Abram Henson Meadows (March 10, 1860 – December 9, 1932), also known as Charlie Meadows and Arizona Charlie, was an American

showman Showman can have a variety of meanings, usually by context and depending on the country. Australia Travelling showmen are people who run amusement and side show equipment at regional shows, state capital shows, events and festivals througho ...

and

sharpshooter A sharpshooter is one who is highly proficient at firing firearms or other projectile weapons accurately. Military units composed of sharpshooters were important factors in 19th-century combat. Along with "marksman" and "expert", "sharpshooter" i ...

, and a contemporary of "Buffalo Bill" Cody whose

Wild West Show Wild West shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe that existed around 1870–1920. The shows began as theatrical stage productions and evolved into open-air shows that depicted romanticized stereotypes of c ...

inspired Meadows to pursue his own performing career. Meadows was born on March 10, 1859, along Elbow Creek near modern-day

Visalia Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, the 6th of 12 children of John Meadows Sr.''Fame, Fortune, and a Snowball's Chance in Hell'', by Marshall Trimble, in ''True West'' magazine, June 2018 After

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

became president, his father changed his name to Charles, moving the family to a ranch in Diamond Valley north of

Payson, Arizona Payson is a town in northern Gila County, Arizona, United States. Due to Payson's location being very near to the geographic center of Arizona, it has been called "The Heart of Arizona". The town is surrounded by the Tonto National Forest, the la ...

. On July 15, 1882, John Meadows Sr. was killed by a party of

Cibecue Cibecue ( apw, Dishchiiʼ Bikoh "Horizontally Red Valley/Canyon") is a census-designated place (CDP) in Navajo County, Arizona, United States, on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. The population was 1,713 in the 2010 United States Census. The c ...

Apaches led by Natiotish, who killed his elder brother Henry, leaving him the man of the house. In 1884 Charlie and John C. Chilson organized the Payson Rodeo, in

which claims to be America's oldest continuous rodeo. Meadows died on December 9, 1932, in Yuma,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, at the age of 73.

References

Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography: Charles "Arizona Charlie" Meadows
1859 births 1932 deaths 19th-century American male actors American male stage actors People from Visalia, California People from Yuma, Arizona Sharpshooters Wild West show performers People of the Arizona Territory {{US-entertainer-stub

See also

References