Annie Oakley, 1860 - 1926

Annie Oakley, born Phoebe Ann Mosey or Mozee north of Versailles in Darke County in 1860, became one of America's best-known sport shooters and entertainers of the late 1800s. She gained local fame as a teenage hunter for her shooting ability, and by 1885 she was a star performer in Buffalo Bill's Wild West. With her husband and manager Frank Butler, she developed a shooting act and public image that appealed to late 19th century ideas of a romanticized but disappearing West. Across a 30-year performing career, she offered honest entertainment in an industry prone to deception while also showing expanding opportunities for women. She kept her ties to Ohio throughout her life and was buried at Brock Cemetery, eleven miles north of Greenville.

Greenville, Ohio · United States