Women of the Wild West Trivia Quiz

Answer: Martha Jane Cannary

She was born in the state of Missouri in 1852. In her early years she left Missouri and went with her parents and five siblings to Virginia City, Montana. As the journey took months to complete, she learnt to shoot and ride on the trail and by the time she reached Virginia City she could shoot and ride better than most men.
In 1870 she joined Custer at Fort Russell, and was employed as a scout. This was the beginning of Martha Jane Cannary's habit of dressing like a man, which she did until her death on August 1st, 1903.

Answer: Stagecoach driver

Charley Parkhurst, as she was known to everyone that knew her, not only had a unusual job, but she succeeded in keeping her gender a secret until her death: it was only discovered when she died of cancer in 1879, until then she lived her whole life as a male.
Charlotte Parkhurst was born in Lebanon, New Hampshire, in 1812 and raised in an orphanage. It was said she was abandoned by her parents soon after birth. Despite a poor start to life, she became one of Wells Fargo's greatest coach drivers.

Answer: Cattle rustling

Ellen Liddy Watson also known as Cattle Kate, was born on July 2nd 1861. Although Ellen was lynched for cattle rustling there was no evidence she committed the crime. It is believed she upset rich ranchers by building her homestead in the middle of pasture land wanted by her wealthy surrounding neighbors and they wanted her out of the way.
She was only 28 years old when she was hanged on July 1889, alongside her husband, Jim Averill.

Answer: Sacagawea

Sacagawea was born to the Shoshone tribe in 1788. Along with her husband Toussaint Charbonneau she was part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. She was most likely the interpreter rather than the guide for the duration of the Expedition, but there is some documentary evidence to suggest she did provide directions on a few occasions.
She died on December 20th 1812, leaving behind the son she gave birth to while on the expedition and another child, a girl.
William Clark became the guardian of both children, later adopting them. Both parents at this time were thought dead, but the father, Toussaint Charbonneau was still alive and is believed to have lived into his eighties.

Answer: Cynthia Ann Parker

Cynthia Ann Parker was born in 1825, the daughter of Silas and Lucy Parker. Cynthia's family, along with other families, joined a wagon train and headed towards Texas for a better life.
When they arrived at their destination, the settlers built Fort Parker on the headwaters of the Navasota River.
Fort Parker was attacked by Native Americans on May 19, 1836 and the nine-year-old Cynthia, along with others, was taken prisoner. The other captives were released when a ransom was paid, but Cynthia was not released.
She was to remain with the Comanche for the next 25 years. She married a Comanche, and the couple had three children.

Answer: Female 'buffalo' soldier

Born in 1842, Cathay was a house slave to a wealthy farmer. When the Union soldiers took the plantation on which Cathay served, she and a few other women were also taken to be used as cooks for the army.

When Congress passed an act authorizing the establishment of the first all Black military units, Cathay enlisted using the name William Cathay. She was the first African American woman to enlist. She served for two years and, starting to tire of the military, she revealed her gender to the post surgeon and was promptly dismissed.

Answer: Mary Catherine Elder Haroney

She was born on November 7th 1850 in Hungary. Her father was a doctor, and in 1862 he left Hungary along with his family to take up a post of personal surgeon to Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico.
She lost both parents when she was fifteen, and Mary and her siblings were then sent to foster homes.
In later life she was working as a show girl and prostitute when she met Doc Holiday. They often fought during their years together and broke up many times, but always reunited. She died on November 2nd 1940.

Answer: Poker Alice

Alice Ivers Tubbs was one of the best poker players in the American West. Born on February 17th, 1851 in Devonshire, England her father moved the family to Virginia when Alice was very young.
She married Frank Duffield, a mining engineer. It was in a miners' camp that her love of poker began. When Frank was killed in an explosion a few years after they married, Alice went from camp to camp playing poker. Bob Ford (the man who killed Jesse James) hired her as a dealer in his saloon. Alice left to open her own saloon, "Poker's Palace". It was here that she shot and killed a drunken sailor; she claimed self defense and she was acquitted.
She died, aged 79, on February 27th, 1930 after a gall bladder operation.

Answer: Louisa May Alcott

Born on November 29, 1832. Louisa wrote "Little Women" which was published in 1868 and is her best known work. She volunteered to be a nurse when the American Civil War began. She worked in an army hospital where she caught typhoid fever; the calomel treatments she received to combat the disease would later contribute to her death by mercury poisoning. She died on March 6, 1888, aged 56.

Answer: Harriet Tubman

Born into slavery in about 1820, Harriet made her bid for freedom in 1848.
With the help of a white neighbor, who gave her the address of the first safe house. At the age of 25, she married John Tubman, a free African American, but he refused to go with her, she made the journey alone. She settled in Philadelphia where she met William Still, the Philadelphia stationmaster on the Underground Railroad. He taught her everything he knew about the workings of the railroad. Harriet helped numerous slaves to freedom; she died on March 10th, 1913 aged 93.