CHARLEY PARKHURST
was a stage coach driver in the Old West. A stage driver was called a "Whip," after the main tool they wielded to guide their horses.
Charley was born in 1812 in Vermont. Orphaned in youth, Charley learned how to drive 6-horse teams with great skill.
In 1849, Charley went West in the California Gold Rush, hiring on as a Whip with the California Stage Company.
Charley was kicked by a horse and lost the use of one eye, leading to the nickname of One-Eyed Charley, and Cock-Eyed Charley.
Even with only one eye, Charley earned a fine reputation as one of the best Whips in the West. Reportedly, someone saw Charley grab a lizard with a whip, toss it in the air, then cut it in half before it came down.
"This was a dangerous era in a dangerous country, where dangerous conditions were the norm."
When Charley died in 1979 in Watsonville, California, even the New York Times ran the obituary.
Because when friends and neighbors went to Charley's cabin to lay the body out for burial, they discovered that Charley Parkhurst - was a Woman!
That was Charley Parkhurst, one of the best Whips in the Old West, and the First Woman to vote in a presidential election in the United States, in 1868.
Full bio here.
NY Times obituary here.
4/10/2020