The Complete List of Historical Women - Last Name Begins with "O-P"

Historic Women - O-Q

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Annie Oakley (1860-1926) - Annie Oakley was as Phoebe Ann Moses in Darke County, Ohio, On August 13, 1860. She started using a gun when she was just nine years old, while hunting game for her siblings and widowed mother. Quickly becoming an expert marksman, she gained a reputation in her area and during the spring of 1881, defeated a sideshow sharpshooter named Frank Butler.

Butler, who was performing in Cincinnati had bet a hotel owner $100 that he could beat any local fancy shooter. But Frank didn't know about little Annie Moses. The hotel manager soon arranged a shooting match between the two, and Annie, who was just 21 at the time, beat him hands down. The two then began to date and were married on June 20, 1882. She is believed to have taken the stage name of "Oakley" from a Cincinnati neighborhood where the couple lived.

Though she started as Frank's assistant in his traveling show, she soon became the star of the the performance. In 1885, she joined a more popular show, that of Buffalo Bill's, with husband Frank acting as her business manager. Though badly injured in a railway crash in 1901, she continued to set records into her 60's. At the age of 66, she died of pernicious anemia on November 3, 1926. Her husband, Frank Butler, died just 18 days later.

Annie Oakley's sharp shooting abilities made her one of America's first female "super-stars."

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) Known as the greatest American woman artist of the 20th century, her paintings are noted for their abstract colors and shapes in depicting flowers, nature and the American landscape.

Cynthia Ann Parker (1825?-1871?) - The mother of Comanche Chief, Quannah Parker, Cynthia was captured as a child by a Comanche War Party. She adapted to the Indian ways, married and had three children. She was "rescued" by Texas Rangers in 1860 but was never happy again.

Charley Parkhurst, aka: One Eyed Charley, Mountain Charley, Six-Horse Charley (1812-1879) - Parkhurst was a tobacco chewing, cussing, gambling California stage driver who was found dead in bed on December 18, 1879. To the surprise of Charley's friend's, the person they found was not who they thought he was. Charley was a woman! Born as Charlotte Darkey Parkhurst in New Hampshire, she was raised in an orphanage before she ran away disguised in boy's clothing. The trick worked so well, she continued the disguise finding work in a livery stable in Worchester, Massachusetts. Around 1849 two of Charley's friends named James Birch and Frank Stevens went to California, where they consolidated several small stage lines into the California Stage Company. Charley followed them to California and went to work as a stage driver, where she earned a reputation as one of the finest drivers on the west coast. Shortly after arriving, she lost the use of one eye after being kicked by a horse.

During the next two decades she would drive stages for a number of stage lines, including Wells Fargo on its stage run from Santa Cruz to San Jose. She wore gloves in both summer and winter to hide her small hands and pleated shirts to hide her figure. Over one eye she wore a patch, giving her a tough looking appearance. One of her unknowing companions would say of her: "she out-swore, out-drank, and out-chewed even the Monterey whalers." In 1868, she was a registered voter, making her the first woman to vote in California.

After giving up driving, she worked at lumbering, cattle ranching and raising chickens before retiring to a quiet life in Watsonville, California. When she died on December 18, 1879 of cancer, her true sex was revealed for the first time to an abundance of startled friends. The San Francisco Morning Call said of her upon her death, "the most dexterous and celebrated of the California drivers, and it was an honor to occupy the spare end of the driver's seat when the fearless Charley Parkhurst held the reins."

Rosa Parks (1913-2005) By refusing to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man in 1955 Montgomery, Alabama, this hardworking seamstress set off a thirteen month bus boycott and a long chain of civil rights protests. The result was the national attention of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a Supreme Court ruling outlawing segregation on buses.

Alice Paul (1885-1977) Activist and suffragist who organized the 1913 women's rights march through Washington, D.C. and founded the Congressional Union for Women's Suffrage, a militant branch of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

Frances Perkins (1880-1965) A social and political reformer, Perkins became the first woman appointed to the New York State Industrial Commission and the first female member of a United States Cabinet, heading the Department of Labor.

The Sundance Kid and Etta Place.

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

Etta Place (1878-19??) - Born about 1878, little is known of Etta's life before she met the Sundance Kid. Though some accounts state that she was a school teacher from Texas , most historians suspect that she was actually a "soiled dove" working in Fannie Porter's brothel in San Antonio when the "Kid" met her. In fact, not even her "real" names is known as she variously went by the names of Etta Place, Ethel Place, Mrs. Harry Longabaugh and Mrs. Harry A. Place. Avidly pursued by the Pinkertons, Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and Etta Place fled to Argentina in 1902. Some say the outlaw pair were killed in Bolivia, but others say they finally made their way back to the United States where they lived anonymously until their deaths. It is believed that Etta Place returned to New York in 1907 seeking medical attention. Though it is unclear what happened to her after that, some accounts say that she moved to Denver, Colorado. Others say she was killed along with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Mary Ellen Pleasant (1814-1904) - An African American abolitionist, businesswoman, and entrepreneur. Using her money to further abolition, she worked the Underground Railroad across many states before moving on to California during the Gold Rush era. She was a friend and financial supporter of John Brown and well known in abolitionist circles. After the Civil War she took her battles to the courts and won several civil rights victories, which resulted in her being called "The Mother of Human Rights in California”

Poker Alice - See Alice Ivers Tubbs

Fannie Porter (1873-19??) - Running one of the most luxurious brothels in Texas at the turn of the century was Madam Fannie Porter. Originally from England, Fannie was running a successful bordello in San Antonio in the late 1800’s. Advertising itself as a "boarding house," the brothel was extremely successful and was known as one of the hideouts for Butch Cassidy and the rest of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. In fact, it was here that Harry Longabaugh, better known as the Sundance Kid, is thought to have met Etta Place. Harvey Logan, known as Kid Curry, also met his girl, Annie Rogers, at Fannie’s brothel. After the Wild Bunch began to disperse in 1901, Porter was visited by William Pinkerton who was still tracking the outlaws.

Afterwards, Fannie faded from history but rumors circulated that she died in a car accident some years later in El Paso. Fannie's "house” continued to stand until the early 1990’s. More ...

Continued Next Page

Fannie Porter ran one of the most popular brothels

in San Antonio, Texas .

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

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