Tuesday, April 7, 2015

F is for Stagecoach Mary Fields



"Stagecoach" Mary Fields
(c. 1832 - 1914)

Ms. Fields was born a slave in Tennessee.  After being freed, she worked for a judge, eventually taking his motherless children to their aunt, a nun.  Mary stayed on to work for the nuns, doing the heavy work around the convent.  

She was eventfully ordered to leave the convent, where gunplay was not tolerated, and at around age 60, became the second American woman to work for the US Postal Service.   She got the job because she was the fastest to hitch up a team of 6 horses.  Her reliability earned her the nickname "Stagecoach".  

She "usually had a pistol strapped under her apron and a jug of whiskey by her side" and died of liver failure in Cascade, MT.   I personally think she sounds like a hoot and would have been a neat person to know!

#AtoZChallenge

4 comments:

  1. Yes, I agree. She would have been a 'hoot' to know :) I'm glad she made it to Montana where prejudice maybe wasn't as strong. And established a name for herself. I hope she found a bit happiness too. In the photo she looks like she led a pretty hard life.

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    1. She doesn't look like someone you'd want to mess with!

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  2. Love that boder collie by her feet! She was very capable and self-sufficient!

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    1. Sounds like she would have to be that way with how her life was.

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