Annie Oakley 1860–1926

Also known as Phoebe Ann Mosey

Annie Oakley, born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American exhibition shooter. She was born on 13 August 1860 and died on 3 November 1926. As a child in western Ohio she hunted to help feed her family. At fifteen she won a shooting match against Frank E. Butler, and she married him in 1876. In 1885 the couple joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West and performed in Europe before royalty and other heads of state. Audiences knew tricks such as shooting a cigar from Butler's hand and splitting a playing card edge-on at thirty paces. The English Wikipedia article says she earned more than anyone in the troupe except Buffalo Bill himself. A rail accident in 1901 led her to a lighter stage routine, and she taught marksmanship to women. In 1894 a short film of her act was made for one of Thomas Edison's Kinetoscopes. The portrait is a black-and-white copy of an 1880s cabinet card by Baker's Art Gallery of Columbus, Ohio, and the photograph is in the public domain. The dates follow that article and Wikidata Q230935.

Existence span 1860–1926