Internet Antique Gazette » autographs

Sendak, Maurice – American Artist & Writer

hcst — Tue, 31 Dec 2019 07:58:35 +0000

Maurice Sendak (American, 1928 to 2012)

Maurice Sendak was a Caldecott award-winning children’s book author and illustrator. The Brooklyn native illustrated more than 80 books by other authors before writing one himself: in 1963 he turned the children’s book world upside down with his first masterpiece, Where the Wild Things Are. Sendak’s dark, moody illustrations were a shocking contrast to the comparatively light and happy fare typically found in children’s books of the time. The main character, Max, like many of Sendak’s protagonists, acted like a real child, not some idealized version of youth. During his long career, Sendak wrote and illustrated more than 50 books, including Where the Wild Things Are (1963), In the Night Kitchen (1970) and Outside over There (1981). Sendak designed sets and costumes for stage versions of his books, and in the early 1980s created the sets for several operas, including Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Houston Grand Opera. He also collaborated with Carole King on the musical Really Rosie, producing the book, lyrics, and artwork.

Information Courtesy of Rago Arts, December, 2018.

Hunter, Clementine – African-American Artist – Louisiana

hcst — Sun, 29 Dec 2019 08:14:48 +0000

Clementine Hunter (1887 to 1988)

Clementine Hunter (pronounced Clementeen) was born to Creole parents, Antoinette Adams and Janvier Reuben, in late December of 1886 or early January of 1887 at Hidden Hill Plantation near Cloutierville, Louisiana. Hunter would never learn to read or write, later saying she only had about ten days of schooling, and was put to work in the fields when she was very young. At 15, she left Hidden Hill, which is considered to have been the inspiration for Uncle Tom’s Cabin and is today known as Little Eva Plantation, for Melrose Plantation, where she would change her name from Clemence to Clementine.

At Melrose, she would pick cotton and give birth to her first two children. After their father died in 1914, she married Emmanuel Hunter in 1924 and the couple remained at Melrose, where they both worked. She would give birth to another five children, two of whom were stillborn, picking cotton until the day before she gave birth and returning to the fields shortly thereafter. By her mid-30s, Clementine would begin to work as a cook and housekeeper. She would never travel more than 100 miles from home.

By the 1930s, Melrose Plantation had begun to be something of an artist colony, and when New Orleans artist Alberta Kinsey left behind brushes and tubes of paint, Hunter painted her first picture – on a window shade. Her work would come to the attention of the plantation’s curator, Francois Mignon, and in addition to supplying her with materials, Mignon would help Hunter get her work displayed locally. They would later collaborate on a Melrose Plantation cookbook.

A color photograph of artist Clementine Hunter (Louisiana), in a blue smock holding a rooster. (p4A item # D9957218)

Hunter continued to paint, often producing artwork on any scraps she could find, from paper bags to window shades to jugs, hanging a sign outside her cabin that charged “25 cents to Look.” Her works illustrated the daily life of the early 20th-century plantation – picking cotton or pecans, doing chores, commemorating baptisms or weddings – and as such make valuable socioeconomic and cultural contributions as well as artistic ones. She was a prolific painter, creating an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 works between the late 1930s and her death on January 1, 1988, but her work is also considered uneven, likely because so many pieces were created in haste and because she continued to live in poverty most of her life, so values for her work can vary widely. Works from the 1940s and 50s are typically considered her best works.

Clementine Hunter (American/Louisiana, 1886-1988) oil on canvas board painting, “Pecan Pickin’”, circa 1955. (p4A item # E8882656)

In the 1940s, Hunter sold work for as little as a single quarter and by the late 1970s, she was selling pieces for several hundred dollars. By the time of her death in 1988, dealers were selling her works for thousands of dollars. Fame did find her late in life, with Hunter landing a solo exhibition, the first African-American artist to do so, at the Delgado Museum (now the New Orleans Museum of Art). She received an invitation to the White House from Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter and would receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Northwestern State University of Louisiana in 1986.

Hunter’s work is naive and simplistic enough in nature that there have been instances of forgery. This is complicated by the fact that she painted on a wide variety of materials, rarely titled her works, and because they were originally sold from her front door for pocket change, there is rarely anything resembling a firm provenance. Her work also tends to sell in a price range that makes forgeries easy enough to pass off – they can sell cheaply enough without drawing suspicion and they tend to sell in a price point where buyers are often less likely to do or demand research and are unlikely to spend the funds for a full authentication.
Reference Note by p4A editorial staff, 2011.

Artist Note Courtesy of Rago Arts, October, 2019:

The descendant of enslaved people, Clementine Hunter was born in the Cane River region of central Louisiana at Hidden Hill, the infamous plantation said to have inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin. She worked for most of her life on the Melrose cotton plantation. A self-taught artist and one of the field’s best-known, she didn’t start painting until she was in her 50s. After work, Hunter recorded everyday plantation life from memory, whether picking cotton in the fields or baptisms and funerals. Her palette is bright, her faces usually dark in tone and without expression. She disregards perspective and scale. Her earlier work was on found material; she graduated to canvas and board when patrons gave her art supplies and orders for specific images which she often repeated on request. Her signature changed over the years from “Clemence” to “C H” to “CH” to a backward “C” superimposed over the letter “H”. This is considered a fairly reliable method by which to date her paintings. Though she first exhibited in 1949, Hunter did not garner public attention until the 1970s when both the Museum of American Folk Art in New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibited her work. Even with success, Hunter chose to stay in Louisiana, working at Melrose Plantation until it was (ironically) sold at auction in 1970. She lived out her days in a small trailer a few miles away. The sale stripped Melrose of many Hunter murals that adorned its buildings. Her African House Murals, painted in 1955, were preserved, and can be seen at the African House at Melrose Plantation, now a named National Historical Landmark.

Land Patents

hcst — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 13:35:30 +0000

Collecting Land Patents

If one wants to collect signatures of America’s founding fathers, land patents are a great place to start! A land patent sounds complicated and technical, but it is simply the name for the transaction and resulting document of a land title when it is issued to the first purchaser of land from a sovereign entity. Usually the sovereign entity in question is the United States government, but in some instances, there are people who hold land in the U.S. that was originally granted by, for example, the king of England, as King George gifted land to a number of early settlers in return for services, just as the United States would later create military districts to gift land in exchange for service. When land was purchased, it was not formally patented, meaning made irrevocably the property of the owner, until it was paid for. (Land patents are sometimes referred to as land grants, which is technically incorrect almost all of the time. Land grant is typically seen used in association with institutions, such as the land grants that were given to form a number of early Midwestern universities.)

Thomas Jefferson signed land patent, document signed, partially printed on vellum, May 2, 1803, signed by Thomas Jefferson as President (1801 to 1809) and James Madison as Secretary of State (President, 1809 to 1817). (p4A item # D9713780)

Land was gifted in huge quantities, tens of thousands of acres, after the American Revolution when the new government was looking to alleviate war debts. Some Revolutionary War veterans took land in payment for military service while others would get land patents after purchasing land in the Northwest Territory from the government. The earliest land patents were handwritten and later partially printed documents were adopted, where the clerks could simply fill in the blanks with appropriate name, reason for the patent, and the description and location of the land. The final document was signed by the president of the United States and his secretary of state.

This means many early land patents bear the signatures of the founding fathers – Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, even Patrick Henry signed some as governor – so they can be highly collectible. Obviously the popularity of the signer weighs on the value (a Jefferson land patent, for instance, is worth more than a James Monroe), but the location can also be a factor, as a patent associated with what is now a highly populated area might have a larger pool of potential buyers than one for a more remote area. Occasionally the patentee can influence the value, if it’s someone who is also well-known, as can an interesting or unusual aspect of the patent. As always condition is important. Folds and fading are expected, but the quality and clarity of the actual signature are crucial. (Any documents, if displayed at all, are best framed with UV glass or acrylic and all acid-free materials – and hung out of direct sunlight.) Collectors should proceed with caution however, as some land patents were signed on behalf of the president by secretaries (particularly true during and after Andrew Jackson’s administration), and secretary-signed documents of any kind are worth a small fraction of those signed by presidents themselves.

Tibbits, Captain Hall Jackson

hcst — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 13:31:03 +0000

Captain Hall J. Tibbits (American, 1797 to 1872)

This article about the life and career of Captain Tibbits by Eric C. Rodenberg appeared on the 4 November 2013 front page of Antique Week’s National Section. Used by permission. http://www.antiqueweek.com.

1800s Sea Captain’s Life Told Through Collection

At 6 foot, 4 inches tall and “powerfully built” Capt. Hall Jackson Tibbits would brook no foolishness.

After his “religious principles” were violated by passengers dancing on the main deck, he threatened to drive spikes into the deck “should such unholy practices continue.”

After a trip around Cape Horn, from New York to San Francisco soured and passengers began to complain, he threatened to fire the ship’s powder magazine and “blow it all to hell.”

Characterized by his detractors as “habitually intoxicated and mentally deranged,” the Captain suffered few complaints from passengers or crew.

After sending a “disease-racked” sailor aloft to the crow’s nest during a gale, a passenger idly commented that it was a wonder the sailor ever survived. “Aye,” said Capt. Tibbits. “I never have sick crewmen for long.”

Although Tibbits was normally a China trades shipper, the gold strike in California in 1849, proved to be a boon to business. And Capt. Tibbits was all about business.

In January of that year, the owners of the 532-ton square rigger Pacific, Tibbits and Frederick Griffing, advertised for passengers to make the “trip around the Horn,” leaving New York and arriving in San Francisco. It was a perilous three-to six-month journey, with tempestuous storms and gales rounding The Horn of South America, piracy and uncertainties at every port.

However, the genial Captain assured his first-class passengers that for $300, he would provide an ample table, comfortable “staterooms” and superlative service.”

However, Tibbits could not resist the temptation of “overbooking” the passage, particularly after he sold officials from the New England Mining and Trading Co. a block of staterooms for $275 each. Supposedly the passage was limited to 50 staterooms; however, 72 first-class tickets were sold, according to an account in Forty-Niners ‘Round the Horn by Charles R. Schultz.

Once the passengers learned they had been hoodwinked, they filed a lawsuit. But, Capt. Tibbets – not to be dry-docked by any lawyer – quietly slipped the Pacific out of New York in the late afternoon “to escape any further problems with the lawsuit.”

Many of cash-paying customers were left ashore, helplessly jumping and screaming. In the end, those left on land would count themselves fortunate.

“The first disillusionment experienced by the passengers aboard the Pacific was the attitude of one Capt. Tibbets, who trod the quarterdeck,” according to an account published in the Oakland Tribune. “The jovial mariner who previously extolled the service of his craft, the bounty of its table and the conveniences of travel aboard the ship, proved a relentless tyrant as soon as land was left behind.

“Thirty days out of New York, the passengers were miserable with seasickness and cold. Snow confined them in verminous quarters. The food consisted of raw mush, preserved meats, dubbed ‘old junk,’ and beans. Some of the passengers asked why pickles and vegetables were not served with meals, and the Captain blandly explained these items as being saved against the time when the passengers developed scurvy.”

Once the ship made port in Rio de Janerio, the passengers scurried to the U.S. Consulate with their allegations of cruel and inhumane treatment. Despite protesting vigorously against what he characterized as “the abuse of authority and the outrages committed upon me individually,” Tibbits was relieved of duty by the American Consul. Another captain was appointed to commandeer the ship the remainder of the journey. Tibbits was left aground in Brazil, according to a 1958 account by maritime historian W.Z. Gardner, and had to make his own way to San Francisco to re-claim his ship.

Although the debacle of the Pacific during his latter years of command left a black mark on the Captain’s legacy, he was widely regarded among his peers as a loyal old salt with an intimate knowledge of the seas.

Despite tyrannical tendencies, Capt. Tibbits was a true “son of the sea.” He went to sea young, with his father who captained a three-masted square-rigger running the China trade route from New York to Canton.

By the time of his father’s death, the 24-year-old Tibbits was one of the youngest shipmasters in the China trade. “Young Hall was physically strong, mentally alert and keenly interested in mastering the mysteries of navigation,” Gardner wrote.

During the ensuing years, Tibbits would own and command several clipper ships, trading tea and silk on a trade route between America, China and South America. He bought the Baltimore clipper ship, Architect, and after sailing it around the Horn discovered “she was too cranky and hard to handle,” according to son, George’s account, recorded by Gardner. In 1854, he sold the ship in Hong Kong, “at a considerable financial loss.” The favorite of the Captain’s ships was the Southerner, a three-masted, 670 ton ship which initially carried ten guns to discourage piracy. Built in 1834 in the shipyards of New York, she responded to the Captain’s subtle and learned touch until retiring in 1851.

But, the Southerner did not always carry Tibbits to “fair seas.”

“Four months before his son Robert was born (1840), the Captain was back on the Canton-New York run in the Southerner, according to Gardner’s account. “The Captain was saddled with a mutinous crew which seized the ship off the west coast of South America, near Chile, and put the Master ashore on an island. He was picked up by a passing ship bound for Canton.
Meanwhile, the Southerner was brought home and the Captain reported “lost at sea” by being swept overboard in a storm. His widow went into mourning, as was the custom, but did not re-marry. Four years later, Capt. Tibbits came home. His son, Robert, who had never seen his father until then, was considerably frightened and announced he “didn’t like that great big man.”

Trade with the Far Eastern Empire was lucrative in the era of 1830-1860, with Chinese furniture, silk and tea in high demand in the West. But the “price” was to be paid; engaging in the China trade was not for the faint-hearted. Trade and diplomatic relations between the Chinese and the West were fragile at best; at the worse, culminating in the Opium Wars (1839-1842 and 1857-1858).

In his latter years, his son George explained his father’s sea-born skill with a simple statement: “You have to have a ‘sense of the sea and of the sky.’ The Captain could tell a storm was coming three days in advance.”

After standing at the helm of the large three-masted square rigged ships of the high seas since 1821, the Captain – as many old salts – began to yearn for a more tranquil life in the country. In 1852, not quite the Ancient Mariner at 55 years old, the Captain bought a 127-acre farm on Sands Point, Long Island. Initially built by Capt. John Sands in the early 1700s, the house ultimately was expanded to 24 rooms. Nestled on the Atlantic shore, one of the Captain’s first projects was construction of a 90-foot porch fronting the ocean. During the next 20 years, Capt. Tibbits paced the porch, often posting himself behind a 3-foot-long telescope (marked Dolland, London, Day or Night) keeping vigil on his sea. When he moved into the old house, Tibbits brought with him an extensive collection of curios and paintings from his trips to China. He had a library full of sea-related literature and, as additional comfort, scattered around him the compass, chronometer, telescopes and barometer that had helped him navigate the globe for three decades. He also placed in his library a miniature folding writing desk, he used at sea, in addition to a large mahogany settee jettisoned from his quarters in the Southerner. Especially made to accommodate his large frame, the settee measured seven feet. Ship models made for him by crew members surrounded his home, in addition to several examples of exquisite Chinese craftsmanship in silk and ivory gathered during his travels. He also retained several antiques passed down through his family.

In 1872, the Captain died. His son, George, came from San Francisco to be with his mother. The home remained in the family until the spring of 1959 when it was sold. Prior to selling the home, all of Capt. Tibbit’s China Trade and nautical memorabilia were moved to a descendant’s home and large barn in Wading River, New York. There, it has remained for more than 50 years.

When Ron Pook, founder and owner of Pook and Pook Auctioneers and Appraisers come upon the China Trade trove, he was, at the least, stunned. “It was like stumbling onto a big time capsule; material piled up and virtually untouched for 150 years,” he said. “It’s unbelievable. This is the most important China Trade collection in existence. There hasn’t been one like it and, I’ll guarantee you, there won’t be another.” [It includes] the old nautical devices, Chinese art, the porcelain, ivory, sailors’ scrimshaw work, old leather-and-brass-tacked sea trunks (one with the name, Capt. Hall J. Tibbit), ship models, lacquered-veneer furniture – “it’s all there,” Pook said. Included among the items for sale are a portrait of the Captain and a painting of his favorite clipper, Southerner. Despite their age, both look as if they’re ready to sail again.

Information courtesy of Pook & Pook, Inc., January 2014.

Parrish, Frederick Maxfield – American artist

hcst — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 22:56:23 +0000

Frederick Maxfield Parrish (1870 to 1966)

Frederick Maxfield Parrish was born July 25, 1870 in Philadelphia to Stephen Parrish, an American artist famous for his landscapes, illustrations and engravings and his wife Elizabeth Bancroft Parrish. It’s not surprising that, finding himself surrounded by the tools of his father’s trade, that Frederick (he would begin to use Maxfield as his name later in life) would begin to draw to amuse himself. Around 1881, the Parrish family traveled to Europe, and during the trip, Frederick contracted typhoid. It was during his recuperation that he turned his attention to art in earnest under his father’s tutelage.

Maxfield studied widely as a young man, abroad in England and France, and at home at Haverford College, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and at the Drexel Institute, where he had the opportunity to work with Howard Pyle, one of the greatest illustrators in American history. While at the Drexel Institute, he also met Lydia Austin, a young instructor, who he would marry in 1895. Parrish himself found work as an illustrator, working in Philadelphia until 1898, by which time his various magazine illustrations for publications and his burgeoning career as the illustrator, especially of children’s books (for authors such as L. Frank Baum and Kenneth Grahame), allowed the young couple to purchase a home, The Oaks, near his parents in New Hampshire.

A Maxfield Parrish-illustrated copy of Edith Wharton’s Italian Villas and Their Gardens. (p4A item # D9749561)

It was around this time that Parrish developed tuberculosis, and coupled with the damages done to his health by the typhoid he suffered as a youth, Maxfield and Lydia found it necessary to seek out other climates, spending time in the Adirondacks, Arizona, and Italy. (The dry, vibrant landscape of Arizona has often been said to be a key influence for Parrish’s distinctive style and vibrant hues.) Eventually, though, they found themselves resettled in New Hampshire, where their lives would take a very different turn, after they hired a 16-year old girl named Susan Lewin.

Susan was initially hired to assist Lydia Parrish with the care of the Parrish children. (Perhaps due to Maxfield’s health concerns, the Parrishes waited until relatively late in life, for the time, to have children, with Lydia being almost 40 when their youngest child was born.) Susan quickly became Maxfield’s model and assistant, and eventually, they began an affair. Estranged from Lydia, who continued to live in the main house on the property, Maxfield ultimately moved into his studio where he lived with Susan.

Print of Maxfield Parrish’s Daybreak, one of the many works for which Susan Lewin served as a model. (p4A item # D9972315)

Susan certainly must have served as a muse, because Parrish’s popularity skyrocketed in the years between 1905 and 1920. His art was in demand by publishers (he did dozens of covers for Collier’s) and advertisers from Colgate to Oneida, and he also had murals commissioned by wealthy patrons like Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Another mural, created in the Tiffany studio, incorporated 100,000 pieces of Tiffany glass, and drew the attention of Cyrus Curtis, the owner of the Saturday Evening Post, who commissioned a mural for the Post’s Philadelphia headquarters. (Many of Parrish’s murals still decorated the public spaces they were designed for, and visitors can see them in places as varied as the Curtis Building in Philadelphia and the St. Regis’s bar in New York.)

A Maxfield Parrish-designed tobacco tin for Old King Cole tobacco. (p4A item # B107122)

Success allowed him to shift his focus away from advertising by the mid-1920s. (He was so well-known that by 1925, it was estimated that 25% of the homes in America owned a Parrish print and the deep lapis lazuli blue he favored had become known as ‘Parrish blue’. Parrish chose to move toward painting works of art that reflected, in some ways, his first job as an illustrator, and in many ways, this is the era of work for which Parrish is best remembered, androgynous, mystical figures in fantasy landscapes. By 1931, he announced that he was changing directions yet again, concentrating this time on landscapes.

A Maxfield Parrish landscape, Winter Dusk, from 1943 (p4A item # C215356)

In 1953, Lydia, who had for the most part left Maxfield in 1911, died, and he was left alone with Susan. Susan, perhaps frustrated by Maxfield’s lack of interest in marrying her after so many years together, left to marry someone else in 1960, and it was at that point that Maxfield Parrish stopped painting at the age of 90. He remained at The Oaks in Plainfield, New Hampshire until his death at 95 on March 30, 1966.

Russell, Charles Marion

hcst — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 22:56:23 +0000

Charles Marion Russell (1864-1926)

Charles Russell was as famous for his personal character as he was for his artistic career. A simple and modest man, he left the Midwest to pursue a life on the frontier. While residing primarily in Montana for the remainder of his life, Russell, or “Cowboy Charlie”, went on to become the state’s favorite son and achieve great renown for his depictions of the American West.

An anonymous silver gelatin photograph of Charlie Russell. (p4A item # E8950793)

Russell was born in Saint Louis the son of a prominent family. He was expected to remain close to home and eventually take over his family’s coal and brick business, however, Russell was never interested in this type of life. As a young boy he was always fascinated with cowboys, Indians and other popular stories of the West. He spent his boyhood days riding horses and sketching imaginative frontier scenes. Finally, in 1880 at the age of 16, Russell traveled to Montana, unknowingly beginning a journey that would last the rest of his life.

Initially, Russell had few intentions of truly establishing himself as a reputable artist. He worked in Montana as a cowboy, cowhand, trapper and hunter. All the while he sketched and painted. Slowly he acquired popularity, yet he gave his works away to friends or in exchange for other services. His lack of formal training in fine art only added to his popularity. It was Russell’s humility, gregariousness and wanderlust that gained him gradual recognition.
In the 1880s, Russell became increasingly well known in the state of Montana, and commissions began to trickle in. His first published work was in Harper’s in 1888.

In the late 1880s, Russell spent over a year with the Blood Indians in Canada. This experience deeply affected the manner in which he portrayed his Indian subjects. Aside from his realistic style portraying animals and cowboy subjects, Russell was conscious of Native Americans’ plight during his time. He sympathetically portrayed them, bestowing upon them quality of nobility and courage.

Charles Russell’s life changed drastically in 1896 when he married his wife, Nancy Cooper. He relocated with her to Great Falls, Montana. His wife assumed the management of his financial affairs, and urged him to pursue his artistic career in earnest (rather than simply giving away his work). With her assistance, Russell exploded onto the national scene in the early twentieth century. He traveled East to New York several times to exhibit his work and to witness one man shows in his honor.

“Cowboy Charlie” Russell died and was buried in Great Falls, Montana in 1926, and he remains one of the most famous artists of the American West. His lack of awareness concerning the importance of his times allowed him to paint in a uniquely realistic manner. Russell’s lifestyle of living in the present and his humility were aspects that allowed him to reach great fame and establish himself in stories of Western lore.

Information courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc.

Real Photo Postcards

hcst — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 22:56:23 +0000

Real Photo Postcards

A real photo postcard of Annie Oakley demonstrating her shooting prowess, p4A item D9875435

Real Photo postcards are photographs that are reproduced by actually developing them onto photographic paper the size and weight of postcards, with a postcard back. There are many postcards that reproduce photos by various printing methods that are NOT “real photos”…the same methods used when reproducing photos in magazines and newspapers.

The best way to tell the difference is to look at the postcard with a magnifying glass. If the photo is printed, you will see that it is made up of a lot of little dots, the same as a photo printed in a newspaper. A “real photo” postcard is solid, no dots.

Most real photo postcards have identifying marks on the back, usually in the stampbox corner, that identifies the manufacturer of the photographic paper. The approximate the age of the Real Photo post card can be determined by knowing when the paper manufacturer was in business. The date range runs from 1904 until the present time. Most collectible Real Photo Postcards were made and used in the first half of the 20th century, many of them from 1904 to 1930. chopard watches replica
replicas patek philippe cartier roadster aftershave replica
omega watch china replica replica Tag Heuer GOLF watches from China

James, Jesse – American Outlaw

hcst — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 22:56:23 +0000

Jesse Woodson James, American Outlaw

Courtesy of James Julia Auction Company, presented in conjunction with the sale of Jesse James’ personal Colt revolver and holster rig (p4A item # D9737835)

Jesse Woodson James was born Sept. 5, 1847 in Clay County, Missouri. He had an older brother, Frank and a sister. His father, a minister, left soon after Jesse was born to go to California to “minister” to the 49er miners. He died in California when Jesse was three. His mother, Zerelda, remarried to Ruben Samuel with whom she had four more children. At the outbreak of the Civil War the James/Samuel family sided with the Confederacy with Frank soon joining on the Confederate side. Frank became ill early on and returned to Missouri where, after he recovered, he joined a small guerrilla band operating in their neighborhood.

Sometime in 1863 to 1864 the Union Army sent a force to try to capture Frank’s group and came to the Samuel farm searching for them. They briefly hanged Mr. Samuel and allegedly whipped Jesse, to no avail. Frank escaped and in 1864 he and 16 year old Jesse joined the notorious Confederate raider and guerrilla fighter Bloody Bill Anderson. Apparently they didn’t stay with Anderson very long before joining the more notorious William Quantrill. The James Boys, along with three of their cousins, Robert Hudspeth, Rufus Hudspeth & William Napoleon “Babe” Hudspeth all rode with Quantrill until at least January 1865. It is unclear when the James Boys returned home but it is known that in January 1865 the three Hudspeth boys left Quantrill and returned to Missouri. Another cousin, Lamartine Hudspeth maintained a farm in the area of the James/Samuel place and was later to play a role in supplying them with horses and sanctuary.

Frank & Jesse James and Babe & Rufus Hudspeth were with Bloody Bill Anderson at the battle & massacre at Centralia, Missouri on Sept. 27, 1864. That morning Anderson led about 80 guerrillas, some dressed in stolen Union Army uniforms, into Centralia to cut off the North Missouri Railroad. The guerrillas looted the town, blocked the rail line, stopped an approaching train and overran it. There were about 125 passengers on board which were separated into civilian and soldier groups. The soldiers were stripped of their uniforms and when Anderson called for an officer, Sgt. Thomas Goodman bravely stepped forward, expecting to be shot. Instead, Anderson’s men ignored Goodman and shot the others, then mutilated and scalped the bodies. The guerrillas then set fire to the train and sent it down the tracks after which they torched the depot and rode out of town. About 3 p.m. that same afternoon, 155 men of the newly formed 39th Missouri Infantry Regiment (mounted), rode into Centralia in pursuit. This force soon encountered the guerrillas and decided to dismount and fight on foot. The Federal recruits with single-shot muzzle loaders were no match for the guerrillas with their revolvers. Of the 155 Union soldiers in this regiment, 123 were killed that afternoon. According to well-known history, in addition to carbines & shotguns, the guerrillas usually had at least two revolvers and some with as many as four or five on or about their persons most of the time and would have been able to present a formidable wall of lead.

When the Confederacy surrendered Jesse was still riding as a guerrilla under the command of Archie Clement, one of Quantrill’s lieutenants, while Frank had ridden to Kentucky with Quantrill. Clement’s group was apparently trying to decide their next course of action when they encountered a Union patrol and Jesse was severely wounded with two bullets in the chest. Jesse was returned to his uncle’s boarding house where he was attended by his cousin, Zerelda Mimms, who was named after Jesse’s mother. Jesse & Zerelda were later to marry. Jesse recovered from his wounds and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

Jesse & Frank and the Younger Boys with various other occasional members formed a gang and robbed trains & banks over the next sixteen or so years. After the fiasco at Northfield, Minnesota where the gang was badly shot up with three being killed and the others wounded, only Frank & Jesse escaped the law and the gang was never the same afterward, with the new members they recruited. During the course of the criminal career of Frank & Jesse and various members of their gang, they would frequently stop by various family members’ homes for food, rest or horses. Family history relates that Lamartine Hudspeth, cousin to Jesse & Frank, who owned a farm in the area, always kept fresh horses in the stable should they be needed. Frequently he would come out in the morning to feed the animals and find the fresh horses gone and hard ridden, tired horses in their places. Other members of the James/Hudspeth/Samuel extended family were also frequently called on for food, shelter or horses for members of the gang. As in all things there is an end and so it is with Jesse & Frank James. Jesse was assassinated by Bob Ford on April 3, 1882 in his own home.

Wild Bill Hickok (James Butler Hickock)

hcst — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 22:56:23 +0000

James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok

Unlike the Hollywood nice guy from 1950′s television, the real Wild Bill Hickok was a born killer and compulsive gambler.

Between his birth as James Butler Hickok in 1837 and his 1876 death, Hickok defined the fiercely independent Wild West peacekeeper that never stayed long in one place. Raised to anti-slavery parents in Illinois, Hickok developed a strong sense of loyalty and duty that lasted his entire life. His first job came in 1855 at age 21 when he was elected constable of Monticello, Kansas.

A Gurney carte de visite of Wild Bill Hickok. (p4A item # D9925279)

During his short life he was a scout and spy for the Union Army, an Indian scout for George Custer’s 7th Cavalry and an expert wagon master on the Sante Fe Trail. In 1856, Hickok met and befriended William Cody, later known as Buffalo Bill, but then just a boy of 10.

His quick draw, deadly accuracy and fearlessness led to his election as sheriff in Hays City, Kansas in 1870. He arrested ruffians no one else would or shot them in “self defense.” He failed to be reelected, perhaps due in part to a shootout with some members of the 7th Cavalry that resulted in the death of one of the soldiers. After a couple of months, he moved on to Abilene, Kansas in 1871, where he was hired as city marshal. In his short tenure, he selectively cleaned up Abilene: tough guys were shot or arrested while brothels and saloons were left wide open. Hickok’s favorite pistols were twin Navy Colt .36-caliber cap and ball six-shooters that he wore with the butt ends forward. He had perfected the Plains or twist draw, cocking the pistols as he drew them from their holsters or from a sash tied around his waist.

In 1873, Hickok was lured into show business by his friend Buffalo Bill Cody. A series of articles in Harpers New Monthly Magazine brought Hickok’s exploits to a larger audience. Although crowds enjoyed seeing the tall, steely eyed gunfighter with shoulder length auburn hair, Hickok thought he was making a fool of himself and left Cody’s troupe after four months.

In 1876, Hickok was murdered while playing poker in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. He was 39. His cards, two aces and two eights, are now called the “Dead Man’s hand” in his memory. Hickok’s death made former circus owner Agnes Lake Thatcher a widow; the couple had married earlier that year.

Reference note by p4A.com Contributing Editor Pete Prunkl.

Chief Sitting Bull – Sioux – Tatanka-Iyotanka

hcst — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 22:56:23 +0000

Sitting Bull, Sioux Chief (circa 1831 to 1890)

Sitting Bull, the man who would later become the Hunkpapa Sioux chief, was born in South Dakota, near the Grand River. His Lakota name was Tatanka-Iyotanka. In his thirties, he began to build his reputation as a warrior, leading war parties in Red Cloud’s War against a number of Dakota Territory forts. Although the U.S. negotiated with the Sioux in order to end the war and although Chief Gall signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie in July of 1868, Sitting Bull, who never trusted the government’s promises, refused to acknowledge the treaty and continued to lead raids in the area into the 1870s.

It is, however, the events of June, 1876 for which Sitting Bull is known: leading a large band of warriors (historians debate the numbers, but estimates range from 900 to 2000) against roughly 650 officers, troops and scouts, annhilating the advance troops. Of course, public outcry brought even more troops and scrutiny to the Sioux, and Sitting Bull was forced to retreat with approximately 200 Sioux to Canada during the spring of 1877. For several years Sitting Bull refused to surrender and offers of a pardon, but by 1881, the combination of the weather, hunger, and dwindling numbers forced him to return. After surrendering at Fort Buford, Sitting Bull and his band were transferred to Fort Yates, and later to Fort Randall, where they were held for nearly two years.

An O.S. Goff cabinet card portrait of Sitting Bull. (p4A item # D9994743)

By spring of 1883, Sitting Bull returned to the Standing Rock Agency, and by 1885, he received permission to begin traveling with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, which lasted for four months. For $50 a week, he performed as part of the show, gave autographs, and met admirers, before returning to Standing Rock with a new attitude toward relations with whites. While living in the Dakotas, Sitting Bull had only seen small settlements with frontier technology and small groups of whites, but during his travels, he gained a much better sense of how large America was, the number of whites, and the technological advances being made. Although only gone a short time, he returned home convinced that the Sioux would be destroyed if they continued to fight.

Sitting Bull’s autograph on an autograph album page. (p4A item # D9961940)

For the next four or five years, Sitting Bull lived a fairly peaceful life on the Standing Rock Agency, continuing to make money from selling his photograph or autograph, but in 1890, the Ghost Dance movement began. The fervor with which the Plains Indians embraced the Ghost Dance movement alarmed whites, who were nervous that after years of reduced tensions, the Ghost Dance would reignite the violence of the Indian Wars.

In the late fall of 1890, James McLaughlin, the U.S. Agent in charge of Standing Rock, became concerned that the Ghost Dancers were about to leave the agency and that Sitting Bull might accompany them, potentially become a roving band with a prominent figure to promote rebellion. McLaughlin decided to send men to arrest Sitting Bull on December 15, 1890. Perhaps worried about not appearing in control, 43 men arrived just around dawn to arrest Sitting Bull. Some of Sitting Bull’s people encouraged him to resist, and perhaps concerned that the situation would get out of hand, members of the police began to attempt to use force. Members of Sitting Bull’s community were outraged. Catch-the-Bear, a Sitting Bull supporter, shot Bullhead, one of the policemen, setting off a round of gunfire that left Sitting Bull and six policemen dead along with seven Sioux. Two policemen would die later of wounds.

Sitting Bull’s body was taken to Fort Yates for burial. In 1953, his Lakota family had his body exhumed and moved so that he could be reburied closer to his place of birth, but there is some discussion that the body moved was not that of Sitting Bull.

Hollie Davis, p4A Senior Editor, January 29, 2010