her siblings were Mary Jane (1851–1867), Lydia (1852–1882), Elizabeth (1855–1881), Sarah Ellen (1857–1939), Catherine (1859–1859), John (1861–1949), Hulda (1864–1934) and a stillborn infant brother in 1865. Annie's father, who had fought in the War of 1812, became an invalid from overexposure during a blizzard in late 1865 and died of pneumonia in early 1866 at age 66. Her mother later married Daniel Brumbaugh, had one more child, Emily (1868–1937), and was widowed for a second time.
Because of poverty following the death of her father, Annie did not regularly attend school as a child, although she did attend later in childhood and in adulthood. On March 15, 1870, at age nine, Annie was admitted to the Darke County Infirmary, along with elder sister Sarah Ellen. According to her autobiography, she was put in the care of the infirmary's superintendent, Samuel Crawford Edington, and his wife Nancy, who taught her to sew and decorate. Beginning in the spring of 1870, she was "bound out" to a local family to help care for their infant son, on the false promise of fifty cents a week and an education. The couple had originally wanted someone who could pump water, cook, and who was bigger. She spent about two years in near-slavery to them where she endured mental and physical abuse. One time, the wife put Annie out in the freezing cold, without shoes, as a punishment because she had fallen asleep over some darning. Annie referred to them as "the wolves". Even in her autobiography, she never revealed the couple's real name.
According to biographer Glenda Riley, "the wolves" could have been the Studabaker family. However, the 1870 U.S. Census suggests that "the wolves" were the Abram Boose family of neighboring Preble County. Around the spring of 1872, Annie ran away from "the wolves". According to biographer Shirl Kasper, it was only at this point that Annie had met and lived with the Edingtons, returning to her mother's home around the age of 15. Annie's mother married a third time, to Joseph Shaw, on October 25, 1874.
Annie began trapping before the age of seven, and shooting and hunting by age eight, to support her siblings and her widowed mother. She sold the hunted game to locals in Greenville, such as shopkeepers Charles and G. Anthony Katzenberger, who shipped it to hotels in Cincinnati and other cities. She also sold the game herself to restaurants and hotels in northern Ohio. Her skill eventually paid off the mortgage on her mother's farm when Annie was 15.
Annie soon became well known throughout the region. On Thanksgiving Day 1875, the Baughman & Butler shooting act was being performed in Cincinnati. Traveling show marksman and former dog trainer Frank E. Butler (1847–1926), an Irish immigrant, placed a $100 bet per side (worth $2,181 today) with Cincinnati hotel owner Jack Frost that Butler could beat any local fancy shooter. The hotelier arranged a shooting match between Butler and the 15-year-old Annie, saying, "The last opponent Butler expected was a five-foot-tall 15-year-old girl named Annie." After missing on his 25th shot, Butler lost the match and the bet. Another account mentions that Butler hit on his last shot, but the bird fell dead about two feet beyond the boundary line. He soon began courting Annie, and they married. They did not have children.
Regardless of the actual date of the shooting match, Oakley and Butler were married a year afterward. A certificate is currently on file with the Archives of Ontario, Registration Number 49594, reporting Butler and Oakley being wed on June 20, 1882, in Windsor, Ontario. Annie and Frank Butler lived in Cincinnati for a time. Oakley, the stage name she adopted when she and Frank began performing together, is believed to have been taken from the city's neighborhood of Oakley, where they resided. Some people believe she took on the name because that was the name of the man who had paid her train fare when she was a child.
They joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West in 1885. At five feet tall, Oakley was given the nickname of "Watanya Cicilla" by fellow performer Sitting Bull, rendered "Little Sure Shot" in the public advertisements.
Oakley promoted the service of women in combat operations for the United States armed forces. She wrote a letter to President William McKinley on April 5, 1898, "offering the government the services of a company of 50 'lady sharpshooters' who would provide their own arms and ammunition should the U.S. go to war with Spain." The Spanish–American War did occur, but Oakley's offer was not accepted. Her health declined in 1925 and she died of pernicious anemia in Greenville, Ohio at the age of 66 on November 3, 1926. Her body was cremated in Cincinnati two days later and the ashes buried at Brock Cemetery near Greenville, Ohio. Assuming that their marriage took place in 1876, Oakley and Butler had been married just over 50 years.
Butler was so grieved by her death, according to B. Haugen, that he stopped eating and died 18 days later in Michigan, and his body was buried next to Oakley's ashes.
64BbuB1aVYPt on December 9th, 2017 at 23:45 UTC »
Annie Oakley is hot
murphs33 on December 10th, 2017 at 00:51 UTC »
That is such an awesome photo, and the colorization is perfect.
I'm sure people have heard this story before, but just in case others haven't heard it, I'll tell it anyway because I think it's badass.
She toured with Buffalo Bill around America and Europe showing off her shooting skills. In 1890, she was doing a show in Berlin, and during the show she would shoot the ashes off of someone's cigar (usually her husband was the volunteer). This time, Friedrich Wilhelm II (the German Kaiser) stepped up to be the volunteer, and she successfully shot the ashes from his cigar.
When WWI came about, Oakley realised that if she had shot and killed him, she possibly could have prevented a war. She wrote to him asking for a second shot, but received no reply.