Posted on 08/04/2018 5:30:11 PM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK
Annie Oakley's hometown in the Wild West (of Ohio)
I grew up thinking that Annie Oakley came from the Wild West. I didn't realize she came from the wilds of western Ohio until we spotted a small sign pointing to her gravesite along a two-lane highway near Greenville.
We recently re-visited Oakley's gravesite and saw the largest known collection of Oakley artifacts at the Garst Museum.
Oakley gained fame traveling the country as the sharpshooting star attraction of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Born Phoebe Ann Mosey at North Star in Darke County Ohio in 1860, she experienced extreme poverty as a child, especially after her father died in 1866.
She used her father's old rifle to hunt local game to feed her family and sell meat to help pay off the mortgage on the family farm.
In 1875, she won a shooting contest in Cincinnati, meeting marksman Frank Butler in the process. The couple eventually married and Butler, recognizing his wife's superior shooting skill, became her manager and assistant as she took the stage name of Annie Oakley.
Oakley and Butler died within weeks of each other in 1926. When we first saw their side-by-side graves in Brock Cemetery more than a decade ago, there was just a small sign marking the site. We saw the Ohio state historical marker, erected in 2003, during our most recent visit.
Darke County goes all out to celebrate its "Little Sure Shot" during its Annie Oakley Days Celebration July 27-29 in downtown Greenville and at the Darke County Fairgrounds.
While learning about Ohio's Annie Oakley connection was fascinating, there was a lot more to learn about the area at Greenville's Garst Museum.
The Garst family donated their home to the Darke County Historical Society as a museum in 1946. Today, it is a complex with over 35,000 square feet of display space and more than 300,000 artifacts.
Other notable collections at the Garst include: military uniforms and artifacts dating from the War of 1812 through the present; a gallery dedicated to broadcaster and world traveler Lowell Thomas, who deftly used the "new media" of his day like radio, films and television to bring the world to American theaters and living rooms during the mid-20th century; and the Crossroads of Destiny exhibit.
Crossroads of Destiny is a permanent exhibit tracing events leading up to the signing of the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, which paved the way for America's westward expansion.
Greenville was home to one of the largest stockade forts ever built in the country, a 50-acre Army camp from 1793 until 1796 and site of the treaty signing involving 12 Native American nations and the United States.
Many of the 1,000 artifacts in the Crossroads of Destiny exhibit came from area archeological digs funded by the museum.
Hungry after a morning of cemetery and museum exploring?
Deanna York of the Darke County Visitors Bureau suggests catching a bite at Michael Anthony's at the Inn, The Bistro Of Broadway or the Made-rite Sandwich Shoppe, continuing your Greenville explorations at the Bear's Mill or the KitchenAid Experience Retail and Factory Tour, or capping your trip with a visit to the Winery at Versailles.
Was she part-Native? Her earlier pictures, it seems that she had some Indian blood in her.
Ohio, used to be, “the West”.
Our president is often teacher in chief!
The Wreck of the Shenandoah (1926)
It sure was when one of my ancestors started an apple grove there around 1802. I think it was known as the Northwest Territory at the time.
I passed right through that town 4 days ago ! I wish I knew. I was in the mood to show the family some history.
Yes. Many people are surprised to learn that Jesse James and Billy the Kid ran around Iowa and Missouri.
Phoebe Ann Mosey (AKA Annie Oakley) started trapping at age 7 and at age 8 was hunting game with a rifle which she sold, herself, in the area’s hotels and restaurants. Contrast this to the hysteria over the minimum age to have a weapon and background checks.
No, both of her parents were of only European stock; to be exact, English.
No mention of Annie Oakley’s guns. Where are they?
Nope.
Only Cheekbones Pocahontas is Native.
In 1860, Ohio WAS in the west. Not the farthest west, but still the frontier.
I believe Cmdr Landsdown, the CO of the Shenadoah was from Greenville.
I’ve stayed in Greenville many times, on account of relatives who lived there. It’s really a nice little town and the museum is very interesting. If you plan a visit, definitely try to make it coincide with the Darke county fair. There’s some nice exhibits and a local farmer sells sausage sandwiches which are out of the world. Harness racing is a lot of fun to watch too.
Yes, he was.
Both paternal grandparents were born in Dawn, Ohio in Darke County. It is so small, the train tracks don’t have a street to cross them. Gen Web has a lot of history of people and places in Darke County.
I was in an Annie Oakley trap shooting contest many years ago. I won!
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