She was born Phoebe Ann Mosey on August 13, 1860 and died November 3, 1926. The sixth of nine children, it was her sisters who called her Annie.
Coming from a poor family, Annie took up trapping at age seven, and hunting at age nine. She was so good she sold her game to restaurants and hotels eventually paying off her mother's mortgage when Annie was but fifteen.
Now to the romance part : )
Frank Butler bet a hotelier in Ohio that he could outshoot any fancy shooter. Fifteen year old Annie beat him after the 25th shot and soon after he began courting her. They married a year later.
The Oakley part of her name was a show name she reportedly got from a nearby town in Ohio.
They joined Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show in 1885. Annie befriended Sitting Bull where he adopted her and called her Watanya Ciclla which means Little Sure Shot. They remained lifelong friends.
Annie toured Europe and delighted kings and queens with her shooting. She even told President Theodore Roosevelt that she could provide 50 lady sharp shooters if the U.S. should go to war with Spain. He declined but did name his volunteers the Rough Riders after the Congress Rough Riders of the World in the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.
Her life wasn't without hardship. She was partially paralyzed after a train accident but recovered and broke records even in her sixties.
She and her husband had no children and took care of her family and gave generously to charities.
Annie died in November 1926. Her husband so grieved that he stopped eating and died eighteen days later.
Hope you enjoyed this little mini biography of Annie Oakley, one of the Wild West's most interesting women.
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Have a very Happy New Year ~ may it be your best yet.
Patricia PacJac Carroll
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