Women of the Old West

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Don't think we've spent much (if any) time on this subject.  I'd like to start it off with a woman from my part of the country, Sally Skull.  Feel free to join in.

"The conversation of these bravos drew my attention to a female character of the Texas frontier life, and, on inquiry, I heard the following particulars. They were speaking of a North American amazon, a perfect female desperado, who from inclination has chosen for her residence the wild border-country on the Rio Grande. She can handle a revolver and bowie-knife like the most reckless and skillful man; she appears at dances (fandangos) thus armed, and has even shot several men at merry-makings. She carries on the trade of a cattle-dealer, and common carrier. She drives wild horses from the prairie to market, and takes her oxen-waggon, alone, through the ill-reputed country between Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande." [Julius Froebel, Seven Years Travel in Central America, Northern Mexico, and the Far West of the United States (London: Richard Bentley, 1859), p. 446.]

.......observed two Indians creeping toward the house........The frightened man removed the lock from his gun and pretended it was broken. "I wish I was two men," he said, "then I would fight those Indians." "If you were one man," cried Sally, "you would fight them. Give me that gun."

"......You better be good or Sally Skull will get you...."--frontier mothers to their children.

"I don't give a damn about the body, but I sure would like to have the $40 in that money belt around it."--Sally referring to putative drowning of husband number 4.

"Sally Skull belonged to the days of the Texas Republic and afterward. She was notorious for her husbands, her horse trading, freighting, and roughness."---J. Frank Dobie

If any of the above looks interesting, check out  http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/skulllegend.htm
for more of the story.

[litl rooster]

Don't think we've spent much (if any) time on this subject.  I'd like to start it off with a woman from my part of the country, Sally Skull.  Feel free to join in.

"
"I don't give a damn about the body, but I sure would like to have the $40 in that money belt around it."--Sally referring to putative drowning of husband number 4.

"Sally Skull belonged to the days of the Texas Republic and afterward. She was notorious for her husbands, her horse trading, freighting, and roughness."---J. Frank Dobie

If any of the above looks interesting, check out  http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/skulllegend.htm
for more of the story.

She sounds alot like my second wife...
Why do only a few women stick out in our wild west memories, Clamity, Belle Star, Cattle Kate to name a few?

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Don't think we've spent much (if any) time on this subject.  I'd like to start it off with a woman from my part of the country, Sally Skull.  Feel free to join in.

"
"I don't give a damn about the body, but I sure would like to have the $40 in that money belt around it."--Sally referring to putative drowning of husband number 4.

"Sally Skull belonged to the days of the Texas Republic and afterward. She was notorious for her husbands, her horse trading, freighting, and roughness."---J. Frank Dobie



If any of the above looks interesting, check out  http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/skulllegend.htm
for more of the story.

She sounds alot like my second wife...
Why do only a few women stick out in our wild west memories, Clamity, Belle Star, Cattle Kate to name a few?

Probably because most were too busy having babies and raising families and keeping them fed and clothed, while tending a flock of chickens and a veggie garden, and keepin' the home fires burning while hubby was off fighting hostiles or taking cattle to market.  Wasn't a whole lot of time to make a name for oneself under those conditions.  I'm old enough to remember my grandma heating water (outside over a wood fire)  in a couple of old cast iron wash pots (same ones used to boil water to scald a hog at butcherin' time) to wash bed sheets, etc. I remember her cookin meals on a wood burning cookstove (don't think the food could have possibly been as good as I remember, but I bet it was). I remember her canning (putting up fruit and veggies in mason canning jars) and making (hand sewing) me shirts out of chicken feed sacks.  Although they got electricity iin 1939, she didn't have an electric range or washing machine until 1950.  What I remember is what she was doing after her five children were grown and had left home.  I can only imagine what her days were like with five kids and a husband to take care of, not to mention aging parents and inlaws, no electricity or running water, no antibiotics, etc., etc.,etc.. 

That said, I don't really think it too strange that we haven't heard a whole lot about a whole lot of old west women who were too busy to make a name for themselves other than "Ma" or "Mama".  The exceptions are those who were either sufficiently educated/articulate and made time to keep diaries or journals detailing their daily lives, trials and tribulations, or were fortunate enough late in life to find someone interested enough to put their rememberances down in writing for them.  Some of these make really fascinating reading.

I have a daughter who lives in Las Crurces, NM.  I dearly enjoy my visits out there (9-10 hours each way via I-10) to see daughter and granddaughter.  I also enjoy the opportunity to spend several hours each trip in the COAS used book store there.  I have, over the past several years, been able to really expand my Old West and Texas History library with affordable used (often ex-library) books.  One $2 book, titled Women Tell the Story of the Southwest,published by the Naylor Co. in 1940, has 64 different pieces writen by women.  As stated in the coverleaf, "The primary purpose of the editor, she tells in the preface of the book, has been to bring into perspective in a single volume a picture of the way of life in the Southwest, particularly under frontier and pioneer conditions as women interpreted it."  If you ever run across it, or can find it in a library, I recommend it for some interesting reading.