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Other Colorful Characters of the Old Wild West

 

More Lists: Explorers | Gunfighters | Lawmen | Native Americans | Others | Outlaws | Outlaw Gangs | Scoundrels | Soldiers | Trail Blazers & Cowboys | Vigilantes | Women

 

 

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Samuel BrennaSamuel Brannan (1819-1889) - California's first millionaire started life in Maine in 1819 before moving with his family to Ohio when he was 14 years-old. He became a printer's apprentice and in 1836 began to move around as a journeyman printer. Converting to Mormonism in 1842, he moved to New York City to help publish several Mormon newspapers. Three years later, Brannan led a group of over 200 New York Mormons to California to find a better life. Briefly, he published a San Francisco newspaper before moving on to John Sutter's settlement, where he opened a general store. Soon; however, the Mormons accused him of diverting Mormon funds into his own business and expelled him from the church. When James Marshall discovered gold in 1848, Brannan capitalized by widely publicizing the discovery and outfitting the flood of prospectors. Before long, he became the Golden State's first millionaire. The next year he returned to san Francisco, were he was elected to the City Council and played a leading role in organizing the controversial Committee of Vigilance. Continuing in various business ventures, including land investments, banking, and railroad and telegraph companies, his wealth continued to grow. However, Brannan was a serious drinker, which ultimately led to his loss of fortune and his death in 1889.

 

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) (1835-1910) - The best known author during the days of the Old West. 

 

James Joshua Dolan (1848-1898) - One of the primary instigators of New Mexico's Lincoln County War, James Dolan attempted to control the economy of Lincoln County in the 1870s. More ...

 

George Donner (1786?-1847) - One of the leaders of the infamous Donner Party, George born of German descent in North Carolina around 1786. Later he moved to Kentucky before settling with his family just outside Springfield, Illinois. There, he worked as a farmer before deciding to join up with James Reed, who was leading a party to California. On April 14, 1846, George, his third wife, Tamsen, and their five daughters, began the journey westward. Also joining him was his brother Jacob, his wife, Elizabeth, and their seven children, as well as several hired hands.

  

The group followed the Oregon Trail until they reached Fort Bridger, Wyoming on July 28, 1846. There, they met a man named Lansford Hastings who told them about a quicker way to California via the Hastings Cutoff. Hastings claimed that his route would reduce some 300 miles from the distance to Sutter's Fort. His short-cut left the California Trail at Fort Bridger in Wyoming, passed through the Wasatch Mountains, across the Great Salt Lake Desert, looped around the Ruby Mountains, and rejoined the California Trail about seven miles west of modern Elko, Nevada.

 

Hastings also promised them that the desert was only  40 miles across and that they would find water after 24 hours. However, the desert was actually 82 miles wide and water was only to be found after 48 hours of traveling. He also said that three wagon trains had already successfully traveled the route. This was untrue.

 

The Donner Party endured a grueling drive through the Wasatch Mountains that delayed them, arrive into California just as an early winter storm closed it. After becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada, many died and some of the emigrants resorted to cannibalism. George died at his camp in the Alder Creek Valley in Nevada County, California in March 1847.

Camillus Sydney “Buck” Fly (18??-1901) – Best known for his photography of the Geronimo's surrender in 1886, Fly was known to his friends as “Buck.” Fly had a thriving portrait studio in San Francisco before he up and moved to the lawless town of Tombstone, Arizona. Even though Fly was present during the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881, he took no pictures during the event. Though he probably didn’t have time to set up his equipment while the gunfight was taking place, historians wonder why he took no photographs of the aftermath. The shootout took place right next to his studio and he was actively involved when Fly disarmed Billy Clanton after the gunfight. Though he was clearly a quality professional, no photos of the removal of the corpses, onlookers, or gunfight participants were taken.

In March of 1886, Fly traveled with General George Crook and his troops when they were pursuing the renegade Geronimo and his band of Chiricahua Apaches. On March 25th, Crook caught up with Geronimo and convinced him to surrender. Fly was there to capture the event, which produced some of the most famous photographs in U.S. history.

Fly was known to have been a heavy drinker and somewhere along the line separated from his wife. He spent his remaining years in Bisbee, Arizona where he drank himself to death in 1901. 

Joseph F. Glidden (1813-1906) - The inventor of the barbed wire widely used in the west. 

Jack LangrisheJack Langrishe (18??-1895) - A native of New York, Jack (John) S. Langrishe, an actor, impresario, and production manager, had been operating different theatres for some 17 years before his arrival in Deadwood, South Dakota in 1876. Married to a wife named Jenette, and preferring working in the Old West to the stages of New York's Broadway, the pair opened several theatres during their careers, including one in Denver, Colorado and another in Helena, Montana, before opening their Deadwood operation.  Over the years, the pair worked with several well-known names of the time including Fanny Price, Charlotte Cushman, Jim and Belle Gilbert, Augusta Chambers, Viola Porter, and more. Later, Langrishe would would be elected justice in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 1886, and managed the Wardner News in 1891. He died in Wardner, Idaho on December 12, 1895  More ...

 

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From the Rocky Mountain General Store

Old West Wisdom CalendarNative American proverbs calendarOld West Calendars - Utilizing our great vintage photos along with Old West phrases and Native American proverbs, we now have a great line of nostalgic calendars. These come in two designs - one with 12 different pages of designs and phrases for each and other budget priced wall calendars with a one page design. Don't miss an important date ever again!

Old West Calendars  Cowboy Calendar  Old West calendar  Native American calendar  Old West calendar

 

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