“Cherokee Bill” was a name adopted by Crawford Goldsby, a youth born February 8, 1876 at Fort Concho in Texas. He was actively an outlaw for several years, mostly across the Red River in Indian Territory, before he was apprehended. His father was George Goldsby and his mother was Ellen Beck Goldsby. His father was of mixed blood, part black and part white, and was a Buffalo Soldier in the 10th U. S. Cavalry. His mother was also of mixed blood, part Cherokee, black and white. Crawford was probably named for his father’s brother, also known as Crawford Goldsby, who lived and died in Alabama.
Tag: texas
Doc Holliday
John Henry “Doc” Holliday was born August 14, 1851 in Griffin, Georgia to Henry Burroughs and Alice Jane McKey Holliday. He was an educated man, having first studied at Valdosta Institute, Valdosta, Georgia. He learned to shoot and play cards when he was still a youth. It is generally thought that he lived in the southeastern United States, fairly close to home, until his 20s.
Cyd Charisse (Tula Finklea)
Cyd Charisse was born Tula Ellice Finklea in Amarillo, Potter County, Texas on March 8, 1921 to Ernest Enos and Lela Norwood Finklea. Ernest was a well known Amarillo jeweler of French descent, though he was born in Texas. Ernest was the proprietor of E. E. Finklea Jewelers at 410 South Polk Street in downtown Amarillo. Finklea’s billed itself as “The Jewelry Store of the Panhandle.” The name Cyd is a respelling of the nickname her brother gave her when he could not pronounce “sister” and she adopted it as her stage name. The last name Charisse was actually her married name.
Battle of the Knobs/Battle of Stone Houses
This battle took place in late 1837 in North Texas involving a group of Texas Rangers and a number of mostly Keeci Indians. According to the various accounts, a Lt. Van Benthuysen was searching the area looking for some stolen horses. After several weeks of scouting, the Rangers encountered the Keeci (also spelled as Kichai and Keechi) at a place known for its appearance, mounds of rock described as rock teepees or rock houses. According to all accounts, the Keeci outnumbered the Rangers several times over, with the Indians amounting to an estimated 150 and the Rangers numbering seventeen or eighteen. The Rangers held out after losing four of their party. Also during the battle, the Indians set off a ring of fire around the troops who escaped on foot through the smoke, but not until having lost ten men, over half their number. Out of their eighteen, four were killed in the battle and six were killed during the escape. They walked and foraged for ten days until reaching a friendly Kickapoo camp near the present city of Dallas where they stayed for a while before returning to safety near Houston.
Roy Glenn Thornton, husband of Bonnie Parker
(Image credit: findagrave.com)
Roy Thornton was the husband of Bonnie Parker. He was born in 1908 to Wilmer Harrison Thornton (1863-1945) and Florence May Marcy Thornton (1878-1920). Roy was killed in an attempted prison break from the Huntsville State Prison on October 3, 1937. His remains were interred at the Hutchings-Alston-Haden Family Cemetery, also known as the Eastham State Farm Cemetery. He and one other inmate were slain when they and two dozen other inmates attempted to break out of the prison.
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Texas History Notebook 