On August 12, 1860, Darke County's most distinguished daughter was born in a weather-beaten log cabin near Willow Dell, Ohio. Her parents, Susan and Jacob Moses, named her Phoebe Ann but her sisters did not like the name so they called her Annie.
Annie's father and mother were Quakers, who came from Pennsylvania. When Annie was five years old her father died, leaving her mother with a family of seven children, the eldest was only fifteen years old.
In 1868, when Annie was eight, she learned to user her father's old 40 inch cap and ball Kentucky rifle. She was able to furnish the family with rabbit, squirrel, quail and other fresh game. She became so good that she could shoot a quail through the head. She sold game and paid off the mortgage on her mother's home near North Star, Ohio.
In the fall of 1875, at the age of fifteen, she was invited to take part in a shooting match in Cincinnati with Frank Butler, who was a champion marksman. The little girl from the country showed all of the people how well she could shoot by winning the match and also winning the man, as she and Frank Butler were married a year later.
She joined her husband's fancy shooting act and at that time took the name of Annie Oakley, which she used the rest of her life. They had many successful seasons and met many interesting people.
Annie and Frank continued in stock company until 1880 when they joined the Four-Paw and Sells Brothers Circus. Annie became an expert horsewoman and presented some of her most difficult shots while riding horse back.
In 1882 in St. Paul, Minnesota, they met the great Sioux Indian Chief, Sitting Bull. He was so impressed with Annie's shooting that he adopted her into his tribe and called her "Mochin Chilla Wytonys Cecilia," which means My Daughter, Little Sure Shot.
In March 1884 Annie Oakley and Frank Butler joined the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show with whom they traveled for seventeen years. They performed throughout the United States, with performances in Madison Square Garden and at Chicago World's Fair in 1893.
The show went to London in 1887 for a 6 month stay and did a command performance for Queen Victoria, during her Jubilee year, with many of the Royalty of England and Europe attending. During this time, Annie had many shooting matches for which she received many medals and trophies. The show then traveled through Europe.
In the fall of 1901 tragedy struck the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show when the show train had a head on collision with another train. Annie was seriously hurt when she was thrown from her bed and her spine was injured. The nerve shock was so great that her hair turned white in 17 hours. It was months before Annie could travel, when she came back to Ohio for surgery and rest. After she recuperated, she accepted the star role in a stage play in New York City.
Annie liked to give shooting exhibitions for charity and she could shoot as well as she did when she was young. For several years she and her husband spent their winters in Leesburg, Florida, or Pinehurst, North Carolina, where they did some shooting at gun clubs or hunting in the fields.
In the fall of 1921 Annie and Frank were involved in an auto accident near Daytona, Florida. Annie's hip was out of joint and her ankle was broken. She spent months in the hospital and was never able to walk without a brace.
At this time Annie did not think she had long to live and that no one would want her medals so she had them melted down and sold the gold for a little over $100 and gave the money to a children's hospital in the south.
Annie and Frank came back to Darke County to be close to relatives and old friends. Annie died on November 3, 1926, at the home of the Misses Brodrick and Zemer, at 227 E. Third St., Greenville, Ohio. When Frank was told of her death he said she wanted her body to be cremated and the ashes placed in a Loving Cup that had been given to her by the people of France. Frank was ill at the home of Annie's sister in Ferndale, Michigan, and was unable to attend her funeral. He died 18 days later.
On Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1926, Annie Oakley and her husband, Frank Butler, were buried in Brock cemetery, near the place of her birth. Identical stones mark their graves, with their names and the simple inscription "At Rest."
Annie Oakley is no more, but her feats with the rifle and the love of those of her profession, and especially those whom misfortune overtook, will always remain a memorial to her greatness. In the years to come her grave will be a shrine for those who loved this woman, before whom kings and rulers of the earth bowed and paid tribute, and whom all honored.
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