Indeed she was one of the most noted women in Western entertainment history–at least in my opinion. On this date in 1860, Phoebe Anne (Annie) Moses (known professionally as Annie Oakley) was born in Ohio. Her parents were Quakers, and Annie was the sixth of seven children. Due to her mom being widowed twice, Annie and her older sister were taken into an infirmary and then put in “near-slavery” for two years to a local family. She was then sent back to her mother when her mom remarried for a third time.
Due to poverty and her family situation, she didn’t always go to school, and she began trapping, hunting, and shooting at a young age to help earn money for the family. She and traveling show marksman Frank Butler entered into a shooting match due to a local bet, and Annie (at the age of 15) beat him. They courted and married. She took the stage name Annie Oakley, and in 1885, she and Butler joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.
There is much more that could be told, but she will probably always be remembered as “The Little Sure Shot of the West.” She died in 1926, at the age of 66.
For more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Oakley
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/annie-oakley-is-born
