1. Charley Parkhurst worked in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, traveling to Georgia for associated work.
14 Facts About Charley Parkhurst
1. 2.
Charley Parkhurst was born Charlotte Darkey Parkhurst January 17,1812 in Lebanon, New Hampshire, to Mary Parkhurst and Ebenezer Parkhurst.
3.
Charley Parkhurst developed an aptitude with horses, and Balch taught him to drive a coach, first with one, then four, and eventually six horses.
4.
Charley Parkhurst gradually consolidated several small stage lines into the California Stage Company.
5.
In Panama, Charley Parkhurst met John Morton, returning to San Francisco where he owned a drayage business; Morton recruited the driver to work for him.
6.
Later, Charley Parkhurst went to work for Birch, where he developed a reputation as one of the finest stagecoach drivers on the West Coast.
7.
Charley Parkhurst was ranked with "Foss, Hank Monk and George Gordon" as one of the top drivers of the time.
8.
Charley Parkhurst later moved into a small cabin about six miles from Watsonville, and suffered from rheumatism in his later years.
9.
Charley Parkhurst died there on December 28,1879, due to tongue cancer.
10.
Charley Parkhurst 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.
11.
Charley Parkhurst knew that death was approaching, but he did not relax the reticence of his later years other than to express a few wishes as to certain things to be done at his death.
12.
Charley Parkhurst has been variously interpreted as either a woman using a persona to be able to work and have freedoms that were not allowed for women during that time, or a transgender man or other figure in trans history.
13.
The first ballot by a woman in an American presidential election was cast on this site November 3,1868 by Charlotte Charley Parkhurst who masqueraded as a man for much of her life.
14.
Charley Parkhurst was a stagecoach driver in the mother lode country during the gold rush days and shot and killed at least one bandit.