Annie Oakley was born Phoebe Ann on August 13, 1860, in Willowdell, Darke County, Ohio. Annie was the sixth of Jacob and Susan's nine children, and the fifth out of the seven surviving.
After her father died in a blizzard, she began shooting rabbits and quail to provide the family income.
Because of poverty following the death of her father, Annie did not regularly attend school as a child, although she did attend later in childhood and in adulthood.
Buffalo Bill her and her sister Sarah Ellen for his Wild West Show in 1885.
Thousands of people saw Annie slice a playing card with the thin edge toward her by shooting at 30 paces.
Kaiser Wilhelm II had her shoot a cigarette out of his lips.
Oakley charmed everyone with her simplicity and modesty, including Queen Victoria.
(No wonder that Irving Berlin made her the subject of his Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun, which played throughout the 19506. )
Annie and Frank Butler lived in Cincinnati for a time. Oakley, the stage name she adopted when she and Frank began performing together, is believed to have been taken from the city's neighborhood of Oakley, where they resided. They joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West in 1885. During her first engagement with the Buffalo Bill show, Oakley experienced a tense professional rivalry with rifle sharpshooter Lillian Smith. Oakley temporarily left the Buffalo Bill show but returned two years later, after Smith departed, in time for the Paris Exposition of 1889. This three-year tour only cemented Oakley as America's first female star. She earned more than any other performer in the show, except for "Buffalo Bill" Cody himself. She also performed in many shows on the side for extra income.
She did not forget her roots after gaining financial and economic power.
Oakley promoted the service of women in combat operations for the United States armed forces. Throughout her career, it is believed that Oakley taught upwards of 15, 000 women how to use a gun.
A fundamentalist in religion, Oakley read the Bible throughout her life.
Oakley believed strongly that it was crucial for women to learn how to use a gun, as not only a form of physical and mental exercise, but also to defend themselves.
Quotations: She said: "I would like to see every woman know how to handle guns as naturally as they know how to handle babies. "
She was never involved in the kind ofscandal that plagued Buffalo Bill, and at least 18 orphan girls were educated through her generosity.
Annie married Frank E. Butler and joined his act, shortly becoming the star herself.
They did not have children.
