Most of the rumors surrounding Martha Jane Canary, most popularly known as Calamity Jane, were started by Canary herself. She was born on May 1, 1852 near Princeton, Missouri.
Her family immigrated to gold rush town of Virginia City, Montana via wagon train. Canary spent most of the journey engaged in such activities as hunting, riding and shooting. Her mother passed away during the trip and the family continued on to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1866. When her father passed away a year later, Canary was forced to survive in any way she could.
She commonly wore men’s clothing and grew into a tall, muscular woman who drank and swore. She took in washing to survive and cared for sick families. It is said she nursed the residents of Deadwood back to health during a smallpox epidemic.
She appeared in Rawlings, Wyoming in the early 1870’s where she dressed and acted like a man, working as a mule skinner and bullwhacker.
In 1875, a she accompanied Gen. George Crook’s expedition against the Sioux, more than likely as a bullwhacker. When her sex was discovered, she was sent back. She settled for a time in Deadwood, Dakota Territory and it was here she met Wild Bill Hickok.
During the 1880’s, she met and formed an association with Clinton Burke, but there is no evidence they were married despite the fact that the name listed on her tombstone beneath Calamity Jane was Martha Jane Burke.
Calamity Jane Becomes Famous
During the 1870’s, she became a well known figure throughout the country when magazine writers embellished and popularized her boastful exploits.
The legend still persists that she secretly married Wild Bill Hickok and bore him a child supposedly named Janey, but there is no evidence to substantiate this claim.
During the 1890’s, she wandered throughout Montana, Kansas and Wyoming for several years, living hard and drinking. She found work wherever she could, even in brothels while her fame steadily increased.
However, Canary did appear in the Black Hills a few years before her death with a young girl whom she placed in the Catholic academy in Sturgis.
Shortly before her death, a famous photograph of her was taken standing next to the grave of Wild Bill Hickok. She died in 1903 at the Calloway Hotel in Terry, South Dakota. Her dying request was to be buried next to Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood. The request was granted.
Sources:
Calamity Jane Retrieved on 2/26/09.
Lamar, Howard R, ed. The New Encyclopedia of the American West. New Haven and London, Yale University Press.
Martha Jane Canary Retrieved on 2/26/09.
