Talk:Calamity Jane

Vandalism
I've reverted the vandalism by User:69.193.109.30, but it's perhaps worth documenting, in case it becomes encyclopedic: --Jerzy(t) 19:04, 2005 Jan 4 (UTC)really?
 * festegio appears to be a moderately good Italian word (tho i haven't succeeding in getting it translated automatically off Google), and from context it appears to have something to do with festivals or celebrations.
 * It's been introduced into English as a "here's a word you don't know" word
 * I'm not sure festigio is not Italian, either as a separate word or a misspelling, but my guess is it has been spread in English as a result of accidental or intentional misspelling of festegio.

Lesbian?
"Also, in retrospect, Jane was likely a lesbian, as gathered from her behavior, actions, and demeanor."

She dresses like a man so she must be a lesbian? Since when were hetro normative sterotypes a basis for 'encyclopedic' information. This line appears to be nothing more than speculation, without a source I suggest it be removed. - Kieran Bennett 15:33, 12 July 2006 (UTC)


 * What's the source for the bisexuality claim and brothel quote? - 63.169.219.130 02:01, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
 * No kidding. Here's the material that was in the article.  Please don't add it back without citing a reliable source!


 * Also, note that although Cy Martin is cited in the quotation itself, Cy Martin is not the author of the entire quotation, he's being quoted by the author of the entire quotation. JordeeBec 20:24, 2 September 2006 (UTC)
 * She wasn’t lesbian because she likes mens and dresses herself like a man because I’m this time girls can’t wear pantsuit and she doesn’t like her suit and dressed herself like man 149.62.207.146 (talk) 09:02, 16 March 2023 (UTC)

She was also bisexual and a cross-dreser: 

"Calamity Jane both worked in brothels (as a woman) and patronized them (as a man). 'One of Calamity's claims', wrote Cy Martin, 'was that in male garb and with the aid of a dildo, she could deceive any prostitute she wanted'...Her cross-dressing allowed her to explore and learn what was [sic—should be were] then exclusively male activities—shooting and railway work for example—and to make money from sex work no matter which gender she chose."


 * Hi, I don't know if I am doing this right so my apologies if I am intruding.

I think the statement in the first paragraph that says "exaggerated claim" is unnecessarily condescending and should be removed. --shannon


 * Does anybody have the source for the statement above? I know that is not exactly the latest discussion, but inquiring minds want to know. -- John Smythe 22:59, 27 May 2007 (UTC)


 * I am pleasantly surprised that non-USA residents have not lambasted this article for "Americentrism."Obbop 00:01, 19 November 2006 (UTC)


 * just cause she wore mens clothes dosent mean she is Lesbian i mean she was a soldier —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.184.3.10 (talk) 20:35, 5 September 2008 (UTC)
 * AGREE. it was not at all uncommon for women on the frontier and in the armed forces to "cross-dress".  They weren't necessarily flaunting social norms.  Often they were interested in being able to move freely in "men's" desmenes, broaden their employment opportunities, or simply protect themselves from male sexual predators.  Gender roles in regards to dress have never been universal, especially in hazardous situations where trousers and boots work best, such as aboard a horse.  Both during the American Revolution, and during the War Between the States, there are well-documented figures for dead and wounded females, whose sex w only revealed afterwards.  There is no evidence that these were all lesbians.  Likely some were, but not necessary, and to suggest it certainly smacks of homophobic assumptions, imho.  Rags (talk) 12:27, 11 April 2016 (UTC)


 * "Must be homophobic".  Bahahahahahaha

Usually the card played when "I don't agree with you and I can't explain why". Nah. Maybe they just have Christian values and some morals. — Preceding unsigned comment added by an unspecified IP address
 * Assuming that any woman who wore men's clothing while fighting in wars or engaged in the sort of frontier traveling like the subject of this article must be a lesbian is the silliest sort of homophobia. And to denounce the practical wearing of such attire as contrary to "Christian values and some morals" sounds like something a contemporary of Calamity Jane would say, not an American Christian living in the 21st century. Next you'll preach to the Anti-Saloon League how alcohol is the devil's drink. --Ismail (talk) 08:22, 28 April 2018 (UTC)

Rewrote heavily
I tried to remove some of the blatant bias, but there are problems with lack of sourcing - for example, there is a claim CJ met Bill in 1876 on a wagon train (no source), while later there is a claim she only knew him six weeks (no source), and then a seemingly sourced marriage certificate, so I removed the latter claim. Much more work is left to be done on this. MSJapan 02:16, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Looks like more vandalism. See the top of the page.

So was she the youngest sibling or not? The 'Early Life' section seems contradictory 82.43.213.108 14:05, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

Birth Year
At least one of the articles linked to has a photo of a plaque saying she was born in 1852, not 1855. Which year is correct? Sir Rhosis 02:26, 25 March 2007 (UTC) Jane's ghostwritten autobiography said 1850 (and also misspelled her name), the 1860 census report indicates she was born in 1856. So much nonsense and error was written about her that her true birthdate will probably never be known.Sussmanbern (talk) 12:59, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

¶ Apropos of nothing, I might add the physical description of Jane is very uncertain. There are photos of her in her old age but, I think, none of her young and I think none of her standing next to anyone or anything by which to gauge her height. The folkloric descriptions of her as very tall ("more than six feet") and beautiful seem to all derive from one person, long after Jane's death, when this source was, himself, elderly and trying hard to remember someone he had not seen in half a century. Several other persons who claim to have met her make her considerably more petite, perhaps about the average for women (perhaps 5 feet or a few inches taller) (from the photos, she seems not to have a problem finding women's clothes to fit her), with some variance as to how pretty she was -- but there being a shortage of young women in the wild west the standard of the time may have been much more generous. Sussmanbern (talk) 23:46, 4 December 2011 (UTC) ¶ Regarding her physical appearance, there is at least one story (possibly two or three) of her joining some outfit wearing men's clothes and evidently being thought by the crew to be a man until "her sex was discovered". No details are provided; we don't know if she actively pretended to be a man or if this was merely assumed by the others, etc. But this suggests that she was not very petite nor very buxom. She may have been a bit taller than the average woman and of a boyish figure.Sussmanbern (talk) 12:57, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Youngest or oldest?
The opening paragraph in Early Life says she was the youngest of six children, but the next says she lost touch with her younger siblings. David 13:40, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

¶ James McLaird, in an article in Montana magazine, which I cite elsewhere on this page, says (page 30) that the Mercer County, Missouri, census of 1860 reports that Jane was the eldest child. Sussmanbern (talk) 15:10, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Acquiring the Nickname
In this section, it says "It appears possible that 'Jane' was not part of her name until the nickname was coined for her." But in the Early Life section above it states that Martha Jane Cannary or Cannary was her birth name. Is the implication that prior to that incident her nickname was just "Calamity" or that perhaps her birth name was simply Martha? Needs clarification. Venqax (talk) 15:31, 10 July 2017 (UTC)

new biography
"According to an excellent new biography, "Calamity Jane: The Woman and The Legend," by James D. McLaird (University of Oklahoma Press), the infamous Jane showed up in Spokane around 1883 when she was following the construction crews of the Northern Pacific railroad westward through Montana, North Idaho and on into Washington State." Jim Kershner quote (I don't have time to write about this now. just making a note of it here.) --cda 14:11, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

In Hidalgo
Jane also made an appearance in the 2004 film, Hidalgo, based on the life and tales of former horse rider Frank Hopkins. Wasn't that Annie Oakley? Darkfrog24 20:47, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Jane died from complications of pneumonia in 1903.
The article states that Calamity Jane died from complications of pneumonia in 1903.

I just completed a book, Calamity Jane, The Woman and the Legend by James D. McLaird. On page 214, paragraph 2, he writes, "Despite the doctor's efforts, Martha died on August 1, 1903, at 5:00 in the afternoon, of 'inflammation of the bowels.' Undoubtedly, her life-long drinking contributed to her death. Although she was forty-seven years of age, her appearance led some observers to estimate her age as seventy-three."

There was no mention of her alleged pneumonia symptoms. The majority of the chapters covering the late years of Calamity Jane's life in fact discussed in length how her drinking habits were extreme.

Can someone please elaborate more on what is factual to her cause of death? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rperes (talk • contribs) 20:25, August 30, 2007 (UTC) ¶ Laird says she died at 47, but the article says at 51. Rather young in either case, but her looks were gone. Sussmanbern (talk) 16:33, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Hello...
Several sentences refer to Calamity Jane being with Crook between 1872 and 1874. During that time period, Crook was in Arizona fighting Apaches. For specific references, see "On the Border With Crook," by John Gregory Bourke.

The careers of Crook and Calamity Jane did intersect and is referred to by Bourke in the above-referenced book, but it was after 1874 when Crook was transferred from fighting Apaches to fighting Sioux.

70.56.230.31 (talk) 04:25, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Sex worker?
The article is listed as supported by the Sex work task force, and categorised under Category: American courtesans and prostitutes. In light of this, I don't think it would be too much to ask for some sort of cited evidence that Calamity Jane actually engaged in prostitution. The bland statement "There, she became friends with, and was occasionally employed by, Dora DuFran, the Black Hills' leading madam" does not necessarily imply that she was employed as a prostitute; "employed by" could as easily mean as a cook, a bartender, a laundress, or even an enforcer of sorts. Later in the article, in fact, we find that this was exactly the case in her later life: "For the next few months, Jane earned her keep by cooking and doing the laundry for Dora’s brothel girls in Belle Fourche." If the source for the first quote makes it plain that she was employed as a prostitute, let's have it. If not, there is no information presented that she did in fact work as a prostitute and we should either present such information or refrain from labelling her as a prostitute on implication and suggestion alone. --7Kim (talk) 19:39, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Contrary to much fiction, Calamity Jane only met Dora later in her life, she would have been too old to have been a prostitute, she was probably a cook or similar. Hurricane Floyd (talk) 07:57, 20 July 2008 (UTC) ¶ "Too old to have been a prostitute" is unlikely. Jane died at age 51 (Laird's bio says at 47); her looks were gone, but in a place like the Black Hills I suspect customers were not too picky about looks. Jane had lived a tough life, with long periods of desperate poverty, and what might seem intolerably shameful to us might well have seemed tolerable to someone in her situation. Sussmanbern (talk) 16:37, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Also note that the Dora DuFran page in WP says she was born in Nov 1873, thus only 2 or 3 years old when Jane met her and "worked for her" in 1876. Highly unlikely. There are other problems in the section described as 1876-1881. Foremost, I suppose, is the fact that only events from 1873 to 1876 are described; so the heading is incorrect. Martindo (talk) 00:00, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

The Pete Dexter novel, Deadwood (1986), on which the HBO miniseries, Deadwood (TV series), is based, provides a backstory in the first chapter (pages 48-49) that Jane, while working for the Army, earned pin money by plying the oldest profession. "He'd caught her doing business. She was charging the Army boys a dollar a turn, half the regular rate. Jane was never one to exploit the U.S. Army. .... Recognizing her, he called Jane a notorious harlot. ... She lay back, her Army uniform open here and there, and congratulated California Joe for finally finding something he knew what it was." That, however, was a novel, of recent vintage, and it takes considerable dramatic liberties, and I know of no historical evidence to support that particular vignette. However, the Wiki article on the TV series, Deadwood (TV series), includes a segment on where the series departs from known history and says that, shortly after settling in Deadwood, SD, Jane resumed wearing dresses and got a job in a saloon (Swearengen's Gem, where there were prostitutes, according to The Real Deadwood by John Ames, published in 2004) -- the details of the job are not provided but, things being what they were in the Old West, I cannot positively rule out ... etc., etc. After all, Jane lived a very hardscrabble life, especially while responsible for her siblings. Sussmanbern (talk) 21:04, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Too many links to non-existent pages
I am inclined to delete all/many of the links that go to non-existent pages. This will occur within a few days, any objections need stated here. Hurricane Floyd (talk) 22:58, 18 July 2008 (UTC)

Quick Question
"It was during this campaign that I was christened Calamity Jane. It was on Goose Creek, Wyoming where the town of Sheridan is now located. Capt Egan was in command of the Post.

the question is should "Capt Egan" be "Capt. Egan" with the "."???

Small but it just didn't seem quite right to me but i've been wrong before. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Scorchpb. (talk • contribs) 21:11, 17 February 2009 (UTC)


 * I guess it's a quote. – Hattrem (talk) 04:30, 5 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Why do some people have to nit-pick shit like this? What difference does it make?  Is your life so small and unfullfilled that it centers on a period at the end of a sentence?
 * FYI, military ranks in the Army are not followed by a period.
 * CPT Jones, LTC Franks, GEN Shaw, MAJ Reese, LT1 Smith, LT2 Stevens, COL Goff, PV1 Simmons, PV2 Mann, SPC Thomas, SGT Moore, 1SG Colt, MSG Dempsey, SFC Raines, SMA Wilson.
 * The Navy uses 4-letter rank abbreviations. CAPT is navy.....CPT is Army.  Unless Mr Egan was commanding a battleship in Wyoming, he was CPT Egan.
 * — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.51.248.27 (talk • contribs) 07:24, 4 January 2018 (UTC)

The whole page is to be recycled
I have just finished reading "Calamity Jane, the Woman and the Legend", by James D. McLaird (University of Oklahoma Press, 2005). Two things to be done : put an obvious warning stating that the Calamity Jane page is an embarrassement to Wikipedia, and start rewriting it from cellar to attic. Honestly. I'll try to do the same in my own language on the french page.Sxilderik (talk) 07:19, 9 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I have deleted the raft of tags you added to the page. If you think the whole page needs recycling, place a whole-page tag; splattering the tag around such as actually tagging her birth date with "fact" twice is overdoing it. The standard tags are refimprove and hoax; the article already has quite a few notes indicating that her biography has received considerable hype. --Alvestrand (talk) 11:58, 12 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I understand, of course, sorry about that. What I don't understand is how come so many errors (a handful just in the very first few lines, for starters...) are still displayed on this page when you have native access to important studies (op. cit.). The 1860 census in Mercer county states that she was only 4 (thus, born in 1856), had only two siblings, and that her family (the Canary) had just recently moved there from Ohio; Jane was only a nickname (as in California Joe or Wild Bill), she doesn't calls herself Jane in her "autobiography", but "Marthy" (several other "Calamity Janes" are attested at that time); Burke is the name of one of the several men she introduced as her "husbands", whithout leaving any proof that she was officially married to any of them; it yet remains to be proven she ever was officially employed as a scout, or that she ever shot once at a native american! Her stage coach exploits, chasing McCall, nursing small pox victims, robbing grocery store to help poor people, and such stories are mostly legends that have been created by dime novel writers right from the late 1870s and by herself (she earned her living in the 1890s selling around photos of herself and pamphlets relating her life and adventures). She was a notorious camp follower, drunkard, good-hearted woman who occasionnaly dressed as a man, could never settle down to raise her daughter Jessie (and don't get me started on the McCormick hoax)... Well, there's a lot of work to be done on that page, the first one being planting a clear "work in progress, unreliabale contents" sign on top of it! I won't meddle any more on this page, I've said my part, I'll focus on the french page. Sorry again about the mess! Sxilderik (talk) 15:12, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

¶ A very serious consideration is that so much of Jane's life is unverified and unverifiable. Many of the stories about her are pure fiction, some of the fictions invented by Jane herself, some perhaps from other storytellers. An article made up only of the definitively proven facts about her would be astonishingly brief. Sussmanbern (talk) 03:34, 10 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Perhaps some of this problem of ' the Woman vs. the Legend ' could be addressed if the article included a section entitled "Fact and fiction", or "Myth and legend", or some such. This would allow for a discussion (drawn from the 2005 McLaird book, and other sources) of the many very interesting, if unverifiable stories and claims about her, which nonetheless remain notable, in that they enjoy significant currency in many books and films about her life, and in the popular culture. And, some of them may in fact be true. --- Professor JR (talk) 10:28, 15 September 2015 (UTC)

One thing that I think should be edited is the multiple references to her illiteracy. It appears to dumb down the page, rather like a US TV doc that repeats itself in case the viewer has the attention span of a goldfish and forgot what was being talked about just before the commercial break.46.7.85.68 (talk) 09:39, 15 September 2015 (UTC)

Daughters
According to this page she had two daughters, born four years apart, both called Jane. Is that right?86.179.237.193 (talk) 16:35, 11 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Actually, 14 years apart. Also: one of them wasn't her daughter after all, according to the following paragraph. 71.198.34.87 (talk) 01:54, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

¶ In 1941 a woman claiming to be named Jean Hickok McCormick came forward claiming to be the daughter of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok, claiming she was born on 25 Sept 1873 at Benson's Landing (now Livingston), Montana, the result of a short-lived legal marriage between Jane and Wild Bill. McCormick presented what she claimed were diaries and letters written to her by Calamity Jane which were not delivered until after Calamity Jane's death in 1903. McCormick died in 1951. Her story has taken hold in the legend of Calamity Jane -- including this Wikipedia article. However, in Montana: The Magazine of Western History (publ. by the Montana Historical Society) vol. 45, nr. 4 (Autumn-Winter 1995) pages 20-35, is the article Calamity Jane's Diary and Letters: Story of a Fraud by James D. McLaird. McLaird recounts the history of McCormick's claims, and asserts that her documents are forgeries, the stories (including the story of a marriage between Jane and Hickok) absurd fabrications, and contradict known facts about both Jane and McCormick. It is an article well worth reading. However, as this Wiki article offers no references of its own, I am reluctant to fiddle with it. Sussmanbern (talk) 14:56, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

¶ However, in the aforementioned article, McLaird says (page 31) that, although McCormick claimed to be Jane's only child, the real Calamity Jane had a son, born in 1884, and nicknamed "Little Calamity", and evidently died young (McLaird offers no other info about him, including his proper name!). "The real Calamity also had one and possibly two daughters {neither being McCormick}. One, whose name is unknown but who, according to contemporary reports, accompanied Calamity to Deadwood in 1895 when eight years old, would have been born in 1887. ... One of Calamity's daughters, moreover, was old enough to have had children before 1903 - Calamity's grandchildren. Just before Calamity died on August 1, 1903, she mentioned estrangement with her daughter and refused to divulge her address for notification....." Sussmanbern (talk) 15:24, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

The claim of two daughters lasted until 2022, and has just been changed to four by an IP editor. Checking a random biography (https://www.biography.com/performer/calamity-jane) I find that she had one child. The original claim and the current claim are not sourced, and I'm sure biography.com is not RS. So .... IAmNitpicking (talk) 03:13, 31 December 2022 (UTC)

Fort Russel
Two passages in the article seem to conflict:

"Finally, in 1874, she found work as a scout at Fort Russell."

"...years after the death of Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, she claimed that she served under him during her initial enlistment at Fort Russell, and that she also served under him during the Indian campaigns in Arizona. However, no records exist to show that Cannary was assigned to Fort Russell,..."

I have no expertise on this matter, but some clarification is needed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Herr Krell (talk • contribs) 16:25, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

"but..."
The article states...

"Martha Jane received little to no formal education and was literate."

That might be true, but it isn't the way we usually phrase things. One of the following is likely correct:


 * "Martha Jane was literate, despite having received little or no formal education."


 * "Martha Jane received little or no formal education and was illiterate." WilliamSommerwerck (talk) 01:08, 20 August 2010 (UTC)

¶ In the article by McLaird, in the Montana magazine, noted above, he recounts (page 31) considerable evidence that indicates that Jane was illiterate - or at least so poorly literate that she went to considerable lengths to have other people read and write for her. No verified specimen of her handwriting is known, and there are several recollections of other people that she asked others to write messages for her. This was significant because McCormick claimed to have a diary and letters written by Jane herself, yet there is nothing with which to compare the handwriting. Sussmanbern (talk) 15:00, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Autobiography
I do not think this word means, what the writer of this section thinks it means. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.171.163.33 (talk) 16:54, 20 October 2010 (UTC)
 * I suspect you're right. Why don't you fix it? TFOWR 16:57, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

¶ For want of a better place to discuss this, it's worth noting that the two 1885 photos shown in the article have her wearing skirts - i.e. female attire. This tends to run contrary to the popular image of her ALWAYS wearing buckskins and trousers, such as is shown in her publicity photo a decade later. Sussmanbern (talk) 08:41, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Nickname
Does the final story in the "acquiring the nickname" section have something to do with her nickname? If so, I think the connection needs to be made clear. Otherwise, it should be moved or removed.

"One verified story about "Calamity Jane" is that in 1875 her detachment was ordered to the Big Horn River, under General Crook. Bearing important dispatches, she swam the Platte River and traveled 90 miles (145 km) at top speed while wet and cold to deliver them. Afterwards, she became ill. After recuperating for a few weeks, she rode to Fort Laramie, Wyoming, and later, in July 1876, she joined a wagon train headed north, which is where she first met Wild Bill Hickok, contrary to her later claims." 64.41.22.26 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 12:16, 23 February 2011 (UTC).

When I was a small boy there was some story that she got the nickname because she had been married to a string of men who all died soon after from various misadventures; this turned out to be completely false, but it indicates that some people would invent explanations from thin air. One story that has crept into biographies is that, on more than one occasion, she warned all and sundry that any man who aroused her wrath "was courting calamity". I am willing to believe that ... but only because it's a suitably colorful story. She evidently was widely known by that nickname before she arrived in Deadwood. Sussmanbern (talk) 15:04, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Category:American prostitutes
I have removed this category as there is nothing in the article that supports Calamity Jane being categorized as such. The only thing I can find within the article is that Jane was supposedly employed by a madam at one point. Since the text does not revel what she was employed as (as stated above, she could have worked as a cook, maid, etc.), I do not think the category fits or should be added until sourced text can support its inclusion.  Pinkadelica ♣  16:02, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

Movies about Calamity Jane
I just watched a good movie about Calamity Jane called Buffalo Girls. It was made in 1995 and stars Angelica Houston as Calamity Jane and Melanie Griffith as Dora plus Sam Elliot as Wild Bill.

I didn't notice it on the movie list on the page, can someone add it?

Miedemao (talk) 00:56, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

¶ I believe the Buffalo Girls movie perpetuates the hoax about the McCormick letters and diary. Sussmanbern (talk) 21:58, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

I was with the 501st. Apaches, Geronimo Battalion, 101st. Airborne Div., thus my connection with Geronimo. My sister, long ago, gave me a picture of Gen. Crook and some soldiers, Geronimo and some of his men, and sitting with them is a woman wearing a broad brimmed hat, the likes of which Calamity Jane sometimes wore. The picture was taken by C.S.Fly, it's taken somewhere in the bush in the Southwest, it's dated 1886. She appears to be a young woman about thirty years old. Geronimo's braves appear just a bit camera shy while Crook's men look scared to death. Calamity Jane on the other hand, I'm assuming that's her, I'm sure that's her, who else would it be, looks quite composed. Kind of like she couldn't give a damn less. So far as her reporting that she was a scout for Gen. Crook, this picture is good enough for me, it's her. And, she appears rather attractive as she sits right up front as is easy to see. Kinda like she was dressed for the occassion. L.S. Wilson, Airborne! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:41:C401:6170:4522:E78B:6FD8:97B6 (talk) 01:26, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Death
I added a link to the digitized letter that is an account from the train conductor S.G. Tillett that he wrote to author Edwin Sabin in 1929 (Sabin wrote Wild West books). It's his recollection of carrying Calamity off the train which was mentioned specifically on the page. It seems relevant and that section didn't have good sources. I think it's appropriate because I did not use the primary source to interpret the event, but merely to link to an account that corroborates what was written there? This letter is MsLT576s in the University of Iowa Special Collections. It feels insufficient to cite our blog, even though the letter is reproduced there. I will have this added to the Digital Library.

Doesn't make sense
" 1865, the family moved by wagon train from Missouri to Virginia City, Montana. In 1866, Charlotte died of pneumonia along the way, in Blackfoot, Montana." Missouri to Virginia City, MT, takes you nowhere near Blackfoot, MT, That's a huge detour. Some piece of info is missing here. MisawaSakura (talk) 19:26, 10 March 2024 (UTC)