Charley Parkhurst
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Charley Darkey Parkhurst, often Parkurst, (1812 – 1879) was an American stagecoach driver and early California settler. Posing as a man for most of her life, she may have been the first woman in the U.S. to vote.
[edit] Life and career
Parkhurst, also known as One Eyed Charley, Mountain Charley or Six-Horse Charley, was born as Charlotte Darkey Parkhurst in New Hampshire and grew up in an orphanage there owned by a man named Millshark.
She worked as a stable boy for Ebeneezer Balch located first in Worcester, Massachusetts, and later in Providence, Rhode Island; then in the What Cheer Stables at the back of the Franklin House Inn in Providence for the next couple of years.
About 1849 two friends, James E. Birch and Frank Stevens went to California and consolidated several small stage lines into the California Stage Company. Charley moved there and started to work for them. Shortly after arriving she lost the use of one eye after a kick from a horse. Still posing as a male she made a reputation as one of the finest stage coach drivers on the west coast.
She retired from driving some years later in Watsonville, California. Her name (as Charles Darkey Parkurst) is listed in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on October 17, 1868 under the official poll list, hence making her possibly the first woman to vote in the United States.
She then ran a stage station between Watsonville and Santa Cruz for some years.
After trying lumbering, cattle ranching and raising chickens in Aptos, California for a while, she finally moved into a small cabin near Watsonville again. There she died on December 18, 1879 of cancer on her tongue.
[edit] Posthumous outing
After her death the secret of her identity was revealed, but it travelled somewhat slower than the news of her death. So the San Francisco Morning Call wrote on December 28:
- "He was in his day one of the most dexterous and celebrated of the famous California drivers ranking with Foss, Hank Monk, and George Gordon, and it was an honor to be striven for to occupy the spare end of the driver's seat when the fearless Charley Parkhurst held the reins of a four-or six-in hand..."
In 1955 the Pajero Valley Historical Association erected a monument on her gravesite which reads :
- "Charley Darkey Parkhurst (1812-1879) Noted whip of the gold rush days drove stage over Mt. Madonna in early days of Valley. Last run San Juan to Santa Cruz. Death in cabin near the 7 mile house. Revealed 'one eyed Charlie' a woman. First woman to vote in the U.S. November 3, 1868."
