Beyond the Book: Cowgirls

Welcome to another edition in my Cowgirls series. Not all cowgirls herded cattle and knew how to shoot. I'm betting that Abigail Scott Duniway probably didn't. Duniway was born in Illinois and traveled to the Oregon Territory in 1852. She taught herself almost everything she knew, and read every newspaper she could get her hands on.

She became a follower of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and started campaigning  for women's rights. She also started a newspaper and became a schoolteacher. In 1886, the National Women's Suffrage Convention convened in Washington, DC, and named her as the most influential women's advocate in the West.

She became the first registered female voter in her county when Oregon granted women the right to vote in 1912. She was 78 years old. Unfortunately, she died five years before a constitutional amendment granted women the right to vote.

http://www.thewildwest.org/cowboys/wildwestlegendarywomen/203-abigailscottduniway
By Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

This series on cowgirls is in honor of my heroine in Rest Thy Head. Peyton found Rest Thy Head and learned to ride horses, explore caves, and talk to ghosts.

Beyond the Book: Etta Place

 Wow, where to start with this cowgirl? Her name is Etta Place, and she was married to the Sundance Kid, a notorious bank robber and outlaw. No, wait, that may not be right. We don't know her real name. We're not even sure she and Sundance were married. Some folks said she first had a relationship with Butch Cassidy before turning to the Sundance Kid, but again no one knows for sure.

You do know about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, right? They were two of the most famous outlaws of the old west. They ran a gang of outlaws called the Wild Bunch. Etta was one of only four or five women ever to be allowed in the gang.

No one knows for sure how Place met the Kid. Some say she was a teacher, and some say she was a prostitute or housekeeper who met the Kid at a hotel. She's very pretty, isn't she?

We do know that she went with the Kid to Argentina in 1901. They took advantage of a newly passed law to get a huge amount of land for themselves. Place was the first woman to get law under this new law.

They visited the US several times, but finally in 1904 they had to leave Argentina because the American detectives were on their trail. By later that year they returned and started robbing banks. Things get fuzzy again after that.

Some say she was tired of running and asked the Kid to take her to San Francisco which he did. After that, we don't think they ever saw each other again. Who was she? Did she and the Kid really leave each other? Excellent questions, and some people think they have answers, but with so many theories out there, who knows what's true and what isn't. She probably isn't the best role model to come out of the old west, but she sure is interesting.

All information is from Wikimedia and so is the picture.

I'm doing this series on the old west in honor of my heroine Peyton O'Malley who became a cowgirl herself after coming to Rest Thy Head.

Beyond the Book: Cowgirls and Horses

In honor of my Rest Thy Head heroine Peyton O'Malley, I'm doing a series on American cowgirls. Peyton had never ridden a horse until she came to Rest Thy Head, but she loved it.  Here's her horse whose name is Reggie.

All cowgirls needed a horse, so here's two famous cowgirls with their horses.

Dale Evans had a horse named Buttermilk. Buttermilk was a buckskin quarter horse who was actually faster than Roy Roger's Trigger.  (Picture: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2030)

This last horse belonged to Connie Douglas Reeves who was thrown from Dr. Pepper when she was 101 years old. The horse was 28. She said she was glad he had remained so spirited. Connie was the first woman admitted to law school in Texas, but she had to drop out because of the Depression. She became a riding instructor, and spent the rest of her life around horses. Dr. Pepper looks a lot like Peyton's horse Reggie.  (Picture: https://stargazermercantile.com/an-american-cowgirl-connie-douglas-reeves/

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If you're interested in reading Rest Thy Head, it's on sale for only .99 at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I'd love for you to read it.

Beyond The Book: Cowgirl Food

Any cowgirl worthy of the title probably knew how to make Vinegar Pie. Wikimedia says it's a North American variation of Chess Pie. Some of you may recall that Laura Ingalls Wilder ate Vinegar Pie at Christmas in Little House in the Big Woods. I've eaten Chess Pie, but personally, I've never tried Vinegar Pie. I believe that this recipe was supposed to be made when you were out on the trail somewhere. Let me know how it tastes if you decide to indulge your cowgirl taste buds.

1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup cold water
4 eggs, beaten
5 tablespoons vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons butter 

Combine sugar and flour. Add the rest of the ingredients and place in a saucepan. Cook until thick and pour into a prepared pie crust. Bake in a 375-degree oven until the crust is brown.

Rest Thy Head is now on sale for .99 at Amazon and B&N.

Beyond the Book: Cowgirls

Welcome to today's edition of Beyond the Book. In honor of my Rest Thy Head heroine Peyton O'Malley who moved to Wyoming and learned to ride a horse, I'm sharing a few posts about famous cowgirls of the old west. My character today is Poker Alice.

Alice was born in England in 1853. She and her family moved to Colorado where she married Frank Duffield who taught her to play poker. He was miner, and after he died in a mining accident, Alice turned to poker to make a living. Look at that dead pan expression on her face. I bet she could bluff with the best of them.

She eventually traveled all over the west, gambling as she went and winning regularly, sometimes as much as $6000.00 at one time. In Deadwood, Colorado, where she spent most of her time she met and married her long time husband Warren G. Tubbs. Tubes wasn't much of a poker player. He was an artist. I wonder if she ever let him win when they played cards. He eventually died of tuberculosis. They were broke, so she pawned her wedding ring to pay for his funeral.

Alice wasn't through with men yet. She left Deadwood and ended up in Sturgis where she met her third and final husband George Huckert. He died not too long after their marriage, leaving Alice broke and alone. She went back to gambling to support herself. She ran a poker house and made bootleg whiskey, but when she was shut down during Prohibition. Ever resourceful, she started a house of ill repute for soldiers at Fort Meade.

During the last years of her life she became somewhat eccentric. She wore old faded clothes and a beat up hat, but she still continued to deal cards until her death in 1930. She's buried in the St. Aloysius Cemetery in the Black Hills.

Picture:By The black-and-white photo is courtesy of the South Dakota Historical Society (http://www.sangres.com/history/pokeralice.htm) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Reference: www.thewildwest.org

Beyond the Book: Cowgirls

My heroine had never even ridden a horse before she came to Rest Thy Head, but here's a real cowgirl who could give her some inspiration.

Elizabeth “Lizzie Johnson” Williams

1840‒1924)

Ranched near Austin, was a pioneer in breaking the barrier into what had always been considered a man’s world: cattle trading. Legend has it that she was one of the first women to drive her own cattle, along with her husband’s, up the Chisholm Trail, earning her the nickname, “The Cattle Queen of Texas.”

Come back next week for another look at cowgirls of the old west. 

Picture and bio from http://www.cowgirl.net/portfolios/elizabeth-lizzie-johnson-williams-2/

Beyond the Book: Cowgirls

Peyton O'Malley had never ridden a horse before she came to Rest Thy Head, but here are some cowgirls to inspire her.

Dale Evans

"Cowgirl" is an attitude really. A pioneer spirit, a special American brand of courage. The cowgirl faces life head-on, lives by her own lights, and makes no excuses. Cowgirls take stands; they speak up. They defend things they hold dear."

Guys, have you read Rest Thy Head? Peyton has a lot in common with Dale Evans.

Annie Oakley

Aim at a high mark, and you will hit it.

I don't know if Annie was talking just about guns or not, but it's great advice. My heroine Peyton was taught to aim high from the time she was a child, but until she ran away to Rest Thy Head, she couldn't find the high mark she wanted to achieve.

Fannie Sperry Steele

“To the yesterdays that are gone, to the cowboys I used to know, to the bronc busters that rode beside me, to the horses beneath me, I take off my hat.  I wouldn’t have missed one minute of it.”

Fannie Steele started riding at age two. Before her career ended she had raced Thoroughbreds, became the Lady Bucking Horse Champion of the West twice, performed with Buffalo Bill Cody, and was a charter member of the Cowboy Hall of Fame. She was also the first woman in Montana to get an outfitter's license.

Like Fannie Steele, my Peyton knows exactly what she wants and isn't willing to live life on other people's terms. 

Rest Thy Head is set in Wyoming, so come back next week, and we'll talk cowboys and cowgirls again.

Rest Thy Head is on sale for a limited time at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.


Picture credits:

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
photo by Alan Light [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Annie Oakley
By Stacy Co., Brooklyn, N.Y. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Fannie Sperry Steele
By Edward F. Marcell [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Fashionista Friday: I Always Wanted to be a Cowgirl

I did want to be a little cowgirl!  I had a red and black cowgirl outfit, boots, a white handled pistol and holster, and a rocking horse which I rode to death.  So, I still have a soft spot in my heart for a cowgirl.  What do you think of this jacket?  I think a real cowgirl would love it.  It's made of lamb suede and has paisley out out accents.  You can buy it at Maverick Western Wear for $373.00.  I had intended to look for jeans elsewhere, but I really do like the ones shown with the jacket.  Buy them at Maverick Western Wear for $95.00.

A cowgirl has to have boots too.  I love both of these pairs.  I suppose with the jeans the simple pair would be best, but I adore the flowers on the other pair.  They come from Maverick Western Wear too.

The flowered pair are $569, and the plain pair is $289.99.