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Women in History: Calamity Jane

A legend like Charley Parkhurst is hard to come by — but Calamity Jane was certainly legendary in her own right. There has been plenty of speculation and unsubstantiated rumors about Martha Jane Canary — some of it straight from her own account. The city of Deadwood recognizes her as quite a storyteller, but historians agree that some of Canary’s exploits and accomplishments are indeed based on pure, undisputed facts. Below are some true stories about Calamity Jane that you may be surprised to find out:

 

1. Martha Jane Canary (or Cannary) was born to Robert and Charlotte Cannary, the oldest of six siblings, in Princeton, Missouri. Her mother died of pneumonia during a wagon-train move to Virginia City, Montana — and her father died soon after moving the family to Salt Lake City, Utah. Martha Jane, now in charge of her brothers and sisters, packed up the children on the Union Pacific Railroad and settled in Piedmont, Wyoming.

2. Martha Jane was not an educated girl. She was illiterate and her knowledge was mostly based on survival skills. During her time traveling with the caravan from Missouri to Montana, she was often in the company of the party hunters, from whom she learned how to ride horses, shoot, and hunt for herself.

Karen Kondazian and Louis L’Amour: A Review

 

reading-the-truth

When the Going Gets Tough

by

Katherine Hauswirth

 

Besides meeting kindred spirits, one of the nicest things about this column is the access to books of all kinds from publishers and publicists. These perks include genres that don’t usually draw me, and I surprised myself when I signed on to read the novel The Whip. Normally reading “a piece of the “Old West” in a cover blurb would have me passing on the book. But this one had a hook.

 Charley Parkhurst, when she was alive, was known far and wide as a brave and highly skilled stagecoach driver. Women didn’t drive stagecoaches, you say? Well, she lived most of her life as a man; it was only after her death that Charley’s gender was discovered, to the incredulous surprise of the “tough guys” who (thought they) knew “him.”

 Author Karen Kondazian found a gem when she found Charley’s story, and she’s done a good job polishing and embellishing it. There isn’t a lot of verifiable information about Charley’s life, and Kondazian discloses up front that she’s made up some historical details. It is a novel, after all. But the draw of the story, for me, was that it was based on someone who must have had one heck of an adventure, whether or not the novel gets the particulars exactly right.