Calamity Jane

Calamity Jane (kəlăm`ĭtē jān`), c.1852–1903, American frontier character, b. Princeton, Mo. Her real name was Martha Jane Canary, and the origin of her nickname is obscure. Little is known of her early life beyond the fact that she moved with her parents to Virginia City, Mont., in 1865 and that she grew up in mining camps and rough frontier communities. In 1876 she appeared in Deadwood, S.Dak., dressed in men's clothes and boasting of her marksmanship and her exploits as a pony-express rider and as a scout with Custer's forces. In her later years she toured the West in a burlesque show and appeared at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y. She died in poverty and obscurity in Deadwood, where she is buried beside Wild Bill Hickock.

Bibliography

See biographies by D. Aikman (1927) and Mrs. G. Clairmonte (1959); R. J. Casey, The Black Hills and Their Incredible Characters (1949).

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Calamity Jane

 orig. Martha Jane Cannary

Calamity Jane

(credit: The Bettmann Archive)

(born May 1, 1852?, near Princeton, Mo.?, U.S.—died Aug. 1, 1903, Terry, near Deadwood, S.D.) U.S. frontierswoman. She grew up in Montana and worked in mining camps, where she acquired riding and shooting skills. In 1876 she settled in Deadwood, S.D., site of new gold strikes; her pursuits there included hauling goods and machinery to the outlying camps and working as a cook and a dance-hall girl. There she probably first met Wild Bill Hickok, who would become her companion. In 1891 she married Charley Burke, and from 1895 she toured with Wild West shows in the Midwest. Facts about her life were embellished by contemporary feature-magazine writers.

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Calamity Jane See Burk, Martha Jane (Canary).

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Calamity Jane (Martha Jane Canary

or Martha Burke, 1852–1903) frontierswoman; mannish prophetess of doom. [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 71]

See : Pessimism

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Calamity Jane

(Martha Jane Canary or Martha Burke, 1852–1903) mannish prophetess of doom. [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 71]

See : Prophecy

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Calamity Jane

(Martha Jane Canary Burke, c. 1852–1903) extraordinary markswoman and pony express rider. [Am. Hist.: NCE, 418]

See : Wild West