Individual Details

ANNIE OAKLEY

In 1995, Jane Curci, descendant of Hermanus and Catherine Clapper; Jacob and Elenor Rooth Clapper; Henry and Jane Confer Clapper; Oliver and Elizabeth Russell Clapper; John and Mary Jane Clapper McCune; and James and Zita Mary McCune Riggs had a conversation with a gentleman named Howard Ayers, related to the Clappers through Susanna Clapper married to Adolphus Hall, who researched the Clapper connection to Annie Oakley.

An edited version of his story as it appeared in the Blair County Genealogical Society newsletter dated SEP-OCT-NOV 1995, Altoona, PA Volume 16 No. 3 follows:

"The following statement in a book entitled, Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill's Wild West by Isabelle Sayers:

"Her (Annie) parents, Jacob and Susan Moses -------------. Family traditiontells us how a mature Jacob fell in love with a 15-year old Susan Wise and, after obtaining permission from her parents, took her away on a horse. After their marriage in Blair County, Pennsylvania, in 1850, they became the parents of Mary Jane, Lyda, and Elizabeth. The Moses' kept a small inn near the termination of the eastern division of the Pennsylvania Canal at Hollidaysburg. One night, after a careless guest upset an oil lamp, the log tavern burned to the ground and the family was homeless. The year was 1855. Jacob had heard so much about the fertile Ohio country that he decided to move West. Mr. and Mrs. settled on a small rented farm and five more children were born. After Sarah Ellen came Phoebe Anne (Annie) on August 13, 1860, and later John and Hulda.

"There is now ample evidence that Annie Oakley's great-grandmother, Susan Clapper, had a sister Amelia (Emily) who married Jacob Wise. Jacob and Emily were the parents of Susan Wise who became Annie Oakley's mother.

"There must be hundreds, or even thousands, of people who lived in Blair County who can claim relationship to the small girl (five feet tall) with a gun that could not miss. Some surnames of these people are Ayers, Jones, Hall, Fornwalt, Wise, Butterbaugh, Markey, Geesey, Walls, Arthurs, Kirshner, Glasgow, Estright, and Cummings. Then, of course, there are many more in other branches of the Wise/Moses family.

"Mr. Ayers reported that he spoke to Marie Leighty Engle, the author of 'The Clappersin America.' This book which was printed in 1980 is 585 pages long. Originally the author concluded that the Annie Oakley legend was a case of mistaken identity and that one could not correctly assume that Annie was a member of the Clapper family. He later spoke to Marie Engle and discussed the lineage. In 1993 she wrote to Mr. Ayers and said that, since publishing her book, she had continued to hear from many people regarding the Clappers and that she now believed that the Annie Oakley story is true and wished that she had these acquisitions at the time she wrote the book."

Birth	13 AUG 1860	North Star, Patterson Twp., Darke Co., OH
Alt name		Annie and Ann OAKLEY
Marriage	22 JUN 1876 or 20 JUN 1882	Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., OH - Francis "Frank" BUTLER
Death	3 NOV 1926	Greenville, Darke Co., OH
Burial		Brock Cem., Darke Co., OH

Spouse

Francis "Frank" BUTLER (1850 - 1926)

Father	Jacob MOSEY/MOSES (1799 - 1866)
Mother	Susan WISE (1830 - 1908)
Sibling	Mary Jane MOSEY (1851 - 1867)
Sibling	Lydia MOSEY (1852 - 1882)
Sibling	Elizabeth MOSEY (1855 - 1881)
Sibling	Sarah Ellen MOSEY (1857 - 1939)
Sibling	Catherine MOSEY (1859 - 1859)
Sibling	John Henry MOSEY/MOSES (1862 - 1949)
Sibling	Hulda Marie MOSEY (1864 - 1934)